Daily Business Report: Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022
Competing sports betting measures on ballot raising
$millions with lots of time left to raise more $millions
By Ben Christopher | CalMatters
If you thought the 2020 proposition campaigns were a budget-busting doozy — dominated as they were by the $200 million in spending from Uber, Lyft and Doordash — the 2020 version is shaping up to be even doozier.
First, take the two competing sports betting measures:
The campaign backing Prop. 26, which would allow in-person sports betting at tribal casinos and horse racing tracks, has now raised $107 million while the “No” campaign has scrounged together $42 million.
The backers of Propl 27, which would green-light online sports betting anywhere in the state,
have raked in $173 million, while its opponents have raised $150 million.
Doing some quick arithmetic, that works out to nearly half a billion dollars for two props. For perspective, that’s more than than all the money raised on both sides
of every proposition on the ballot in 2018 or 2016 oe 2014 or…
And there are still 56 days before Election Day.
Not that money necessarily buys you love. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times’ editorial board came out with a double-barreled non-endorsement, urging its readers to vote “no” on both the measures, which it called “foolish” and motivated by naked greed.
Top illustration by iStock
Transfer students to earn engineering
degrees thanks to $5 million NSF grant
By Katherine Connor
With a with a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the University of California San Diego is leading a new effort to support low-income transfer students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in engineering. The five-year program, called EMPOWER, will support engineering students at UC San Diego and two nearby community colleges, Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif., and Imperial Valley College in Imperial, Calif., working to eliminate opportunity gaps through comprehensive cohort-based, success-promoting programming and significant scholarships.
In addition to improving the educational experiences and outcomes of the students who directly participate, the program is designed to identify and document the most effective combinations of strategies for increasing the rate at which students who start at community colleges around the nation ultimately earn bachelor’s degrees in engineering.
The EMPOWER program will provide transfer students studying engineering at UC San Diego, as well as engineering students at Southwestern College and Imperial Valley College—both of which are Hispanic-serving institutions—with a wide range of engaging and community-building academic and social experiences. In addition, participating students will receive significant scholarship support during the school year as well as paid summer research opportunities. This year-round financial support is designed to reduce or eliminate the need for these students to work part-time jobs while pursuing engineering degrees.
Survey: Physician appointment wait
times up 8 percent from 2017
The time it takes to schedule a new patient physician appointment in 15 major metropolitan areas has increased by 8 percent since 2017 and by 24 percent from 2004, according to a new survey from AMN Healthcare and its physician search division, Merritt Hawkins. The 2022 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times and Medicare and Medicaid Acceptance Rates indicates that it now takes an average of 26 days to schedule a new patient physician appointment in 15 of the largest cities in the United States, up from 24.1 days in 2017, the last year the survey was conducted, and up from 21 days in 2004, when the survey first was conducted.
The survey tracked average new patient physician appointment wait times in five specialties: obstetrics/gynecology, cardiology, orthopedic surgery, dermatology, and family medicine. The average wait time for an OB/GYN appointment in the 15 cities surveyed is 31.4 days, up from 26.4 days in 2017, a 19 percent increase. Average OB/GYN appointment wait times are longest in Philadelphia at 56 days, and shortest in New York City at 19 days, according to the survey.
Average orthopedic surgery wait times are longest is San Diego at 55 days and shortest is Washington, D.C. at five days.
Scripps Oceanography names Joost van der Zwaag
as its new marine superintendent
By Isabelle Wong
Scripps Institution of Oceanography has hired a new marine superintendent to head its world-class fleet of scientific research vessels. Joost van der Zwaag, an experienced technical operations manager, will take on this integral role from former marine superintendent Zoltan Kelety, who held the position since 2009.
The marine superintendent oversees the operations of the research vessels at Scripps Oceanography, which actively serve the greater ocean science community around the world through oceanographic research and hands-on educational experiences.
Van der Zwaag’s impressive career at sea has equipped him well for this critical role. He earned a dual deck and engine license during his time in the navigation and marine engineering program at Zeevaartschool Abel Tasman in the Netherlands, prior to sailing for global container shipping line Maersk Worldwide as both a deck officer and an engineer. At Holland America Line, van der Zwaag climbed in ranks from third engineer to chief engineer, before moving to executive service in several operations management roles. More recently, he returned to Maersk as fleet superintendent, where he managed its four U.S.-flagged container ships in the demanding field of commercial shipping.
