Nashville Entrepreneur Center Announces Project Healthcare
February 3, 2016 / Share:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Inquiries: Heather McBee
This originally appeared here: www.projecthealthcare.co/press/
Nashville Entrepreneur Center Announces Project Healthcare
Michael Burcham Joins as Project Healthcare Advisory Board Chairman Initial Programming Slate Set & GFE Exchange Applications Open Now
Nashville, TN, (February 2, 2016) On the heels of this week’s launch of the Project Music 2016 and 1440 Publishing Innovations Accelerators, The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) announces the establishment of Project Healthcare.
Project Healthcare is the EC’s leading action to support transformation in the healthcare industry. The initiative provides year round create, launch and growth support to health care startups and entrepreneurs by connecting them to the critical curriculum, community, connections and capital resources needed to turn their ideas into realities.
“The EC is built by the community for the community – a community with an economy largely driven by the healthcare industry,” comments Stuart McWhorter, CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. “With an almost $40 billion impact to the Nashville economy the market is ripe for this initiative. Our goal with Project Healthcare sis to nurture and graduate quality startups that can scale and grow at a level attractive to investors and follow on programs.”
Healthcare entrepreneur and EC founder, Michael Burcham, joins the initiative as Chairman of the Project Healthcare Advisory Board. Mr. Burcham will lead an advisory board of industry pacesetters including thought leaders, policy drivers, startup operators and financial supporters who will guide Project Healthcare’s direction through their industry insights and connections. Additional members will be announced.
“I’m excited to be back working with the EC as it enters this next phase of support for innovation in healthcare” states Burcham. “It’s time to provide year round support for healthcare startups. Mixing industry leaders with the EC’s ability to create, launch and grow companies provides a unique opportunity through which those of us in healthcare can ‘pay it forward’ by investing in this important part of our community.”
Project Healthcare will be operated by the EC staff with curriculum and accelerator leadership from John Murdock, VP Entrepreneurial Development and Heather McBee, VP Accelerator Programming.
The initiative’s initial programming includes “Healthcare CEO Sessions,” (a bimonthly leadership series,) HealthChat (a 2nd quarter market leader speaker series in partnership with the Nashville Health Care Council), an annual 14week accelerator, and participation the Google Exchange program through the GFE’s Nashville Healthcare Exchange.
Project Healthcare kicks off with the immediate announcement of open applications for the Google for Entrepreneurs (GFE) Exchange program, a weeklong immersion program (May 22-28, 2016) that bridges the gap between startups, experts, and new markets. The EC’s iteration will focus on the city’s robust healthcare industry, connecting internationally selected teams with education, potential partners and customers, and opportunity for capital investment through an affiliation with Village Capital, a DC based fund. The partnership with Village Capital comes out of a recent invitation to join VilCap Communities US, a collaborative group of organizations worldwide committed to democratizing entrepreneurship by using peer selected investment to support entrepreneurs in their community. Local Exchange partners include LBMC, Bass Berry & Sims, Pinnacle Bank, Clayton & Associates and the Nashville Health Care Council. Participant applications are open at gfeexchange.com (agenda located here).
About Project Healthcare:
Additional information about Project Healthcare is available at www.ProjectHealthcare.co, twitter: @HealthcareEC, Facebook: /ProjectHealthcareEC
About the Nashville Entrepreneur Center:
The EC, with offices at 41 Peabody Street in the Rutledge Hill area, was founded as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 economic development initiative of the Nashville business community with a vision to become the best place in America for entrepreneurship. Its mission is to connect entrepreneurs with the critical resources to create, launch and grow businesses.
About Google for Entrepreneurs:
Google for Entrepreneurs provides financial support and the best of Google’s resources to dozens of coworking spaces and community programs across 125 countries. The organization also creates Campuses: physical hubs where entrepreneurs can learn, connect, and build companies that will change the world. To learn more about Google for Entrepreneurs, visit ogle.com/entrepreneurr follow us on G+ (+GoogleForEntrepreneurs) and Twitter (@GoogleForEntrep).
About Village Capital:
Village Capital finds, trains, and invests in early stage entrepreneurs solving major global problems. Their peer selection model and curriculum were awarded McKinsey/Harvard Business Review’s prestigious M-Prize for innovation in 2013. Over the past 5 years, program graduates have reached 6 million customers, created over 7,000 jobs, and raised more than $110 million in follow on capital. To date, 93% of their portfolio alumni are still in business. To learn more, visit www.vilcap.com r follow them on Twitter @villagecapital.