Medical Center of the Americas Foundation

Program Seeks to Spark Innovation Led by Healthcare Professionals

August 10, 2022

Applications are now being accepted for the MCA Innovation Center’s Health Innovator, a program that empowers healthcare professionals to leverage their practical experience and create great solutions that impact their environment.

Activating the Region’s Innovation Ecosystem and Enhancing its Capabilities

July 26, 2022

The Devise Product Realization Hub is supporting innovators, startups, and manufacturers to activate the region’s innovation ecosystem and expand the regions capabilities. A broad range of training and professional development courses have been hosted by the Devise Product Realization Hub in fulfillment of the Economic Development Administration (EDA) SPRINT grant. Workforce development training, ISO quality management system implementation, product development, and regulatory support are the main services the program offers.

Ecotone Investment Fund closes first round at $3 million in El Paso, TX

July 19, 2022

On June 23, 2022, Ecotone Investment Fund closed its first round of fundraising at $3 million with 37 investors from El Paso, Texas. Ecotone plans a second close in several months for up to another $1 million. The feasibility studies and start-up costs of this fund have been supported by a $300,000 grant to the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. Ecotone’s Investment Committee members are Jody Casey, Ed Escudero, Ben Marcus, Holly Trubowitsch and Emma Schwartz from El Paso, as well as Matt Curl and Matt Doka, El Paso ex-pats living in Silicon Valley and working in the technology and venture capital sectors.

MCA Releases 2021 Annual Report, Innovation Gaining Momentum

May 4, 2022

This year marks the 15-year anniversary of the Medical Center of the Americas (MCA) Foundation and the 10-year anniversary of the MCA Foundation’s Impact Fund agreement with the City of El Paso. The MCA Foundation’s achievements are entirely due to the outstanding board of directors, volunteers, donors, and partners who have worked collaboratively, creatively, and passionately to dream big and execute with commitment. This year’s annual report highlights the 15 years of impact and 2021 highlights which were pivotal to innovation gaining traction.

MCA Innovation Center Empowers Nurses and Other Healthcare Professionals to Develop Innovative Products

March 7, 2022

Applications are now being accepted for The Medical Center of the America Foundation’s (MCA) Innovation Center Nurse Innovator Accelerator, a binational program that provides targeted support for healthcare professionals to take their innovative ideas from concept to prototype to production. Nurses and doctors are inherently problem solvers as they develop solutions to problems they encounter in their day-to-day work. This accelerator program works with these clinical professionals to bring those ideas to life.

Devise Company Spotlight: Airport Printing Service

February 16, 2022

Airport Printing Service is one of several companies receiving ISO training and support from the Devise Product Realization Hub. Airport Printing Service has provided exceptional print services to the El Paso region and beyond for the past 42 years. To learn more about Airport Printing Service, their capabilities, and why they enrolled in Devise, read the article at the link below

MCA Innovation Center Launches Startup Event Series Focused on Addressing Unmet Markets Needs

February 8, 2022

The MCA’s Innovation Center is launching a monthly event series featuring speakers and startups from around the country who work to address unmet market needs, such as Latinx health and femtech, through innovation and entrepreneurship. The “Uncovering Markets” event series will be launched virtually on February 15, 2022 at 4:00 PM. Read more about what you can expect at the link below!

Devise Partner Spotlight: Fab Lab El Paso

December 14, 2021

Fab Lab El Paso is a strategic partner that will augment the services offered by Devise. Fab Lab El Paso can provide custom fabrication services to innovators, startups, and even established manufacturers enrolled in the program. To learn more about FabLab, their capabilities, and how they help participants in Devise get started, read the article at the link below!

Nurse Innovator Demo Day Recap

December 10, 2021

The MCA Innovation Center hosted Demo Day that gave the opportunity to healthcare professionals to present the products they worked on throughout the Nurse Innovator Accelerator program. Healthcare professionals completed this intensive program that assisted them with transforming their ideas into products for the clinical setting. To learn more about the products that were showcased, read the article at the link.

Demo Day Sees the Introduction of New Healthcare Products, Prototypes, and Ideas

December 10, 2021

The MCA Innovation Center hosted a Demo Day featuring products developed by nurses and other healthcare professionals across the region to improve their work environment, patient safety, and experience. Healthcare professionals in the 2021 Nurse Innovator (NI) Accelerator program pitched their business ideas and prototypes to a panel of regional experts from a variety of backgrounds. Read more at the link!

Meet Our 2021 Nurse Innovators

December 2, 2021

The MCA Innovation Center launched the Nurse Innovator Bootcamp, a binational program to help nurses and other healthcare professionals develop products that will solve problems they experience day to day clinical setting. Learn about the background of the fall 2021 cohort and their experience in the program.

