Atlanta conference puts accent on health care collaboration

Health care leaders from across the Southeast will gather this Thursday in Atlanta for the fourth Health Connect South summit.

A central idea behind the gatherings is to bring leaders together as a forum to strike collaborations.

“We have always tried to highlight how we are better when we work together,’’ Russ Lipari, the summit’s founder, said Monday. “We’ve heard of people getting jobs and internships, and starting partnership conversations’’ through Health Connect South, he added.

Russ Lipari at the first Health Connect South meeting.

He said the winner of this year’s 2017 HCS Best Health Collaboration award is the  Georgia Center for Diabetes Translation Research.

That’s a collaboration of Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine and Georgia Tech, and is partly funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The mission of the center is to facilitate and grow Type II diabetes research within the state of Georgia. The research is focused on translating approaches that have demonstrated efficacy into real world health care settings and communities at risk, with an emphasis on reach, sustainability, and widespread implementation.

The keynote address this year will focus on mentorship, with Dr. Omar Lattouf introducing Dr. Heval Kelli, whom he mentored. Kelli’s work was highlighted in this recent AJC article.

One panel will focus on bridging the gap between investors and health care startups.

This year’s event will be at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. For more information about the conference, go to the Health Connect South website