Baptist signs on as partner with InMotion

November 21, 2006 --

Baptist Memorial Health Care will pay $300,000 over two years for naming rights to a lab at the InMotion Musculoskeletal Institute, an organization formed this year to do orthopedic research.

The contribution by Baptist, a group that runs clinics and hospitals, demonstrates how InMotion is gaining support from the major academic and medical institutions in the Memphis area.

It already has relationships with other groups, including the Campbell Clinic, a major orthopedic group, as well as local universities and medical device firms.

InMotion's president and executive director Dick Tarr has said cooperation among institutions will help InMotion perform basic research and create new treatments for orthopedic problems like arthritis. The group would then commercialize the inventions and split revenues among inventors and the participating institutions.

"We've been talking with everybody, and we want to build these relationships with as many of these entities as we can," said Chris Przybyszewski, InMotion's director of grants and communications.

He said the donation from Baptist lends credibility to the organization.

"Baptist is one of the best names in Memphis," he said.

The money will pay rent and cover other expenses at the group's yet-to-open laboratories at 20 South Dudley St. next to the site of the former Baptist hospital Downtown, Przybyszewski said.

Scientists at the lab will study biologics, a field that involves finding ways to repair cartilage and other tissues. The group plans to pursue similar naming-rights deals for other laboratories it plans to build, he said.

InMotion is in the process of hiring a staff of researchers in the hopes of strengthening Memphis' position as a leader in the orthopedic medical device field.

"Obviously, having Baptist participate is an example of having the community step up and say this is important," said Steve Bares, president and executive director of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, a group dedicated to promoting science-based industries in Memphis.

That group's offices are also housed in the building at 20 South Dudley, as is the Memphis Memphis Academy of Science & Engineering, a charter school.

"If you think about it, this is a building that (Baptist) donated to the Bioworks foundation," he said. "And now they're donating money to build a lab in the building they donated."

Ayoka Pond, a Baptist spokeswoman, said the deal was one of many similar contributions the health care group has made.

"This is just another way that we're supporting the Bioworks community in Downtown Memphis," she said.

-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296

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InMotion Musculoskeletal Institute

The nonprofit, incorporated earlier this year, is dedicated to advancing the orthopedic medical device industry through research and collaboration.

President and executive director: Dick Tarr

Address: 1211 Union, Suite 510

Employees: 3

This article is ﾩ 2006- Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)