Ecotone Investment Fund: Planting the Seeds and Building the Ecosystem

November 30, 2021

The Medical Center of the Americas Foundation launched the Ecotone Investment Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund based in El Paso, Texas in October 2021. The Ecotone Fund will provide high-value relationships between founders and assets in the El Paso region while investing in companies that have high investment potential. To learn more about the venture fund and why it’s important for the innovation ecosystem, read the full article!

Devise Partner Spotlight: BIO El Paso-Juarez

November 29, 2021

BIO El Paso-Juarez (BIO EPJ) is a strategic partner that is connecting local medical device companies with the resources offered by Devise to proliferate MedTech product development. Learn more about BIO EPJ and how they support innovators, suppliers, and manufacturers in the Devise Product Realization Hub.

Check Out the Devise Product Realization Hub Equipment and Capabilities

October 25, 2021

The Devise Product Realization Hub invites you to get to know our product development space by checking out some of the equipment available for use and capabilities the space offers to help create new products or improve existing ones.

Programs that are Developing the Growing Hub of Innovation in the Region

October 13, 2021

This year the MCA is participating in El Paso Giving Day and highlighting recently launched or continued programs and efforts that look to further develop the hub of healthcare and innovation in the Paso del Norte region. To learn more about each program and the people behind them, read more of this article.

MCA Innovation Center Launches New Program to Help Medical Innovators Scale Their Product Ideas

September 15, 2021

The MCA Innovation Center launched the Devise Product Realization Hub today to help inno¬vators scale the production of their projects. Devise seeks to support innovators, startups, suppliers, and manufacturers working on medtech or healthtech product development and manufacturing. Click to read more!

Your Introduction to Devise Product Realization Hub

September 15, 2021

Calling all innovators, suppliers, and manufacturers! Get to know the new MCA Innovation Center Program and how to apply by reading more of this blog!

Manufacturing Home-Grown Ideas

September 8, 2021

The MCA Innovation Center is lowering barriers for anyone within the ecosystem, from entrepreneurs, startups, and investors to manufacturers and suppliers, to collaborate and bring new and improved medical products to market. By investing in our region’s product development pipelines, the MCA hopes to keep manufacturing local and bring more critical supply chain elements closer to the product development lifecycle.

MCA Foundation Hires Product Development Lab Manager

August 26, 2021

The MCA recently brought on Philip Morton, a mechanical engineer, and entrepreneur, to the team as the Product Development Lab Manager. Read more about his past experience and what he plans to bring to the MCA at the link below.

MCA Innovation Center Launches Program to Assist Nurses and Health Professional Bring Ideas to Market

May 25, 2021

The MCA Innovation Center is launching Nurse Innovator, a binational program that empowers nurses, and other health care professionals, to take their innovative ideas from concept to prototype to production. The MCA Innovation Center will help nurses in El Paso and Cd. Juarez develop solutions to the problems they experience day-to-day in the clinical setting.

MCA Awarded $750,000 to Create a Product Development Lab and Support Local Manufacturers and Suppliers

April 8, 2021

The Medical Center of the Americas Foundation Innovation Center (MCA) is excited to announce that it was awarded a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the 2021 SPRINT challenge.

The MCA Releases its 2020 Annual Report, From Disruption to Innovation

April 7, 2021

This year, the MCA team created a virtual annual report that is an interactive and engaging presentation of its efforts. The regular print version is also available on our website. Read more about it.

MCA Innovation Center Awarded $25,000 Prize from National Competition to Support Nurses Creating Solutions for Frontline Healthcare Workers

February 1, 2021

The Medical Center of the America Foundation’s (MCA) Innovation Center received a $25,000 Visionary Prize from the New Lab-to-Market (L2M) Competition. Click on the link to see what that means for local nurse innovators and the entrepreneur ecosystem in the region!

Arrowhead Center and The MCA Innovation Center Win National $25,000 SBA Partners Awards for Visionary Innovation Programs and Ideas

January 28, 2021

Two local non-profit organizations that support tech startup companies, Arrowhead Innovation Center and MCA Innovation Center, were each awarded $25,000 for the most creative and actionable ideas that support a more inclusive research and development (R&D) innovation ecosystem for the future. To read more, click on the link!

Don't Miss The Last Installment of the From Start to Finish: Medical Manufacturing Series

November 5, 2020

Don’t miss the final installment of our Tech Tuesday series featuring the Medical Device Manufacturing industry in our region. The showcase will feature regional manufacturers who have transitioned from Contract Manufacturers to developing their own products.

