Daily Business Report-Sept. 18, 2019
Karen Christman, professor in the Department of Bioengineering at UC San Diego, led the development of Ventrigel, a hydrogel to repair heart tissue after heart attacks.
FDA-approved trial shows Hydrogel to repair
heart is safe to inject in humans — a first
Ventrix, a University of California San Diego spin-off company, has successfully conducted a first-in-human, FDA-approved Phase 1 clinical trial of an injectable hydrogel that aims to repair damage and restore cardiac function in heart failure patients who previously suffered a heart attack.
The trial is the first to test a hydrogel designed to repair cardiac tissue. It is also the first to test a hydrogel made from the natural scaffolding of cardiac muscle tissue, also known as extracellular matrix, or ECM. This is significant because ECM hydrogels have been shown in preclinical studies to potentially be effective for other conditions, such as poor blood circulation due to peripheral artery disease.
The trial showed that the hydrogel, known as VentriGel, can be safely injected via catheter into patients who had suffered a heart attack in the past 2 to 36 months.
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San Diego voters promised billions in
infrastructure fixes, but money running dry
inewsource
Three years after San Diego voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to boost money to fix roads, sidewalks and storm drains, funding is falling far short of projections and is expected to run out by the summer of 2022.
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San Diego Community College
District adopts $755 million budget
The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) Board of Trustees has adopted a $755 million budget for 2019-20 that prioritizes student success.
The balanced 2019-20 budget is the second under California’s “Student Centered Funding Formula” for community colleges. Under the new formula, 70 percent of state dollars are based on enrollment, with 20 percent based on the number of low-income students enrolled in a district, and 10 percent based on student performance outcomes. Previously, budgets were based completely on enrollment.
For 2019-20, the SDCCD anticipates serving approximately 60,000 students at San Diego City, Mesa and Miramar colleges and another 40,000 students through San Diego Continuing Education. Budget highlights for 2019-20 include approximately $2.4 million received by the district from the state to fund the San Diego Promise, free tuition program. Those students who do pay fees will continue to pay $46 a unit, the lowest of any public higher education system in the nation.
The district’s adopted budget represents an 8 percent reduction compared with the 2018-19 adopted budget.
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Board of Equalization to gather information
on modernizing state property tax system
The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) will hold the first of four statewide information hearings on Thursday, Sept. 19, in San Diego to gather information from industry experts and the public on “Modernizing California’s Property Tax System.” In partnership with the San Diego Assessor Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr., the hearing will encourage the county assessors, taxpayers, taxpayer advocates, the business community and others, who are interested in participating in the discussions, to participate and provide comments.
The San Diego hearing will be from noon to 5 p.m. at the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority Administration Building (3rd floor board room), 3225 North Harbor Drive, San Diego.
Thursday’s meeting will focus on emerging issues that may affect the administration of property taxes and bring to light the challenges facing California’s property tax system. A panel of industry experts will discuss the current and future state of property tax administration at the national, state, and local level, and will provide background on how the complex system works.
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Eastridge Workforce Solutions announces
employee stock ownership plan
Eastridge Workforce Solutions announced that it will offer to its employees’ stock ownership in the company over a three-year vesting schedule. The international company will extend the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to Eastridge’s internal and contract employees.
The announcement stems from an idea created by brothers, business partners and leaders of Eastridge Workforce Solutions, Adam and Jason Svet. After more than 10 years with the company, Adam took over as chief executive officer in 2017, after the passing of their father and Eastridge founder, Robert Svet. The Svet brothers want to ensure their father’s vision for the company and its culture are honored, all while continuing to innovate and expand Eastridge Workforce Solutions.
Eastridge Workforce Solutions is headquartered in Mission Valley with more than 300 internal employees across the globe. Founded in 1972, the almost 50-year-old company offers full-service recruitment and workforce management solutions to a variety of industries.
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San Diego Museum of Art names Ladan Akbarnia
as new curator of South Asian and Islamic Art
The San Diego Museum of Art has hired Ladan Akbarnia as the new curator of South Asian and Islamic Art. Akbarnia will begin her role on Oct. 15.
