Mortara founder donates $25m to UCSF to study alarm fatigue

Mortara Instrument founder and electrocardiogram innovator Dr. David Mortara donated $25 million to the University of California San Francisco’s School of Nursing to support research looking to reduce “alarm fatigue” and improve patient care and safety.

The contribution, which UCSF said is the largest to date for the school, will support the creation of a new Center for Physiologic Research. The newly created center will support the efforts with the creation of a large ECG database aiming to identify predictors of adverse patient outcomes, reduce false alarm rates and improve ECG monitors.

Funds will also support hiring of new faculty and students and interdisciplinary research efforts with UCSF Health.

“We are very grateful to David Mortara for his tremendous contribution in creating the innovative Center for Physiologic Research in the UCSF School of Nursing. The school is a national leader in the study of alarm fatigue and ECG monitoring, and this gift will significantly advance these efforts to further improve patient care, one of UCSF’s primary mission,” UCSF chancellor Sam Hawgood said in a press release.

Mortara founded cardiology tech and ECG dev Mortara Instrument in 1982 after spending a number of years at Marquette Electronics, contributing to development in simultaneous 12-lead ECG acquisition and interpretation which is used as a base for most electrocardiogram technology in use today.

“I’ve seen for too long that there is a vendor world of research and a separate medical world of research, and they don’t cross very well. The long-term vision of this center is to be a bridge, an innovative center that has resources and people eager to work together to resolve alarm fatigue. Our success will not be just in what we’re able to do as a center, but also in what we can get vendors to do,” Mortara said in a prepared statement.

In February, Hill-Rom closed a $300 million acquisition of Mortara Instrument after having originally announced intention to acquire the biz in January.

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