Washington State is an international leader in global health and a growing hub of pioneering research and innovation to improve the lives of people around the world. Recognizing the region’s potential in this arena, the State Legislature tasked the Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) to fund promising global health technologies and create jobs in Washington state. LSDF contracted the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA) to analyze grant proposals and administer funds to promote the development and delivery of global health technologies and products. WGHA refers to this program as the Washington Global Health Fund.
A Foundation for the Future
The original idea for a grant-making program to fund global health efforts in Washington was established in July 2021 when the Legislature designated seed funding to support grants for the commercialization of emerging global health technologies in the state. The 2021 legislation stated:
It is the intent of the Legislature to stimulate the state’s economy and foster job creation in the emerging field of global health while improving the health of the people in Washington state and the world. The purpose of this act is to create a funding mechanism and a grant program to ensure that Washington remains competitive in global health innovation and to guarantee that the development, manufacture, and delivery of global health products will become an even more dynamic part of the state’s economy.
In 2021, Governor Christine Gregoire appointed a ten-person Board of Directors to oversee the Fund and select the grantees. Now under management of the Washington Global Health Alliance, the Fund’s Awards Committee is comprised of these same individuals, representing a wealth of global health and commercialization knowledge. Click here for a printable summary of the Fund and the 2022 grantees. A summary of the impact of the first three years of grants is available here.
Our Mission
The mission of Washington Global Health Fund is to accelerate the commercialization of global health technologies and expand the global health sector in Washington state.
Impact
In the first three years, WGHF awarded $808,000 for the creation of 27 new jobs and 60,200 devices that will directly benefit more than 35,000 people. Grantees leveraged the funding provided and secured an additional $816,000 for their projects. To read our grantees’ own words about how we’ve help them click here.