A new five-year, $12.75 million grant from the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) aims to accelerate breakthroughs in biomedical technology and innovations through a collaboration between the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

The grant supports research and education as well as new offices, labs and faculty at the Edward & Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine (CTEM), announced in January. The MPower funding builds upon a $10 million joint gift from the St. Johns and the Edward St. John Foundation to establish CTEM.

The center brings together clinicians from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) at UMB and engineers from the A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMCP to tackle health challenges and drive medical innovations, improving treatments for patients and empowering them to live healthier lives. CTEM’s initial work will draw from Fischell Department of Bioengineering faculty but its goal is to involve all engineering disciplines in addressing human health.

“Heart disease, diabetes and hypertension are among the leading causes of death and disability in our state, according to UMSOM. Those diseases cause personal impacts on many families, and treatments are significant drivers of health care costs, but engineering and health care, working hand in hand, can address these challenges and improve people’s lives,” said Clark School Dean Samuel Graham. “Thank you to our MPower partners for their great support in bringing the Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine to the 4MLK Building, and in expanding our ability to serve the people of Maryland.”

The MPower funding supports the custom design and construction of state-of-the-art shared space at the 4MLK Laboratory and Office building at the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore, opening up new opportunities for cooperative educational programming and research. Already, UMB-UMCP partnerships in health care are propelling medical device development, improving cancer detection and care, and improving ophthalmology diagnostics and the fight against glaucoma, among other breakthroughs.

“As Maryland continues to rise as a national leader in biomedical technology, we can see the dynamic impact that MPower can have in accelerating disruptive innovation,” said Mark T. Gladwin, M.D., the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and dean of University of Maryland School of Medicine. “With this tremendous investment, we are breaking down traditional academic silos and creating a dynamic ecosystem where engineers and medical professionals work hand in hand to address the most critical health challenges of our time. In addition, we want to give our students every opportunity to combine medical and technology education. As a result, we are launching a new eight-year B.S.-M.D. program in collaboration with UMCP to enroll eligible students in engineering for direct acceptance into our medical school.”

The MPower investment also supports the recruitment, seed funding and co-location of eight UMCP bioengineering faculty alongside a similar number of UMSOM clinical faculty. Together, they will be able to provide rich opportunities for student education and experiential learning, including the new B.S.-to-M.D. degree, undergraduate clinical experiences, co-advising and support for capstone design projects and graduate fellowships.

“MPower is a collaborative resource, connecting people, ideas and programs to drive innovation to serve the people of Maryland and beyond,” said MPower Executive Director Adrianne M. Arthur. “Collaborations like this one strategically link our complementary strengths to spark powerful and transformative change, multiplying the impact that each institution could have independently.”