West Wireless Health Institute Names Eric Collins to Serve as Senior Vice President of Commercial Engineering

Leading Wireless Health Care Engineer to Drive Institute's Technology Production Strategy

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI) today announced the appointment of Eric Collins as senior vice president of commercial engineering and member of the Institute's management committee. In this new role, Collins and his team will drive the Institute's strategies for converting wireless health product concepts and prototypes from early stage development into comprehensive solutions that are ready to be used in the marketplace by health care providers and patients. Collins brings 25 years of wireless product and business development experience to the Institute.

WWHI, founded in March 2009 by the Gary and Mary West Foundation, is one of the world's first research organizations dedicated to  lowering health care costs by innovating, validating, advocating for, investing in and commercializing wireless technologies to transform medicine. The nonprofit Institute is headquartered in San Diego, the global center for health care innovation. The Gary and Mary Foundation has committed nearly $100 million to WWHI to date, with $55 million earmarked for internal engineering research and development.

"As part of the Institute's commitment to lowering health care costs, we are building in-house capabilities to infuse the entire product lifecycle with cost-effective processes, all the way from prototyping to scalable solutions," said Don Casey, CEO. "Eric's industry successes and experience at the cutting edge of wireless technology makes him the ideal leader for this position, and the Institute is thrilled to welcome such an innovator to the team."

Prior to joining the Institute, Collins led the team of engineers who created HealthPhone, the first wireless on-body platform for the health care industry. He is also the CEO of Montage Systems and co-founder and Director of MediSens Wireless, a wireless medical device company.

"I firmly believe in the Institute's mission and am excited to be a catalyst for the wireless health industry," said Collins. "By creating efficient development platforms for wireless products, we hope to accelerate the availability and affordability of wireless health solutions for all patients and consumers. I look forward to helping the Institute achieve its goal of lowering health care costs through the development and production of novel wireless technologies and by bringing these solutions to scale."  

Collins previously directed Motorola Labs' DigitalDNA Systems Architecture Laboratory, where he spearheaded the creation of Motorola's first video cell phone. In addition, he has more than 10 U.S. patents issued or pending on wireless electronic systems and computer architecture. Collins graduated with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University.

For more information about WWHI, please visit www.westwirelesshealth.org.

ABOUT THE WEST WIRELESS HEALTH INSTITUTE

The West Wireless Health Institute (www.westwirelesshealth.org) is one of the first medical research organizations in the world supporting the exploration and application of wireless technologies to advance infrastructure independent health care. Founded in March 2009 by the Gary and Mary West Foundation, the nonprofit Institute is dedicated to innovating, validating, advocating for, investing in and commercializing wireless technologies to transform medicine. Its mission is to lower health care costs by accelerating the availability of wireless medical technology. The Institute is based in San Diego, California, the global center for health care innovation.

SOURCE West Wireless Health Institute