by Ashleigh Sanchez
Daily Lobo
A team of doctors and nurses from UNM Hospital is a finalist in a national competition and could fetch them up to $5 million.
Project ECHO uses video conferencing to educate doctors and nurses from rural areas about complex diseases such as diabetes and Hepatitis C, said Wesley Pak, who runs communication systems for Project ECHO.
"This is a big thing for us," he said. "We can get recognized nationally and globally, and we have the potential to receive
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$5 million."
Project ECHO, UCLA and Planned Parenthood are now eligible for a grant of up to $5 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said Sanjeev Arora, project director and vice chairman of clinical affairs at UNM
Hospital.
The foundation sponsored the competition, and three finalists were chosen through online
voting.
The team won about $5,000 upfront, Arora said.
Project ECHO beat out about 300 teams, including Stanford, Columbia and Johns Hopkins.
"This is huge," Arora said. "We were voted No. 1."
The foundation will determine the amount of money awarded based on the needs of the winning project, he said.
Arora said the team is focused on getting the grant, but the $5,000 prize is nice.
"That money will go to the team members to have some fun," he said. "Our focus is on the
$5 million."
If Project ECHO receives the grant, Arora said he plans to expand the reach of its services.
The services include linking doctors and nurses in rural and underserved communities with teams of specialized doctors in Albuquerque, he said.
Arora said the project began four years ago when he set out to address complex medical issues and the lack of knowledge to deal
with them.
"I saw a need," he said. "So many people in these areas had these diseases, and not one was being treated for it."
