An online system to improve the communication skills of health care professionals developed by Drexel University College of Medicine's Christof Daetwyler, MD, is one of four projects to receive funding from the University City Science Center's QED Proof-of-Concept Program.

Daetwyler, an associate professor in the Department of Family, Community and Preventive Medicine, specializes in integrating computer technology and alternative media with medical education. His project, which will provide practice, assessment, and feedback of communications skills to health care professionals, was among four selected from a pool of 65 submissions from 14 universities in the Greater Philadelphia region.

The QED Program is described by the Science Center as the nation's first multi-institutional proof-of-concept program for life science technologies. It aims to bridge the "valley of death" – the gap between research grants and commercial seed investment, by awarding grants to life science and digital health technologies with high potential in the health care industry.

Daetwyler's project received business guidance from QED advisors Shawn Bridy and Aaron Moskowitz and will receive a total award of $100,000. Click here to read more.