Foundation
The HEAL Italia Foundation represents the Italian Innovation Hub for Precision Medicine, infrastructures, networks, and services.
The objective is to prevent, delay, and treat serious diseases, moving from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to personalized care; through the involvement of the best researchers, the promotion of innovation, and the enhancement of global collaboration, the aim is to achieve targeted and timely therapies, in order to significantly improve care pathway outcomes.
Who we are
Founded in 2022, the Foundation was established by 24 founding partners within the project funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) “Health Extended Alliance for Innovative Therapies, Advanced Lab-research and Integrated Approaches of Precision Medicine.” The Istituto Superiore di Sanità also participates in the Program as a prestigious partner.
Today, the Foundation coordinates a multidisciplinary network of over 70 entities including Universities, IRCCS, hospitals and companies, and represents a true national strategic supply chain for research and the application of Precision Medicine approaches and models in healthcare.
The Foundation operates through a legal headquarters, two operational offices (Palermo and Rome), additional offices being opened (Monza, Cagliari), a desk being opened in Brussels and a desk being opened in New York.
Vision & Objectives
The Foundation’s objective is to develop new models and approaches for precision medicine through the creation of an extended alliance (Health Extended Alliance) that brings together, in a multidisciplinary and synergistic network, fundamental and translational research laboratories, clinical research centers, technological infrastructures, and companies in the sector capable of leveraging the most advanced 5.0 technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Supercomputing Systems) applied to preclinical research, clinical applications, and translational medicine.
The main areas of interest are oncology, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, rare diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases.
The research conducted within the HEAL Italia network also aims to generate a concrete impact on the national production and healthcare system, with the long-term vision of ensuring that every person has the right to receive effective care in a homogeneous, personalized, and sustainable way, in compliance with privacy and data protection, for the benefit of the entire community.
Activities
As a Technological Hub, the Heal Italia Foundation supports the process of introduction/implementation and testing of advanced 5.0 technologies in the field of Precision Medicine, developing new models and approaches for preclinical research, clinical applications, and translational medicine in the fight against chronic-degenerative diseases.
With primary reference to the pharmaceutical, devices, digital services, and Digital Medicine supply chain for public and private healthcare, the Heal Italia Foundation supports and facilitates technology transfer, promotes sharing among structures and the exchange of knowledge and skills, identifies emerging innovation needs and promotes the meeting between technological demand and supply, creating clusters of hospitals, companies, and research centers, and develops targeted financial support programs for the sustainability of research and the scalability of technologies within hospitals.
A strength of the Foundation lies in having brought together within the same system the academic, industrial, and clinical contexts, leading them to coexist within the same virtual macro-laboratory for research and development represented by thematic macro-networks, characterized by interdisciplinarity and the sharing of technologies and tools in support of Precision Medicine. This has enabled the development of predictive models for personalized diagnosis and therapies in the fields of oncology, metabolic, cardiovascular, and rare diseases.
The Heal Italia Foundation aims to extend and consolidate the application of these models to other pathologies, accelerating increasingly precise and personalized diagnostic and care pathways, enhancing the investments already made.
The Foundation has launched a system of services tailored to support the academic, industrial, and clinical sectors in activating pathways for the continuity and sustainability of the research initiated, and above all to position the Foundation itself in national and international markets.
The Foundation promotes, as a Funding Agency, tools for the creation/implementation of start-ups and spin-offs connected to the Health Biotechnology system, which represent the strategic asset to be strengthened in order to accelerate the processes of developing innovative products in support of the advancement of scientific and technological processes in Precision Medicine in Italy and at the international level.
Currently under development and owned by the Heal Italia Foundation is a unique infrastructure of experimental and clinical data, enabling interaction between databases and clinical data platforms of partners.
This infrastructure will allow access to data collected by entities for target pathologies (Oncology, Cardiovascular, Metabolic, and Rare Diseases), and to enhance them for the purposes of clinical and translational research, with the objective of accelerating the process of identifying innovative and personalized therapies.
HEAL Italia Ecosystem
The supply chains implemented by the Program are now supported by access to the ecosystem developed and represented by:
NETWORK OF EXPERTISE
National platform of interdisciplinary expertise with very high technical-scientific value. Over 350 scientists and technologists with expertise in various disciplinary fields and more than 240 new researchers hired thanks to the Program.
DATA NETWORK
Network of data originating from patient registries and from the “Molecular Tumor Boards” established at hospitals and IRCCS.
PUBLICATIONS AND CLINICAL STUDIES
Over 100 publications, over 100 ongoing clinical studies, and over 40 projects generated by the Cascade Calls promoted by the Spoke Universities in collaboration with the Foundation.
PATIENT COHORTS
Regulated access to two cohorts of patients and healthy individuals followed for 25 years, namely the Sardinian patient cohort and the Molise cohort.
BIOBANK PLATFORM
Network of 15 biobanks coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, distributed throughout Italy, which is being enriched by three new biobanks in Southern Italy: Sardinia, Sicily, Puglia.
GMP FACILITIES
Network of GMP Facilities located at 5 founding member entities of the Heal Italia Foundation.
TECHNOLOGICAL NETWORK
A network of technologies and computing platforms, Big Data systems, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence serving the networks.
LABORATORIES
Network of over 100 laboratories, supporting research and innovation in the fields of omics sciences, advanced diagnostics, and the development of innovative devices.
How to Become a Partner
Joining the HEAL Italia Foundation means contributing to the development of a national ecosystem dedicated to precision medicine with a strong international outlook. Universities, research centers, healthcare institutions, companies, and international operators can join the Foundation as partners or participating members.