Leigh and Jonathan Levy
Jonathan and Leigh Levy and their young sons
Dell Medical School’s mission is to revolutionize the way people get and stay healthy. To do that, the school needs to get its ideas out into the world. One way is through commercialization — bringing Dell Med health innovations into the marketplace where they can benefit consumers.
Mellie Price, executive director of commercialization, heads the school’s work to advance the most promising work from the medical school and the community into commercial products and services.
“Commercialization is another way we’re rethinking health,” Price said. “It provides an alternative funding source for the long-term sustainability of the med school while enabling health transformation through innovative new products and services.”
However, making commercialization work requires an infrastructure in place to move ideas forward, which takes seed money. That’s where philanthropy comes in. Austin residents Leigh and Jonathan Levy saw the need — and the potential benefits — and have given the first major gift toward the school’s commercialization program.
“The Levys understand how commercialization can magnify the impact of the medical school over the long term,” Price said. “It’s a gift that keeps on giving.”
Part of what appealed to the Levys about supporting Price’s work is its potential to benefit both the world and the city they call home.
“Mellie’s work will foster groundbreaking discoveries and innovations, ultimately leading them into the marketplace,” Jonathan said. “It is hard to ignore the positive impact on Austin’s economy and society at large.”
Another way philanthropy benefits the medical school is by helping it maximize the return on investment. Commercialization of university scientific discoveries typically involves licensing a discovery to a company for a share of the proceeds. Philanthropy makes it possible for the school to advance ideas further in the commercialization process, allowing it to benefit from its own ideas on a larger scale.
“This type of catalytic philanthropy enables the potential for greater returns beyond the more traditional approaches to commercialization,” Price said.
Leigh and Jonathan, who both received undergraduate degrees from The University of Texas at Austin, view their Founders Circle level gift as a long-term investment, just with a different return profile.
“In addition to creating jobs and economic opportunity, Dell Med can generate widespread social impact through the incubation of innovative health care solutions,” Jonathan said. “It was important for us to support those new discoveries that could positively change our world — all while furthering the mission of the university for years to come.”
By providing another revenue source for the medical school, which receives $35 million annually from a voter-approved tax initiative, Dell Med is working to create additional revenue streams that fund its mission and allow the school to continue being a careful steward of the public’s investment.
“Investing in our community at a micro level is very meaningful,” Price said. “It creates jobs. It creates economic mobility, and it helps disseminate our work, which is core to our mission.”
According to an analysis by TXP, Inc., the medical district where Dell Medical School lives should generate more than $2 billion annually in economic activity and 15,000 jobs.
Part of the reason the Levys chose to support commercialization is their faith in Price, an experienced investor, executive, fund manager and eight-time entrepreneur. Among her successes she founded Front Gate Tickets, which grew into one of the country’s largest privately held ticketing companies by the time it was sold to Live Nation in 2015. She also co-founded two health care technology companies along with Capital Factory, a nationally recognized technology accelerator program and early-stage investment fund.
“Mellie brings a level of expertise and experience that arguably overqualifies her in a traditional academic setting,” Leigh said. “We are lucky to have her at Dell Med.”
“Going from concept to a commercially viable product or service can be a challenging journey,” Jonathan said. “It takes the right mindset and discipline to navigate the points at which innovation fails to progress — an aptitude that Mellie has successfully repeated over her career.”
The commercialization programs at Dell Med integrate with a variety of other strategic initiatives to bolster the Austin ecosystem and develop a health product pipeline. For example, the Texas Health Catalyst provides a panel of expert advice for researchers and entrepreneurs working to mature their products from concept to commercial viability. Additionally, the Dell Med clinical program development team collaborates with the Commercialization Office to evaluate and plan for the introduction of emerging products into our own clinics.
Having such a focused commercialization effort, especially one that includes ideas not only from the medical school but also from the community, is one of the things that makes Dell Medical School different from its peers.
“Between the forward-thinking vision, the implementation of an innovative business model and the unprecedented community partnerships, Dell Med is uniquely positioned to catalyze an ecosystem,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan is a partner at Brown Advisory, a private investment firm. Leigh is senior counsel at Pulman, Cappuccio, Pullen, Benson & Jones, LLP, a law firm. Both Life Members of Texas Exes, Leigh and Jonathan believe in the importance of alumni supporting the university.
“Our lives have been enriched by the university as students and alums,” Leigh said. “We have forged meaningful relationships, made memorable experiences and developed both personally and professionally. I hope others share a similar sentiment and also the desire to support the institution.”
In addition to Dell Medical School philanthropy, donors can also give to the Dell Med Commercialization Fund at the Austin Community Foundation. For more information about this type of gift, contact Dell Medical School’s development office.
Published May 2018