Ricky Yean Y Combinator and Venture-Backed Founder of Serval Startups Joins the Founders BookShelf Live Discussion

October 23, 2020

Every month, Founders BookShelf hosts a virtual video discussion about the featured book of the month to help innovators and entrepreneurs in the region progress thier ideas and products, and this October 27th at 4:00 Pm, Ricky Yean, a Y Combinator and Venture-Backed Founder of serval startups will joining the Instagram Live session to discuss The Lean Startup by Eric Ries as well as product design, perseverance, and pivoting for startups.

Next Up On Our Events Calendar is SCALING UP: A Conversation with Corporate and Contract Manufacturers

October 17, 2020

Join us on October 20th for the second installment of a four-part series focused on the manufacturing of medical devices lifecycle.

A Letter From MCA President Emma W. Schwartz: Help Us Make a Difference

June 22, 2020

To respond to this pandemic, the community needed to find solutions quickly to respond to our immediate needs, while looking to the future and how we could build a more resilient medical community and stronger economic sector. The Medical Center of the Americas Foundation’s mission to catalyze and develop our region’s life sciences ecosystem to improve healthcare and create economic opportunity is not only an idealistic goal but an absolutely necessity now more than ever. Help us make a difference today by donating.

A Message From MCA Foundation President Emma W. Schwartz

March 17, 2020

MCA Facilities Remain Open, Precautions Are Being Taken To Maintained Facilities Sanitized, MCA Staff In-Office Limited, MCA Meetings and Travel Postponed, But the MCA’s Work Continues Amid COVID-19

Healthcare Summit to Define the Future of Healthcare in the El Paso/Juarez Region

February 25, 2020

As the fastest growing and largest private industry in El Paso, healthcare leaders meet to determine a path for success for the future of healthcare in the region.

MCA Innovation Center to Host a Series of Saturday Workshops for Innovators and Entrepreneurs of the Region

January 23, 2020

The Medical Center of the Americas calls all entrepreneurs, innovators, inventors, and startup founders to participate in STARTUP Labs at the MCA

UTEP Receives $400K to Study Converting Wastewater to Potable Water

August 7, 2019

The Center for Inland Desalination System (CIDS) at The University of Texas at El Paso has received a $400,000 Desalination and Water Purification Research grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to study desalination of water for direct potable reuse or converting municipal wastewater to drinking water.

A letter to our MCA Family and to the El Paso/Juarez Community

August 6, 2019

An open letter to our community…

The MCA Receives $300,000 EDA Grant to Create an Innovation Center Seed Fund

July 25, 2019

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced the winners of the EDA’s Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Seed Fund Support grant competition this week, naming the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation as a recipient of a $300,000 grant.

UTEP Scientists Sniff Out Cancer

July 7, 2019

Inspired by dogs’ uncanny sense of smell, a team at UTEP is developing a new test for prostate and kidney cancer

5 Nurses Making Waves in Healthcare Innovation

July 2, 2019

From socks that monitor heart failure to a tool that aims to predict developmental outcomes in newborns, nurse innovators around the world are developing solutions with the potential to change human health. Meet five nurses who are transforming what it means to be on the frontlines of care.

The MCA Celebrates National Nurses Week with Ernesto Holguin

May 8, 2019

The MCA highlights RN Ernesto Holguin as CEO and Founder of OTEN Medical and his journey from nurse to nurse-innovator-entrepreneur.

The MCA Innovation Center Welcomes Kathleen Cahill, The New Mentor-In-Residence

April 5, 2019

Former hospital CEO Kathleen Cahill has become the MCA Innovation Center’s new Mentor-In-Residence where she will be providing help and expertise to participants in the Innovator and Startup Programs.

OTEN Medical Attends the SXSW Conference as an MCA Ambassador

April 5, 2019

OTEN Medical travels to Austin, Texas to participate in the SXSW conference and represent the MCA Innovation Center as an ambassador.

Singularity University Launches Chapter in El Paso, Texas

March 25, 2019

The MCA is proud to be a strategic partner to the local Singularity University chapter that seeks to bring exponential technologies and innovation to El Paso.

Women In Innovation

March 8, 2019

The MCA highlights Dr. Malynda Cappelle as the first woman entrepreneur to join and graduate from the MCA Innovation Center program.

MCA Awards Funds to Startups

October 22, 2018

The Medical Center of the Americas Foundation hosted its second investor pitch event of the year where startups from its first Proof-of-Concept Competition vied for a total of $50,000 in pre-seed funding.

MCA Grooms 11 Startups

October 30, 2017

The Medical Center of the Americas Foundation selected 11 teams out of 25 applicants to participate in a new technology “proof-of-concept” competition. It is part of a broader effort by city leaders to create more high-skill, high-wage jobs in the region by cultivating innovative growth companies.

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