Health Sciences and Services Authority of Spokane County (HSSA) is proud to announce the recipients of Matching Grants for bioscience based economic development approved at the October and November 2024 meetings of the Board of Trustees.
Precision Quantomics (PQ) was awarded a $294,540 HSSA matching grant after the WSU spinoff won a Phase 1 SBIR Award from the National Institute of Health. This award is particularly meaningful to HSSA as PQ Founder Dr. Bhagwat Prasad was recruited to the Spokane area in 2019 with a grant to WSU to recruit scientific faculty to the region who brought federal research dollars with them. Dr. Prasad has brought 5.2 million dollars in extramural follow-on funding to the region, had 62 scientific publications, and trained 7 Post Doctoral and 3 PhD students, 1 of whom received a federal grant of their own, during his time at WSU Spokane.
Even as Dr. Prasad plans a move out of the region, Precision Quantomics will live on in Spokane County adding staff here and working to decrease health disparities and improve health outcomes for underrepresented patient groups such as children, women, racial minorities, elderly individuals and disease specific populations.These groups have historically been excluded from drug testing, leading to unintended health disparities, including disproportionate occurrences of unforeseen adverse events and reduced efficacy of approved drugs. PQ’s work will change this.
Two other growing Spokane County based businesses received $250,000 matching grants from HSSA as well. Slate Dental’s HSSA matching grant will support their work creating a warehouse and fulfilment center where new jobs will be created in Spokane County while making improvements in oral health that are linked to other long term health concerns like Alzheimer’s Disease. Blaze Barrier’s matching grant that will add staff to catalyze their work bringing their wildfire prevention product to market. In addition to immediate dangers, wildfires have created several significant health risks in our region including poor air quality, respiratory challenges and mental health concerns.
The Spokane Regional Health District also received a $47,500 HSSA matching grant to support their work on the Quality of Life Survey. Information collected in this report is used to
