From bench to bedside: How WARF and GE HealthCare turn ideas into impact

By Jason Polzin, General Manager, Global MR Applications Platform and Research Technologies, GE HealthCare, and Erik Iverson, CEO, WARF

At its best, innovation in health care is not just about invention. It's about partnership-to build bridges between academia and industry, discovery and application, people and purpose. Over more than three decades, GE HealthCare, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation have built one of the nation's most productive research and product development collaborations. What began with a licensing agreement has evolved into a model for translating scientific breakthroughs into medical technologies that change lives.

This collaboration is not simply about sharing geography. It reflects a long-standing mutual commitment to advancing health care through applied research, early clinical evaluation and patient-centered design. In marking WARF's centennial, we see an opportunity to reflect on what makes this collaboration effective, and what it can teach others.

A Model for Translational Research

At the core of this relationship is a simple but powerful idea: get the best tools into the hands of the brightest scientists early. GE HealthCare regularly works with UW-Madison researchers on the development of medical imaging technologies, giving UW and GEHC a unique opportunity to test and refine ideas before they reach commercial availability.

That early research has led to tangible clinical innovations. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) clinical applications and computed tomography (CT) protocols developed and optimized in the UW-Madison Department of Radiology are used in hospitals around the world. Clinicians benefit from tools that are more intuitive and efficient. Patients benefit from products that help clinicians reach faster diagnoses and more personalized care.

One example involves quantitative imaging, a field focused on extracting meaningful data from scans. By advancing image interpretation methods using artificial intelligence, UW-Madison researchers have helped improve the precision of imaging biomarkers, including in the liver, working toward making it possible for clinicians to detect disease earlier and track progression more reliably. These methods have helped guide cancer therapy and contributed to more accurate neurological assessments.

Another area of collaboration focuses on workflow optimization, where GE HealthCare and UW-Madison are designing tools that allow radiologists to work more efficiently in high-volume settings. As the strain on health care workers rises while demand for imaging increases, these solutions are becoming vital to maintaining a strong workforce and access to care.

A Talent Engine for Imaging Innovation

Part of what makes this partnership unique is its integration across the research and development pipeline. UW-Madison's Department of Medical Physics, one of the top-ranked programs in the world, plays a central role, training more medical physicists than any other institution globally. Many graduates go on to join GE HealthCare, while others contribute as inventors and clinical collaborators.

This ongoing exchange of talent and ideas has helped sustain a culture of shared inquiry and technical rigor. It's a model where students, faculty and industry scientists work shoulder to shoulder-with WARF helping translate those collaborations into lasting impact.

WARF's Translational Role

WARF's contributions are pivotal. Since the early 1990s, WARF has licensed to GE HealthCare dozens of inventions, supporting product development in areas ranging from imaging sequences to software tools to contrast agents. These licenses form the legal and commercial foundation for long-term innovation, ensuring that GE HealthCare scientists and UW-Madison researchers can pursue high-impact work with clarity around intellectual property rights.

In addition to licensing, WARF provides early-stage venture support, helps assess market readiness and serves as a translator between academia and industry. That role is more than transactional; it is strategic. By aligning incentives, WARF helps ensure that discoveries are not just published but deployed.

A Growing Innovation Ecosystem

The GE HealthCare-UW-WARF model also supports broader economic development in Wisconsin. Many of WARF's recent startup companies trace their roots to imaging and clinical technologies. Some are led by former GE HealthCare executives who now mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs.

This local network-connecting research, commercialization and capital-reinforces Wisconsin's position as a national leader in biohealth innovation. The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub was recently awarded $49 million by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, reflecting that leadership. The initiative aims to accelerate work in precision imaging, radiopharmaceuticals and digital health, with GE HealthCare, WARF and UW-Madison all playing integral roles.

Looking to the Next Frontier

As the pace of medical innovation accelerates, partnerships like this will become even more critical. The convergence of imaging, AI and molecular diagnostics is creating new opportunities to catch disease earlier and tailor treatment with greater precision.

The GE HealthCare-UW partnership is already exploring these frontiers. In theranostics-the use of radioactive compounds to both image and treat disease-researchers are working on new agents that could vastly improve outcomes in cancer care. These efforts are supported by WARF Therapeutics and other translational platforms that connect campus labs with clinical partners and investors.

What lies ahead will require deeper integration, shared risk and long-term vision. Universities and companies alike must invest in the infrastructure, relationships and trust required to make innovation scalable and sustainable.

As WARF celebrates 100 years of supporting discovery, its partnership with GE HealthCare stands out as a testament to what is possible when institutions commit not only to research, but to impact. Together, GE HealthCare, WARF and UW-Madison have built a model that translates lab discoveries into clinical tools-improving care, growing companies and training the innovators of tomorrow.

As this partnership continues to evolve, the possibilities are only beginning to unfold. The next generation of discoveries promises to unlock even deeper insights that could lead to stronger patient outcomes. With each breakthrough, the GE HealthCare-UW-WARF partnership offers a catalyst for change-bridging discovery and delivery in ways that were once unimaginable.