Newswise — LOS ANGELES – May 11, 2018 – Anne Wellington, a highly regarded healthcare executive with extensive corporate management experience, has been named managing director of the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator.

The accelerator provides mentoring and financial support for early-stage healthcare companies as part of a 90-day program with the goal of bringing health-tech innovations to the marketplace. Based in the Cedars-Sinai Innovation Space across the street from the medical center, the accelerator now is in the process of selecting its fourth class, which will commence in July. 

Wellington will lead the program, bringing together companies, Cedars-Sinai mentors, subject matter experts and investors. She also will provide her own guidance and expertise, with the aim of helping accelerator companies build successful, sustainable businesses that solve real-world problems in healthcare delivery.

"As more health systems follow Cedars-Sinai's lead in fostering innovation through accelerators, we will be growing to expand our leadership role in this space," said Darren Dworkin, senior vice president and chief information officer at Cedars-Sinai. "Anne will be working to ensure we continue to attract top-tier companies, the best talent and expand our ability to work with the new amazing technologies."

Wellington, who comes to the accelerator with a broad background of operating experience, is deeply familiar with the program, having served as entrepreneur-in-residence for the third class, whose 10 companies graduated in November. She was previously chief product officer and a founding team member at Stanson Health, a healthcare analytics company. Wellington has provided product strategy expertise to a variety of leading healthcare organizations, including the Advisory Board Co. She was part of Cedars-Sinai's electronic medical record go-live team in 2011 and began her career at Epic Systems, supporting electronic health record implementations in hospitals nationwide. 

"I'm excited to formally return to the Cedars-Sinai community," Wellington said. "Cedars-Sinai is perfectly positioned to help companies successfully bring digital health solutions to market, benefiting not only Cedars-Sinai patients, but patients around the country, as we collaborate with our network of members from across the industry."

About the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator
The Cedars-Sinai Accelerator is transforming healthcare quality, efficiency and care delivery by helping entrepreneurs bring their innovative technology products to market. This three-month program, based in Los Angeles, provides companies with $120,000 in funding, mentorship from more than 300 leading clinicians and executives, access to Cedars-Sinai and exposure to a network of more than 10,000 entrepreneurs and investors. Since 2015, the accelerator has helped dozens of companies transform healthcare delivery and patient care.

About Cedars-Sinai
Cedars-Sinai is a leader in providing high-quality healthcare encompassing primary care, specialized medicine and research. Since 1902, Cedars-Sinai has evolved to meet the needs of one of the most diverse regions in the nation, setting standards in quality and innovative patient care, research, teaching and community service. Today, Cedars-Sinai is known for its national leadership in transforming healthcare for the benefit of patients. Cedars-Sinai impacts the future of healthcare by developing new approaches to treatment and educating tomorrow's health professionals. Additionally, Cedars-Sinai demonstrates a commitment to the community through programs that improve the health of its most vulnerable residents.