Impact Report | HonorHealth Research Institute
Your generosity improves, extends and saves lives
Your kindness, compassion and generosity shape the future of medicine by giving the HonorHealth Research Institute the resources to develop novel treatments and technologies, discover new drug protocols and expand scientific knowledge. All benefiting patients and families here in our community and around the world.
Through our clinical trials and applied research, we’ve given hope and improved patients’ lives from all 50 states and 28 different countries around the globe. It’s the generosity of donors that has made the Institute a patient destination for treatments often available nowhere else.
Philanthropy makes this and so much more possible. YOU make a difference when and where it’s needed most.
With your continued support, our physicians and scientists can uncover innovative new strategies and offer hope for patients who may have exhausted all their options elsewhere.
And for that, we thank you!
Download the HonorHealth Research Institute Impact Report (PDF format)
“I am inspired to work with an exceptional team of clinical research professionals, affiliates and supporters. The Institute truly is “Better, Together,” and together we are providing hope and changing the fortunes of patients with limited options from standard care.”
— MARK A. SLATER, PhD
CEO, HonorHealth Research Institute
Making great care possible is just the start!
Through the generosity of philanthropic donors like you, HonorHealth Research Institute’s renowned physician-scientists provide new hope to patients with rare, recurring or difficult-to-treat conditions.
It’s your kindness and compassion that enable the Research Institute to continue to discover new treatment protocols and drug therapies and introduce new medical devices through our cancer, cardiovascular, GI/bariatrics, multispecialty and neuroscience research divisions. All with one goal in mind: To improve, extend and save lives.
In 2023, HonorHealth Research Institute accelerated innovation, while seamlessly integrating the best science. Institute investigators initiated 82 new clinical trials last year, representing one-third of the Institute’s 255 ongoing clinical studies.
And nearly 2,700 patient visits ensured novel innovations are available for personalized applications for patients’ specialty needs across the Institute, providing new hope for challenging conditions.
Exciting advances from the Institute in 2023 are making care safer for patients and caregivers, more effective and providing longer, healthier lives locally and globally:
- Innovations in radiation protection
- Prevention of ALS
- Trauma and concussion treatment
- Cardiac rhythm control
- Early detection and treatment of cancers, including melanoma, pancreatic, brain, women’s cancers, GI/Bariatrics and pulmonary
Accomplishing the incredible!
In 2023, HonorHealth Research Institute impacted the value and quality of patient care by accelerating innovation, while seamlessly integrating the latest science, including:
- 255 active clinical studies
- 180 active investigations
- 82 new clinical studies initiated
- 5 FDA novel therapy approvals
- 4,742 research participants within the last five years
Because of you
In June, Lars Isaksson became the first person in the nation to receive an artificial heart valve in a procedure using ultrasound imaging enhanced by Artificial Intelligence. And it happened at HonorHealth
Research Institute.
He underwent a procedure known as a transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR. In this less invasive procedure, interventional cardiologists replace the valve governing the flow of blood from the heart to the aorta, the large artery that funnels blood to the entire body.
Lars, an 81-year-old Scottsdale resident, had open-heart surgery a decade earlier to replace this same valve, but it eventually failed, resulting in shortness of breath and an inability to get around and do what he wanted:
“I felt lousy. I was very tired,” Lars said. This time, a nonsurgical, catheter-based procedure was used in which the valve is placed through a large leg vein up into the heart.
To guide the placement of the new artificial valve, Dr. Robert Burke, HonorHealth’s Director of Non-Invasive Cardio Diagnostics, used a new type of ultrasound that uses AI to lock onto images of the heart and its internal components. By placing the ultrasound device down the esophagus, or throat, Dr. Burke can view the backside of the heart to better see any aortic valve problems.
“Using this new echo, we were able to go in and guide the replacement with the new valve,” Dr. Burke said. “The valve functioned great. There was no leak. Lars had a significant clinical improvement overnight. He did wonderfully and he’s doing great.”
HonorHealth Foundation is grateful for your transformational investment in our community!
As a nonprofit, community-based health system, HonorHealth relies on your kindness and generosity to help provide the exceptional care you and your family expect and deserve.
Every patient’s experience with HonorHealth is enhanced through philanthropy. Because of you, we can dramatically improve the patient experience at one of the most stressful and frightening times of their lives.
“HonorHealth Research Institute is increasingly a destination and beacon of hope for those facing rare cancers. Advances against them cannot be made until someone makes them a priority. Powered by generosity, we are transforming and saving the lives of patients who typically have had little — if any — hope.”
— MICHAEL S. GORDON, MD
CMO, HonorHealth Research Institute
Download the HonorHealth Research Institute Impact Report (PDF format)