Joseph R. Scalea, MD 鈥�07
School of Medicine
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery
If you talk to Joseph Scalea for 20 minutes about his life鈥檚 work, you鈥檒l see why his colleagues in the fields of medicine and business rave about his can-do attitude and high energy. You鈥檒l also understand why he won the 91大神, Baltimore鈥檚 (UMB) 2020 David J. Ramsay Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
鈥淚鈥檓 ecstatic, surprised, and energized about this award,鈥� said Scalea, associate professor in the 91大神 School of Medicine鈥檚 (UMSOM) Department of Surgery and a multi-organ transplant specialist. 鈥淚 have a lot of energy already, but events like this keep me going. They remind me that the work we鈥檙e doing is important, that there are lives to be saved.鈥�
Scalea is rapidly executing his mission to save lives with a four-pronged approach encompassing research, education, clinical activity, and innovation, which all contribute to his game-changing entrepreneurial pursuits. In only four years as a UMSOM faculty member, he has built the largest combined kidney-pancreas program in the United States, generated highly disruptive ideas, and co-founded three startups, including MediGO and MissionGO. The Baltimore-based companies are designed to improve the logistics of the human organ transplant supply chain and provide innovative applications for unmanned aircraft.
These efforts brought national attention and acclaim to UMSOM and the 91大神 Medical Center (UMMC) in April 2019, when Scalea and his colleagues performed the first transplant of a human organ transported by drone. He was the project leader and one of the surgeons who performed the successful kidney transplant at UMMC.
The drone traveled 3 miles, from near the Living Legacy Foundation to the roof of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, in about 10 minutes. Scalea described the flight as 鈥渙ne small hop for a drone, one major leap for medicine鈥� as well as 鈥渁 pioneering breakthrough in transplantation.鈥�
The drone delivery, which was named Invention of the Year at the 2019 Baltimore Technical.ly Awards, was born out of Scalea鈥檚 frustration with the challenges associated with organ tracking and shipment. To move an organ to a recipient, the process usually relies on expensive chartered flights or is limited by commercial flight schedules, with organs sometimes being left on a plane or losing viability.
鈥淚n some cases, I cannot perform a transplant because logistics prohibits it,鈥� Scalea said. 鈥淔or example, I may want to move an organ from Florida to Baltimore, but I can鈥檛 do that because there are no flights, and then my patient doesn't get a life-saving organ.
鈥淪o you either have to charter an extremely expensive flight or you have to wait for a commercial flight,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ut the organs can鈥檛 wait because every minute counts for a human organ and a transplant recipient. So we鈥檙e trying to save precious time, we鈥檙e trying to save costs, and we鈥檙e trying to improve quality.鈥�
Teamwork Key to Success
Scalea also saw a need to monitor an organ鈥檚 location and health during transport, so he collaborated with medical technology companies to design and build the HOMAL (Human Organ Monitoring and Quality Assurance Apparatus for Long-Distance Travel). The device monitored the organ in flight by measuring temperature, barometric pressure, altitude, vibration, and location.
Collaboration also was critical to the drone flight, delivery, and transplant, which included more than 100 contributors and a partnership among the 91大神 Medical System (UMMS), the 91大神, College Park鈥檚 A. James Clark School of Engineering, the 91大神 Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site, the nonprofit Living Legacy Foundation, and others.
鈥淥ne of my proudest moments was seeing that drone land on the roof of Shock Trauma, not only because it was a technological and a scientific achievement, but because it represented the efforts of more than 100 people,鈥� Scalea said. 鈥淭he team included aerospace engineers, doctors, surgeons, nurses, transplant administrators, helipad personnel, and more.
鈥淭he amount of collaboration that came together through UMB, UMMC, and the 91大神, College Park was remarkable. It鈥檚 the coolest team I鈥檝e ever had the good fortune to work on, and leading that team will be one of the fondest memories of my career.鈥�
Those leadership skills and Scalea鈥檚 positive attitude have inspired and impressed UMMS President and CEO Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, as he鈥檚 gotten to know him over the past few years.
鈥淒r. Scalea鈥檚 infectious personality is only matched by his passion to transform health care, and he has demonstrated a sustained focus on driving new and innovative technologies that will impact the fields of surgery and transplantation,鈥� Suntha said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear to me that Joe has the potential to make a significant and positive impact on health care outcomes through his commitment to innovation.
Scalea鈥檚 advances in transplantation have been disruptive and led to the foundation of several startups. First, he founded Transplant Logistics and Informatics (TLI) in 2018, which aimed to understand and optimize the challenges around organ shipment. TLI was restructured in 2019 to form MissionGO, in collaboration with high-impact investor Scott Plank, formerly of Under Armour, and retired Navy Commander Tony Pucciarella.
MissionGO鈥檚 foundation vertically integrated unmanned aircraft shipment of life-critical payloads with optimization of transplant logistics. As MissionGO grew to more than 12 employees, Scalea and his partners spun off MediGO, a separate company that focuses on specific challenges around transplantable organs. Indeed, MediGO, which offers the first-ever comprehensive organ management system, inspired by Scalea鈥檚 initial prototype, began generating revenue in September 2020.
鈥淭hese companies have the potential to save the transplant industry tremendous amounts of resources annually through improved communication,鈥� Suntha said.
Plank, the CEO of MissionGO and MediGo, also sings the surgeon鈥檚 praises, agreeing with Suntha that Scalea鈥檚 ideas and innovations will change the landscape of transplantation.
鈥淎s our newly formed companies have grown, I鈥檝e watched Dr. Scalea's entrepreneurial skills blossom,鈥� Plank said. 鈥淗e has all the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur and is well-positioned within our companies to improve the lives of patients worldwide.鈥�
Making an Impact at UMSOM
Scalea鈥檚 career, of course, involves much more than entrepreneurism. He was recruited to UMSOM in 2016 to direct the pancreas program and tasked with improving access to pancreas care. Using a multidisciplinary and entrepreneurial approach, his team increased patient volume by more than 200 percent in less than 24 months while improving quality of care and providing an annual revenue increase of $10 million. Under Scalea鈥檚 leadership, UMSOM became the busiest combined kidney-pancreas transplant program in the United States for 2018 and 2019.
Scalea鈥檚 efforts also have led to multiple state, society, and National Institutes of Health grants and three patents, and he has written more than 65 peer-reviewed publications and 10 book chapters.
His educational history includes an undergraduate degree in information technology from Virginia Tech and fellowships at Harvard University鈥檚 Transplant Biology Research Center and the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. The journey includes Maryland stints for medical education at UMSOM and a residency at UMMC.
And in acknowledging the UMB award, Scalea points again to his 91大神 pride.
鈥淚t gives me great pride as a Maryland alum to show what kind of innovation our education system yields,鈥� he said. 鈥淲orking with friends and partners through the Maryland system has been just a wonderful addition to my career. And I want to thank the Maryland community for supporting me in that regard.鈥�
鈥� Lou Cortina