USD’s electronics technician Garry Frocklage
retiring after a 33-year career
Spanning over three decades, Garry Frocklage has seen his share of change over his 33-year career at the University of San Diego. Since 1989, Frocklage, who is the school’s electronics technician and a USD alumnus, has worked under four directors of the Department of Engineering in addition to Chell Roberts, the inaugural dean of the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering. He will retire this year.
He earned his AAS in Electronics Technology at Mesa College and applied for an Electronics Technician position at the University of San Diego. In July of 1989, Garry became the fourth employee hired into the engineering program.
Frocklage elected to pursue his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering at USD and over the course of 10 years, he proceeded to take two classes per semester. He studied and attended classes alongside the department’s “Fab Five” electrical engineering graduates. “It was very exciting to see and interact with the first five graduating students and all of the students since then. I’ve seen a lot of history here.”
At that time, Frocklage was offered a job with SPAWAR, but was also offered a position as manager by Dr. Kathleen Kramer, who at the time served as director of the engineering program. “I opted to stay on at USD. That was a very enjoyable position. Working closely with Dr. Kramer was truly a pleasure. I found her always cheerful and deeply concerned for the welfare of Engineering at USD.”
San Diego County’s largest environmental
cleanup day returns in-person on Sept. 17
International Coastal Cleanup Day returns to San Diego County for its 38thedition on Saturday, Sept. 17. I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) is the San Diego host for the international coastal cleanup and will be joining many U.S. states, territories, and more than 90 countries across the world. From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., San Diego County volunteers will join nearly one million volunteers worldwide in the removal of pollution from our connected ecosystems. Volunteers of all ages and across the region are invited to register. Learn more at the official San Diego Coastal Cleanup Day website CleanupDay.org.
This year’s edition of Coastal Cleanup Day, will include close to 70 cleanup sites located throughout the county at both inland and coastal areas. Inland community participation is especially encouraged as nearly 80 percent of all marine debris originates in these areas. Last year, over 2,470 volunteers came together at over 100 sites throughout the region.
Produced by I Love A Clean San Diego for the region, and in cooperation with the California Coastal Commission, Ocean Conservancy and Think Blue San Diego, the event has hosted over 269,000 volunteers countywide who have removed over 5.4 million pounds of litter and debris from local communities since its inception in 1985.
SDG&E hydrogen pilot project aims to
advance California’s clean energy goals
San Diego Gas & Electric Co. has submitted a proposal with the California Public Utilities Commission for a demonstration project on the UC San Diego campus to study how blending hydrogen with natural gas in the existing gas system could help achieve a successful energy transition for all Californians. It said this would be another step toward fulfilling regional and state climate goals and its own net zero roadmap.
If approved by the CPUC, the project would study the feasibility of injecting up to 20 percent of hydrogen into plastic natural gas pipe, a common material used in the natural gas infrastructure. An isolated section of a gas line serving a UC San Diego apartment complex would use hydrogen blended gas for common building equipment such as boilers and water heaters. Hydrogen used in this study would be produced onsite via a dedicated, grid-connected electrolyzer. The results of the study would help inform the development of a renewable hydrogen blending standard for California.
Jewish Community Foundation selects
GreenHill investment reporting services
GreenHill announced that the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) of San Diego has selected its investment performance reporting services to provide enhanced transparency and insight to the foundation’s donor network. GreenHill’s offering, together with its strategic partnership with the GiftingNetwork, represents a best-in-class level of reporting transparency and detail that offers JCF donors enhanced visibility into account activity, fee transparency, and investment performance measurement.
JCF combines donor-driven philanthropy, investing and education for maximum benefit in the community. Pursuing these goals, the organization seeks to keep donors updated at all times on all gifting and investment detail. GreenHill Investment Performance Reporting will help JCF in their mission to provide full oversight to their donors.
