West Wireless Health Institute Names Amir Jafri its Chief Operating Officer and Mitul Shah as Senior Director of Programs and Partnerships

SAN DIEGO, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI) today announced Amir Jafri has joined the Institute as its chief operating officer (COO).  Jafri joins WWHI from Cardinal Health and is responsible for driving the Institute's organizational effectiveness across departments.  In addition, WWHI has named Mitul Shah as its senior director of programs and partnerships for engineering.  Jafri's appointment is effective immediately and Shah will begin his new role on April 12.  

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WWHI, founded in March 2009 with a $45 million gift from the Gary and Mary West Foundation, is one of the world's first medical research organizations dedicated to cutting the cost of health care by identifying, creating, validating and accelerating the use of wireless technologies to transform medicine.  In addition to founding the Institute, Gary West is chairman of the board of directors.  The nonprofit Institute is headquartered in San Diego, California, the global hub for wireless life science research and development.

"Adding both Amir and Mitul to our team is not only another notable milestone for our organization, but sends the message that WWHI is 'the place to be' to truly transform healthcare," said West.  "Amir brings a strong track record of executing strategic growth centered on innovative healthcare, and I am excited about the energy and experience he brings to our team.  He is acutely aware of the crisis we are facing in healthcare and as COO will help ensure our operations correspond directly with our primary mission to cut costs and eliminate the waste that exists in medical practice."

In addition to overseeing the Institute's operations, Jafri will drive collaboration between the Institute's clinical and engineering teams to ensure quality control and regulatory adherence of research, development and validation activities.  Prior to joining WWHI, Jafri spent seven years at Cardinal Health, most recently serving as vice president of strategic programs.  He has held numerous senior management positions throughout his 20 year career in global healthcare and has founded successful healthcare startups in the areas of clinical and business services, enterprise technologies, and software engineering.  He has a B.S. with a double major in chemistry and biology, with a minor in history from Houston Baptist University.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to take this unprecedented journey with an organization on the cutting edge of technology, committed to empowering consumers and above all saving lives," said Jafri.  "I believe the West Wireless Health Institute will quickly become one of the most visionary research institutes in healthcare worldwide.  There is no better time to foster the collaboration of engineering and medicine, and we will be at the forefront of this movement through our educational initiatives, research and development activities, and clinical validation studies."

As senior director of programs and partnerships for the Institute's engineering department, Shah will work with the WWHI engineering team led by Dr. Mehran Mehregany as well as the Institute's business development staff to translate its engineering expertise, resources and capabilities into program and business opportunities.  Shah is recognized as an instrumental leader in the emerging wireless health industry, previously serving as senior director of technology partnerships for the United Nations Foundation (UNF) where he was responsible for its partnership with the Vodafone Group Foundation.  Prior to joining UNF, Shah held positions at the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and Inforte Corporation.  He holds a MBA from the University of Maryland at College Park, and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California at Riverside. 

"I've traveled the globe in support of the widespread scale of wireless health and now will have the chance to work alongside the engineers building the most cost-effective, ground breaking products," said Shah.  "I look forward to watching the evolution of this amazing industry from an entirely new perspective, and being part of an organization that will nurture the next generation of wireless health innovators through its education, engineering and collaborative leadership."

"The Institute's engineering team is focused on developing solutions that meet unmet medical needs around the world.  Mitul has a vast network of connections in the mHealth sector and beyond, and will bring invaluable knowledge to the organization throughout the process of identifying productive partnerships that align with our educational and R&D initiatives," added West.

For more information on 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 human health and well-being.  Based in San Diego, California, the nonprofit Institute is fostering an unprecedented convergence of science, medicine, engineering and technology.  Its primary mission is to cut health care costs by improving medical practice.

SOURCE West Wireless Health Institute