How March of Dimes Established an Innovation Fund to Further Its Mission
Erika and Kris Young are loving parents to Sommer Vivienne Young, their infant daughter who tragically only lived for an hour and 50 minutes. During her short life, she never opened her eyes or took a breath on her own. The Youngs' story is not that different from many first-time parents. Even though Erika needed to be induced, her vitals, and her baby’s heart rate, movement and ultrasound all appeared normal right before delivery.
The hospital and doctors who reviewed Sommer’s case are still uncertain about what caused her death. The California-based couple were left without real answers. Now, in an effort to honor their daughter's legacy and prevent other families from a similar fate, they are supporting cutting-edge ventures through March of Dimes Innovation Fund to advance maternal and infant health solutions.
The truth is, outcomes like Summer’s are far too common in the United States, where maternal and infant health is in crisis. Our latest report card showed more than 380,500 babies (10.4% of all births) were born preterm, one of the leading causes of infant death in the United States and around the world, forcing us to issue our nation a D+ for the second year in a row.
Just as troubling, infant and maternal deaths are both on the rise. For mothers, the death rate has more than doubled between 2018 to 2021 and newly released data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows a 3% spike in infant mortality in 2022, the largest increase in decades.
While this maternal and infant health crisis affects all families, Black, Hispanic and Native American women and their babies are drastically and disproportionately impacted. This puts individuals in these populations at a higher risk for poor outcomes and widens broader gaps in health equity that put our country behind.
With statistics like these and stories like the Youngs' it’s clear that it’s time to take new measures to create real change. The March of Dimes Innovation Fund is a venture philanthropy initiative that uses donated funds to invest in early-stage companies addressing the most pressing maternal and infant health challenges to improve outcomes and impact moms’ and babies’ lives now. As the leading organization fighting to improve the health of moms and babies, we know it’s on us to support scientific breakthroughs that tackle causes of poor outcomes. Through this work, we are supporting innovative companies with proven or strong potential for impact, that are poised to benefit from March of Dimes’ investment and support.
The Innovation Fund’s strategic design reflects our organization’s unique place in the market and synthesizes key lessons from successful models of venture philanthropy.
Since launching in September of 2022, March of Dimes has invested in three companies so far — Iron Health, Raydiant Oximetry and PyrAmes Health. Each provides a pathway for March of Dimes to impact maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
Iron Health is a virtual women’s health platform on a mission to close the current gaps in women’s healthcare by empowering OB-GYNs with additional care services, such as mental health support, to extend its latitude of care. Since our partnership began, the company has achieved commercial traction with multiple customers to serve its patients.
Raydiant Oximetry is developing a low-cost, non-invasive biomedical device to monitor the oxygen levels in fetal blood during labor. The company was recently awarded a substantial National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to advance their fetal oximetry technology in line with the company’s goal to identify fetal distress and avoid medically unnecessary cesarean sections, which can have implications for mom and baby.
Most recently, we invested in PyrAmes Health, a digital health company focused on improving the delivery of healthcare through continuous blood pressure monitoring that is accurate, wireless and noninvasive. Blood pressure can cause many complications for both mom and baby including preterm birth, preeclampsia, stroke, placental abruption and even death. PyrAmes Health recently received Food and Drug Administration approval for its neonatal blood pressure monitoring device and is developing a maternal blood pressure monitoring product with the support of a NIH grant.
Looking ahead, March of Dimes envisions a future where the Innovation Fund continues to make strategic investments to advance its mission. A fundraising goal of $10 million in philanthropic funds underscores the commitment of the organization and its donors to fortify our mission. We recently published a white paper that outlines the ways venture capital can fuel these goals, with a focus on attracting new capital to invest in companies bringing needed products and services to the market so that we can turn the tide of the maternal and infant health crisis. The Innovation Fund represents not just a way for donors to make investments in needed solutions, but also a visionary commitment to shaping a healthier future for all moms and babies across the nation.
The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.
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Dr. Elizabeth Cherot serves as the president, CEO and first physician leader at the March of Dimes. She previously led the nonprofit’s Office of Maternal and Child Health Impact.
She is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and brings more than two decades of experience managing numerous maternal and infant health initiatives. Prior to March of Dimes, Cherot served as the chief medical officer for Axia Women’s Health, one of the largest fully integrated women’s health care groups in the United States. She holds a medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, along with an executive master’s degree in business administration and a Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University.