Akbarnia comes to the Museum with 20 years of specialized curatorial and research experience in the arts of the Islamic world, in particular from Iran, Central Asia and India. She has worked with reputable institutions across the world, including in her most recent role as curator and assistant keeper for the Islamic Collections at The British Museum in London, where she was a lead curator for the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World.
Akbarnia previously served as executive director at the Iran Heritage Foundation in London and associate curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum, where she was responsible for the 2009 reinstallation of the Islamic gallery and the exhibition “Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam,” and as research assistant for the Islamic Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Akbarnia was a consultant for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Museum Support Unit in Switzerland and taught Islamic art history at Smith College and Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
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Port of San Diego Auditor
Bob Monson announces retirement
Port of San Diego Auditor Bob Monson has announced he is retiring from the public agency that manages San Diego Bay and 34 miles of its waterfront.
Monson started with the Port in March 1993 in the Audit, Risk Management and Safety Department as an auditor. Appointed port auditor by the Board of Port Commissioners in February 2013, Monson has assisted the board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities for the integrity of the Port’s financial statement, the Port’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and the effectiveness of the Port’s internal control systems.
Among Monson’s notable accomplishments is a favorable peer review report in 2017 by the Institute of Internal Auditors, which validates the credibility of the Port Auditor’s Office as well as the vision of the office “to be a regional model dedicated to providing professional world-class auditing services to advance the public’s understanding and trust in the Port.”
Monson’s retirement will begin at the end 2019. He looks forward to spending time with his wife, travelling and being on the water on a kayak or paddle board.
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USD chosen for The Rockefeller Foundation-
Acumen Student Social Innovation Challenge
The University of San Diego’s Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge has been selected to be part of The Rockefeller Foundation-Acumen Student Social Innovation Challenge. The other participants are Big Ideas at Berkeley, Innovation in Action and MIT Ideas.
The Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge has received funding and access to an exclusive set of student resources that leverage the experience of The Rockefeller Foundation and Acumen in building successful social enterprises.
Winning teams from the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge will be invited to join a social innovator network hosted by Acumen where they can connect with peer innovators and receive ongoing support.
Launched in 2011 as a joint program of USD School of Business and Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, the Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) inspires college students to tackle humanity’s pressing problems through social innovation and entrepreneurship. Since then the SIC has been expanded to include local universities in San Diego and the Tijuana, Mexico region.
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Puerto Rico and San Diego social entrepreneurs
to headline Women’s Empowerment benefit
Women Empowered: Local Action for Global Impact, a benefit for Women’s Empowerment International, will unite international change-makers and leading local advocates to explore innovative solutions for women’s economic empowerment. The Oct. 13th benefit will draw 200 San Diego influencers, philanthropists and social activists to raise funds to empower and train low-income women entrepreneurs in San Diego, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Haiti, Uganda and Honduras. Guest speakers include Amarilis Pagan Jimenez of Proyecto Matria in Puerto Rico; Dr. Teresa Smith of Dreams for Change in San Diego; and Dr. Elizabeth Reed of Girls Invest in San Diego.
The event is at 6 p.m. at the Museum of Photographic Arts on El Prado in Balboa Park. Tickets are from $50. For more details, visig www.womenempowerment.org.
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Elite Status awarded to Sharp
HealthCare’s affiliated medical groups
Sharp HealthCare’s affiliated medical groups, Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group and Sharp Community Medical Group, have been awarded “Elite Status” by America’s Physician Groups — the organization’s highest ranking — as part of its 2019 Standards of Excellence survey. This is the tenth consecutive year APG has recognized both Sharp Rees-Stealy and Sharp Community Medical Group.
To achieve Elite Status, organizations must receive five-star ratings in six publicly reported domains: Care Management Practices, Information Technology, Accountability and Transparency, Patient-Centered Care, Group Support of Advanced Primary Care and Administrative and Financial Capability.
