Our mission is to advance the economic vitality of greater Irvine.
Our core initiatives are to be a catalyst for local economic growth, champion for the business community with all levels of government, and to convene greater Irvine stakeholders.
As City of Hope develops a world-class cancer center and network of care in Orange County, it is making the breakthrough research of its outstanding scientists and clinicians more accessible to the local community. This work entails discoveries in the complex realm of cancer and beyond, including COVID-19. City of Hope is addressing the novel coronavirus threat on a number of fronts, including the preclinical development of a coronavirus vaccine. “Given the urgency of this pandemic, City of Hope is employing its vast expertise using the immune system to fight viral infections,” said Don Diamond, Ph.D., a viral immunologist with City of Hope’s Department of Hematology. “In particular, City of Hope hematologists successfully treat a great number of infections that bone marrow/stem cell transplant recipients and other immune-compromised cancer patients can become exposed to during their treatment. So, City of Hope has both the expertise in researching and treating some of the worst viral infections out there.” As background, City of Hope developed the Triplex vaccine against cytomegalovirus (CMV), a type of herpes virus that —similar to the coronavirus — can cause pneumonia and other serious complications in patients with weakened immune systems. In a phase 2 randomized clinical trial, Triplex prevented CMV from duplicating out of contro...
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Gov. Gavin Newsom has called on recently retired doctors and soon-to-be-graduated medical and nursing students to join the California Health Corps to help care for COVID-19 patients. Over recent four days, the number of Californians being treated for the virus in ICUs tripled and the number of hospitalizations doubled. Not only will the state need an extra 50,000 hospital beds by mid-May, it will also need a “human capital surge,” the governor said. “If you’re a nursing school student or medical school student, we need you. If you just retired in the last few years, we need you. If you are looking to expand your scope of practice … we need you,” he said. Other things to know about the California Health Corps: Newsom’s executive order relaxes licensing laws and the always-controversial “scope of practice” rules — they determine which medical professionals can provide which services — through June 30. The general consensus so far? It’s vague but has been met with support, CalMatters’ Julie Cart, Elizabeth Aguilera and Ana Ibarra report. The state estimates there is a pool of 37,000 retired or inactive health care professionals to draw from. The program is looking to recruit thousands. All will be compensated. The cost of the California Health Corps program will be “borne in a myriad of ways,” Newsom said...
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As confirmed cases in the U.S. continue to rise, some hospitals are establishing field hospitals in convention centers, while others are turning wings of their facility into dedicated quarantine or Covid-19 treatment areas. They hope the additional space will help prevent burdened health care systems from being overwhelmed. But the space problem is partially an information problem, too. Sick patients need their vitals recorded and their symptoms monitored, and staff needs to get updates if someone’s condition starts to worsen (from fever and cough to shortness of breath as blood oxygen levels fall). Not every bed is equipped for monitoring, particularly field beds in temporary spaces. As hospitals are stretched thin, a new telemedicine device offers both remote monitoring and help in reallocating resources for the coming surge of patients. The Masimo SafetyNet, originally designed for opioid patients, is a wearable similar to a wristwatch with a disposable fingertip attachment usable either by patients in traditional or ad hoc hospital beds, or by sick individuals who have been seen and sent home. It continuously monitors a patient’s pulse, breathing, and blood oxygen levels. If it detects shallow breathing or an unnaturally slow or accelerated pulse, it alerts caregivers and hospital staff. At any point, a caregiver or the patien...
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COVID-19 has brought unprecedented difficulties to California and the nation—but chief among them is highlighting a shortage of health care-critical supplies. The nation’s hospitals and supply chains were simply not prepared with the volume of personal protective equipment (PPE) that COVID-19 has made necessary. As Governor Gavin Newsom laid out a March 23 press conference, California’s doctors and nurses need more materials in order to be safe while they save lives—specifically, 1 billion gloves, 500 million respirators, and 200 million face shields. Businesses Step Up Many businesses are already stepping up to help fill this void. U.S. manufacturers have shifted to produce more respirators, in coordination with state and federal authorities. 3M has doubled the global production of N95 respirators, producing almost 100 million respirators per month, as of this week. Honeywell has ramped up production and is hiring additional workers. GM is also moving to help supply respirators, and even fashion designers and apparel companies are shifting to produce surgical masks and gowns. And these efforts aren’t just limited to manufacturers—everyone across the state is looking to help. Even as California’s business community struggles with the economic consequences of social distancing, we are also doing what we can to help. Local construction companies, contractors, hardwar...
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