The Focused Ultrasound Foundation is powered by a dedicated team whose work accelerates the development and adoption of focused ultrasound around the world. In our Focused In series, we spotlight members of the Foundation staff to share their roles, perspectives, achievements, and to celebrate the impact they make in transforming patients’ lives.
Emily Whipple, PhD, MBA, is the director of strategic initiatives for the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. In this role, Emily works to advance the Foundation’s mission by fostering collaborations, funding impactful research, and driving greater awareness of this transformative technology.
Tell us about your role with the Foundation.
My background bridges science and business, which allows me to identify strategic opportunities and align stakeholders that move focused ultrasound from the lab to the clinic. I’m especially passionate about building partnerships that create real-world impact and improve patient outcomes. Through collaborations with researchers, industry leaders, and peer foundations, I help shape programs that expand access to focused ultrasound worldwide.
With what types of organizations does the Foundation partner?
We collaborate with leading academic institutions and medical centers to support groundbreaking research and training. Today, we have 16 global Centers of Excellence, each recognized for their leadership in translational and clinical research, patient care, and education. We’re currently funding studies at more than 50 sites around the world.
Our partnerships with industry help bridge the gap between research and commercialization, ensuring that promising treatments can reach patients faster.
We also work closely with government agencies and regulatory bodies to support policy, funding, and infrastructure efforts that enable the field to grow.
Finally, we collaborate with advocacy groups and non-profits to raise awareness, share resources, and promote patient access. Together, these alliances are helping to shape the future of medicine by making focused ultrasound a more widely available noninvasive therapeutic option.
What are some examples of partnerships that have increased the awareness and adoption of focused ultrasound?
We work with each of these partners to foster collaborative research, co-fund projects, and support public education efforts.
- Webinars – In the past year, for instance, we partnered with the Breast Cancer Alliance, the Society of Interventional Radiology, and the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Alliance to host four webinars reaching both the scientific and patient communities.
- Co-Funding Research – To expand the pipeline of focused ultrasound research, we’ve recently launched co-funding programs with the ALS Association, Race Against Dementia in the UK, and the BrightFocus Foundation.
- Supporting Clinical Adoption – In 2022, we partnered with UVA Health to launch the world’s first focused ultrasound cancer immunotherapy center, an initiative designed to integrate focused ultrasound with immunotherapy and expand awareness and clinical adoption of this promising approach.
- Another exciting example involves our Centers of Excellence at Virginia Tech and Children’s National Hospital, which have collaborated to advance pediatric applications. One notable project supports an investigator at Virginia Tech, highlighting our commitment to mentorship in the next generation of researchers.
These partnerships exemplify our belief that collaboration accelerates progress and that together we can bring focused ultrasound to more patients sooner.
Watch the Interview
Interested in learning more about focused ultrasound and the people who are advancing the Foundation’s mission? Listen and subscribe to our Curing with Sound podcast for more in-depth conversations with patients, medical experts, partners, and Foundation staff.