National Insurance Crime Bureau strengthens
ties with California Department of Insurance
The National Insurance Crime Bureau is strengthening its longstanding relationship with the California Department of Insurance. California currently ranks third in the nation for vehicle thefts per 100,000 people, and CDI is committed to reducing crime through its enforcement actions targeting insurance fraud. NICB President and CEO David Glawe was to meet with CDI Assistant Chief Shawn Conner on Monday in San Diego to discuss their continued partnership and ways to combat insurance fraud and crime.
As crime continues to increase across the U.S., including the highest vehicle theft numbers since 2008, staggering catalytic converter thefts, and fraud exceeding $300 billion nationwide each year, California is experiencing some of the highest crime rates, and therefore is the perfect place to address these issues.
Illumina Genomics Forum to convene leading visionaries
Illumina Inc. announced that it will convene a panel of leading visionaries, titled “Architecting Health’s Radically New Infrastructure,” as part of its inaugural Illumina Genomics Forum being held in San Diego from Sept. 28 through Oct.1. This main-stage session, taking place on Friday, Sept. 30, will feature renowned experts addressing the cornerstone challenges and opportunities facing the health industry, including genomics literacy, equity, public health, and pathogen preparedness.
Moderated by Joao Bosco Oliveira, head of genomics at Albert Einstein Hospital, the panel will include:
• Abasi Ene-Obong, founder and CEO, 54Gene
• Stacey Gabriel, chief genomics officer, Broad Institute
• Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner
• Chris Wigley, CEO, Genomics England
NuVasive to participate at Scoliosis Research Society meeting
San Diego-based NuVasive Inc., a leader in spine technology innovation, announced it will continue its partnership with the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) as a double diamond sponsor and will attend the 57th annual Meeting held Sept. 14-17, 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden.
“SRS is a leading society in our industry, and we share a common vision to support research and education efforts to advance care for all patients with spinal deformities,” said Chris Barry, chief executive officer at NuVasive. “It is clear that procedures integrated with enabling technology are critical in larger, complex deformity cases, and our partnership with SRS helps further our ability to push the standard of spine surgery toward more intelligent solutions.”
As part of the SRS annual meeting, NuVasive will host a workshop titled “Over a decade of MAGEC: outcomes and efficacy through data and real-world experiences” presented by Professor Kenneth Cheung, Professor Ralf D. Stücker, and Dr. Paul Sponseller, and moderated by Dr. Amer Samdani on Sept. 15, 2022.
Bluestar Genomics presents data on new
applications of its cancer detection platform
Bluestar Genomics Inc., an early cancer detection company leading the development and commercialization of next-generation liquid biopsy tests initially focused on non-invasive detection of high-mortality cancers in high-risk patients, announced the results from multiple studies highlighting the expansion of the company’s technology platform into ovarian cancer detection and tumor tissue analysis.
These new data highlight promising research on the 5hmC biomarker-based approach to noninvasive detection of a broad range of cancers including those with poor survival like pancreatic and ovarian. They show the utility of epigenomics in cancer detection beyond the company’s growing body of evidence associated with its lead pancreatic cancer detection program. The latest scientific presentations underscore the clinical promise of the 5hmC biomarker in cancer detection and monitoring – including high-mortality and common cancers, such as breast, colon, lung, ovary, and pancreas.
Cellis Therapeutics Inc. names Paul Daruwala
as new president and chief executive officer
Cellics Therapeutics Inc., a San Diego biotechnology company pioneering Cellular Nanoparticle (CNP) platform technology for drug development and delivery, announced that the company has appointed Paul Daruwala as the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective on Oct. 1.
With 30 years of experience in biotech drug development, Daruwala brings a depth of vision, as well as start-up and operational experience to Cellics.
Prior to joining Cellics, Daruwala was most recently chief operating officer at Cidara Therapeutics. During his eight-year tenure, he helped take the company public, raise capital, grow the team, advance its founding preclinical program to NDA filing, transition from a small molecule company to a biologics focused one, advance its immunotherapeutic platform from basic research into Phase 1, and establish multiple foundational partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Through this time, Daruwala contributed to a broad range of functions, including strategy, technical operations, CMC for small molecules and drug-Fc conjugates, medical affairs and operations, business development, corporate communications, and commercial launch preparations.
