I enjoyed participating in a panel discussion with other health care leaders at the Siemens Healthineers Value Partnership Forum. I described how our innovative collaboration, the Alliance for Precision Health, has benefited communities across Missouri. I also offered advice for organizations developing their own partnerships.

Launched in 2019, the Alliance is a ten-year initiative with Siemens Healthineers, the UM System and MU Health Care to give clinicians, researchers and students access to the latest medical technology – while bringing world-class resources to underserved parts of rural Missouri. We began with a focus on radiology and have quickly expanded to additional areas, including lab, cardiology and oncology.

Together, we’ve achieved remarkable results. For example:

• We helped pioneer the syngo Virtual Cockpit. This technology puts skilled imaging technicians within reach for more rural communities and provides remote scanning of organ donations, boosting the speed of lifesaving transplants.
• We collaborated on a new MRI protocol, Fast Abdomen, that reduces scan time by half while increasing image quality.
• We installed the MAGNETOM Terra 7-Tesla (7T) MRI in the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building. The 7T makes Mizzou’s campus a hub for research clinicians who use its accuracy to create breakthrough treatments.
• We developed a training program to address the shortage of clinical engineers. Our faculty also work with Siemens Healthineers scientists on new research and our students have access to hands-on internships.

We’re eager to partner with Siemens Healthineers on even more ambitious projects, including opportunities to enhance the lifesaving work of the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) with our new, state-of-the-art research reactor, NextGen MURR. It was great to share our progress and discuss how we can grow our impact in Missouri and beyond.

— Mun