New Grantees for 2026
The ITHC is pleased to present the new recipients of Awards in 2025, in addition to continuations of projects from previous years on our Awards History page and Grantees for specific prior years.
Healthy Physician Foundation - Dr. Cesar A. Caceres Innovation in Healthcare Technology Award
2026 Recipient: Mary's Center, Washington DC
The Healthy Physician Foundation, with the support of the Institute for Technology in HealthCare, is proud to announce the 2026 Dr. Cesar A. Caceres Innovation in Healthcare Technology Awardee is Mary's Center.
This award honors the legacy of Dr. Caceres, a visionary physician and inventor whose groundbreaking medical devices continue to shape healthcare today. This award recognizes a DC area company or organization that reflects Dr. Caceres’s spirit of innovation by leveraging technology to address critical healthcare challenges and improve the practice of medicine.
Mary's Center will be recognized with MSDC's five awardees: Dr. Allen Roberts, Dr. Patience White, Dr. Charles Samenow, Dr. Feseha Woldu, and the DC Health Benefit Exchange.
This award is supported by a grant from The Institute for Technology in HealthCare, a non-profit organization, located in Washington, DC. The Institute for Technology in HealthCare is concerned with the use of technology to benefit and stimulate others in health care. For more information about The Institute for Technology in HealthCare please visit the website at www.ithcawards.org.
Mary's Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and multi-service nonprofit founded in 1988 that provides integrated medical, dental, behavioral health, social services, education, and care coordination to more than 65,000 individuals annually across Washington, DC and Maryland. The organization operates under a nationally recognized Social Change Model that combines clinical care with wraparound supports to advance health, stability, and economic mobility for diverse and historically underserved communities.
Gaylord Hospital, Wallingford, CT
Grant funds went go toward the purchase of four care.ai Mobile Carts with sensors and support licensing to immediately integrate with Gaylord's existing software systems. The care.ai platform has multiple functions,including the use of AI-powered sensors to passively monitor patients, facilitate telehealth consultations, or administer virtual care. Care.ai is a subscription-based platform, so the sensors can be updated with new technology with additional hardware purchases. Gaylord will immediately integrate the platform into its workflow to conduct virtual nursing activities, including patient admission intakes with the goal of expanding its use to include virtual discharge, patient and family education, andtelesitting. The requested grant funds will directly contribute to Gaylord's ability to provide enhanced quality of care to its more than 1,400 annual inpatients and will reduce documentation burden and stress on nursing staff. Gaylord's Think Possible mindset embodies every part of its programming, including initiatives that improve patient care in the short and long term. In intensive rehabilitation, the latest technologies are essential to refining practice efficiencies, facilitating care coordination, and improving clinical outcomes. Gaylord seeks to invest in advanced technology that both addresses the current needs of patients and also contributes to new discoveries in the field. A grant to Gaylord toward the purchase of the care.ai mobile sensor carts will further our two organization's shared commitment to promote wellness within our community and further apply new and innovative technologies to the solution of health care problems.
Catholic University of America College of Engineering
Rapid Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing for Sepsis: This project will pilot a timely microfluidic reporting system that identifies effective antibiotics within 60 minutes for acute bacterial infections, such as sepsis, which contributes to 1 in 3 hospital deaths. Prescriptions to treat acute bacterial infections are empiric, using broad-spectrum antibiotics at high doses, because the urgency of treatment does not allow for standard antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST), which takes at least several hours, and some provide incomplete phenotypic susceptibility profiles. However, the current practice risks ineffective treatments, disruption of the normal bacterial balance, and the development of antibiotic resistance that deprives effective future treatments. This pilot study will test a revolutionary hypothesis that real-time bacterial motility and growth dynamics in response to multiplex antibiotic gradients can be exploited for rapid AST of acute urinary tract infections (UTIs), the majority of which are caused by motile bacteria.
Holy Cross Foundation - Bridges to Care
The Bridges to Care program will provide technology to ensure that all Holy Cross Health staff and providers have immediate access to the tools they need to communicate with patients effectively and accurately and the training to do so in a culturally appropriate manner. Communication Software for Nonverbal Patients: Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) apps; customizable symbol-based app to that allows patients to tap to share their needs Tablets: Devices, durable cases, and noise cancelling headphones Decibel Amplifiers for Hearing Support Interpreter Scheduling Software: Interpreter Management System, allows interpreters to pick shifts, respond to calls, and manage assignments Deaf and Blind Cultural Sensitivity Workshops: Customizable on-site or virtual training; covers communication tools, legal requirements, and culture training Marketing: Materials and outreach to ensure that patients in the community know about Holy Cross's Bridges to Care program
St. Bonaventure University, The Dennis R. DePerro School of Health Professions
Technology-Enhanced Cardiometabolic, Rehabilitation and Communication
Therapy Training for Rural Health: The overarching objective of this grant is to acquire and integrate a suite of innovative health technologies--the BodPod body composition system, iWorx physiology kits, Emotiv EEG headset, NeuroSensorimotor Integrator, and Virtual Reality (VR) tools--into the curriculum, research, and outreach programs of the Dennis R. DePerro School of Health Professions. Collectively, these resources will strengthen chronic disease diagnostics, rehabilitation training, communication therapy, research, and outreach in rural Western New York, a region facing disproportionate burdens of cardiometabolic conditions (obesity, diabetes, hypertension) and neurological challenges (stroke recovery, cognitive decline, communication disorders), compounded by critical workforce shortages. Building on the success of the 2023 ITHC-funded Anatomage Table--which enhanced anatomy training for over 300 students and has created new opportunities for interprofessional collaboration and high school engagement--this project advances from visualization to applied technologies for chronic disease prevention, rehabilitation
sciences, and communication health. Currently, these five suites of equipment are not available in our classrooms or community programs, creating a significant gap in preparing students for modern, technology-enabled health care. Their integration will provide hands-on training across Physician Assistant, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, and Public Health students. The BodPod enables precise body composition analysis for cardiometabolic risk; iWorx physiology kits
support real-time monitoring of cardiovascular, respiratory, and neuromuscular function; the Emotiv EEGs system provides insights into brain activity and communication disorders; the Neuro Sensorimotor
Integrator develops visual-motor and balance skills essential for rehabilitation; and VR platforms create immersive, case-based simulations incorporating chronic disease and social determinants of health (SDOH). Together, these technologies will move education beyond lectures and traditional simulation, expand outreach through screenings, prevention programs, and high school engagement via our mobile clinic, and ensure the preparation of competent, compassionate professionals equipped to serve rural
populations with skill and empathy.