June 5, 2008 - GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) formed a new company, Omnyx, to improve the speed, efficiency of diagnosis and interpretation of lab results, seeking to enable clinicians to share images virtually, interpret results using advanced algorithms and reduce costs associated with diagnosis.
The partnership aims to bring to market digital solutions to shape a new age of patient care and apply those solutions to a science that has relied on glass slides and microscopes for over 125 years. The benefit to patients could include reducing medical errors, improved turnaround time for lab results and integrating pathology information as part of his or her electronic medical record.
Operating as an independent company, with financial support from both GE and UPMC, Omnyx, will be governed by an executive board. The company will be located at a new headquarters in Pittsburgh, with additional offices in Piscataway, NJ, and other GE Healthcare facilities.
Omnyx is the first company in GE’s history to be formed with an academic medical center and represents an aim to accelerate ideas to market through enhanced co-development.
GE researchers including biologists, applied physicists, visualization scientists, mechanical and electrical engineers, high-performance computer scientists and optical engineers worked for three years to develop the first prototype systems. The research team applied GE’s extensive experience in digital X-ray imaging to overcome what appeared to be insurmountable barriers for a mainstream product: image quality and speed of scanning slides. Building on early developments in GE’s Global Research Center, Omnyx will unite UPMC’s pioneering developments in digital pathology with GE’s technology to create a viable solution for high-volume clinical use.
For more information: www.gehealthcare.com, www.omnyxpath.com, www.upmc.com
July 25, 2024 
