SHARE For Cures Gains Critical Seed Funding and Support - Joins BioHealth Innovation Accelerator Relevant Health

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SHARE For Cures (SFC), a new Washington, DC-based non-profit that makes it easy for individuals to access and securely share their health data with researchers, announced today a new partnership with BioHealth Innovation, a Maryland-based innovation intermediary focused on connecting health technology innovators and entrepreneurs with government agencies and corporations.

Through the partnership, SHARE For Cures will become an affiliate of Relevant Health, a Rockville, MD-based technology accelerator supported by BioHealth Innovation.

As a Relevant Health affiliate, SHARE For Cures will receive access to mentorship, government and corporate connections as well as software development and business planning guidance to support the launch of the SFC SHARE platform, currently in early stage development.

"BioHealth Innovation and Relevant Health are excited to be working with SHARE For Cures, said Richard Bendis, President and CEO of BioHealth Innovation.  "This partnership will increase the health information technology capital in the metropolitan D.C. area and, ultimately and more importantly, make a huge impact on the lives of patients suffering from disease."  

Founded in late 2014, SHARE For Cures is building the SHARE platform, an easy-to-use system for both accessing and securely sharing individual health data with researchers. Currently in early stage development and testing, the SHARE system is a unique database that makes it possible for people to access and combine different data from multiple places, making the data more complete and usable at a low cost. This will make it possible for millions of individuals to securely access and instantly share their health and wellness data. Once shared, each individual's data will be combined with the data from other patients and made available to select health researchers.

The Biohealth Innovation partnership comes on the heels of a nearly $50,000 seed funding donation to SHARE For Cures. The support was received through the Connecting Care Fund at St. Joseph Hospital Foundation, Orange, CA.  This funding, as well as the support from Relevant Health, will play an important role in accelerating the development of the first phase of the SHARE platform, which is expected to be available in Q1 2016, said SFC President and Co-Founder Joshua Mann.

"We are thrilled to have the support and collaboration of BioHealth Innovation and Relevant Health in this critical stage of our development. This assistance will help ensure we get this technology available to as many people as possible in the hope of finding more cures."

Health Data Access – a Critical Missing Ingredient for Finding Cures

Every day, millions of people in the U.S. generate billions of data points about their health and wellness as they visit their physicians, undergo lab tests, operate medical devices and use personal trackers. If securely collected and combined, this data could provide a significant resource for researchers, enabling them to better understand, treat and cure disease.

Currently that's not happening. It's difficult for patients to access their own data in a usable way, and if they can get it, there's no way for them to contribute their data to support health research. Meanwhile, thousands of researchers across the country are unable to access the data that's been collected to conduct research to find new treatments and cures.

SHARE For Cures aims to fix this problem. When complete, the SHARE platform will make it easy for patients to access, understand and use their health data, giving individuals the ability to determine who can use their data and for what purposes.

About SHARE For Cures
SHARE For Cures is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in 2014, with a mission to empower anyone to donate their individual health data to advance medical research and save lives. Through the development of its SHARE platform, SHARE For Cures aims to make it possible for more researchers to access the critical information they need to better understand, prevent and cure disease. Learn more at www.shareforcures.org.

About Relevant Health
Relevant Health is a health tech startup accelerator program.  Admitted companies have access to a co-work facility in Rockville, Maryland and receive additional support that includes $50,000 in funding, software development support, mentorship and working in the local health tech ecosystem. Relevant Health is a partnership between BioHealth Innovation, Inc., ProductSavvy Consulting, and Montgomery County Economic Development. Learn more at www.relevanthealth.md.

About BioHealth Innovation
BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is an innovation intermediary providing commercial assistance to scientists and founders, educating and infusing Maryland's biohealth community with new entrepreneurial firms. BHI's strategic partners come from industry, investment, academia, and government sector to support the development of emerging biohealth companies.   Learn more at www.biohealthinnovation.org.

SOURCE SHARE For Cures