gilseton

[gilseton]

How Operation Smile India Puts People First

Gil Seton is a Los Angeles, California resident and serves as Manager of SP Investment Fund, LLC and has for three decades been involved with providing affordable housing to low and very low income seniors, families, and disabled individuals residing within the United States. Within and outside of his professional life, Gil Seton has always made time for charitable causes and those efforts also include the global community. Among his philanthropic efforts, he has supported numerous organizations that serve the needs of very lower income individuals and households in India. On such organizations is Operation Smile, a nonprofit that has been making strides in India and worldwide.

Operation Smile has changed how the world views cleft conditions and how they are treated. The organization partners with many private and public entities to offer life-changing treatments for people worldwide with cleft conditions.

The goal of Operation Smile in India is patient recruitment and awareness. With the help of partners, it has opened treatment centers throughout the country, like the one in Durgapur, which has been able to do more than 1000 cleft surgeries since 2019. While the COVID-19 pandemic made the Durgapur Cleft Center halt surgery, the staff did all they could to help the locals. They distributed food and hygiene products to hundreds of local families.

Operation Smile has 30 centers worldwide, but the Durgapur location does not use the typical volunteer structure of the others. Instead, the Durgapur Cleft Center employs local doctors and specialists that have a real tie to the community. The overall dream is to offer cleft treatment to everyone in the country.

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Hearts with Hope’s - Treating Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease

Since 2003, Gil Seton has served as the manager of SP Investment Fund LLC, which backs biotechnology and medical device startups working to make wider positive change. Supporting the company’s philanthropic efforts, Gil Seton has also supported nonprofits worldwide dedicated to diverse causes, including Hearts with Hope (HWH).

Founded in 2005 in Los Angeles by Dr. Juan Carlos Alejos, HWH is focused on one specific pediatric health issue. Its volunteer staff diagnoses and treats congenital heart disease, with surgery if necessary. The organization’s work furthers Dr. Alejos’ desire to care for children with congenital health issues, which was instilled through his upbringing by his father, who was also a pediatrician.

HWH does more than just provide one-off care. Its volunteers travel worldwide, particularly to underserved countries and regions, to train healthcare workers to diagnose and treat congenital heart disease. It aims to establish pediatric cardiac care facilities as widely as possible, allowing HWH’s work to benefit its target communities long after its staff leaves each location.

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Allotrope Medical

Acting as manager of SP Investment Fund LLC since 2003, Gil Seton oversees SP's broad range of investments in everything from affordable housing communities to investments in promising biotechnology and medical startups. An example of a company Gil Seton oversaw investment in is Allotrope Medical. Allotrope Medical seeks to improve surgical results by providing surgeons with innovative tools to minimize preventable harm to patients. Allotrope Medical’s signature device is StimSite, an electrical signal emitter that attaches to widely-used handheld and robotic surgical instruments. Its electrical signal is identical to humans’ natural nerve impulses, the same impulses which cause muscles to contract in the body. For example, when a surgeon activates StimSite on ureter smooth muscle tissue, that tissues visibly moves, thus helping the surgeon to clearly locate the ureter. Allotrope Medical created StimSite to specifically reduce complications from pelvic surgeries by identifying organs in the surgical area that are possibly in harm’s way. This reduces the chance of surgeons causing harm to patients during their surgery, thereby avoiding significant injuries and costs from corrective procedures. The company received funding from the National Science Foundation and mentorship from Y Combinator in the development of the device. Those interested can request a product demo on Allotrope Medical’s website.

[gilseton]

1,000 IBD Patient Research Partnership

An alumnus of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Gil Seton has been manager of SP Investment Fund LLC in Los Angeles, California, since 2003. On behalf of SP and its affiliates, Gil Seton oversees real estate investments, predominantly affordable housing for seniors and families with low-income backgrounds. In addition, SP has also invested in several health sciences and biotechnology companies with a strong focus on social impact, including Coral Genomics, a developer of predictive diagnostic tests for autoimmune diseases. In January 2022, Coral Genomics announced it has entered into a research partnership with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting research and patient care for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD denotes two conditions, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis; both expressed in chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. While scientists cannot pinpoint the exact cause of IBD, it results from an improperly functioning immune system. The partnership will encompass up to 1,000 patients, and Coral Genomics will be able to use Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s biospecimens and data repository to facilitate the development of its Functional Response Score, an autoimmune diseases precision medicine clinical test. It is also part of Coral Genomics’ more extensive REEF study. Supported by the National Institutes of Health, the study compares and predicts the level of effectiveness of different autoimmune medications. Representatives of both organizations welcomed the partnership and emphasized its importance for tackling the critical issue of matching patients with the most appropriate medication for them. The advancement of IBD treatments has allowed for better clinical outcomes; however, it has also necessitated the development of predictive tools to establish which therapy will be most beneficial for each patient.

[gilseton]

SP Investment Fund Public Private Partnerships

Drawing on more than thirty years of experience in affordable housing, Gil Seton has been manager of SP Investment Fund LLC since 2003. Los Angeles, California-based SP focuses on socially positive investing and develops and preserves affordable housing for senior citizens and families with low-income backgrounds. To that purpose, Gil Seton has collaborated with several like-minded government agencies and non-profit organizations, including Community Housing Assistance Program Inc. (CHAPA). Established in 1991, CHAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people in need by providing them with safe, service-enriched, affordable homes. It fulfills its mission by creating, managing, and preserving said properties. In addition, it delivers various community activities, such as professional social and educational programs for children, families, and senior citizens. The organization prides itself on its management and operating approach, which enables it to offer consistent care for the communities it serves. CHAPA builds homes by combining several financing streams, including Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Bonds, and multiple government resources. Furthermore, its social services are free of charge for residents, self-sustaining, and internally funded by the separate properties. CHAPA is a certified Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) in 38 counties across California. A CHDO is a special type of community-based non-profit possessing sufficient human and other resources to develop affordable housing for its local communities. Obtaining CHDO certification is subject to meeting rigorous criteria, including legal status, structure, and experience.

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Operation Smile’s Cleft Lip & Palette Surgeries

Since 2003, Gil Seton has served as the manager of SP Investment Fund LLC. Alongside investing in emerging technology companies desiring to make a widespread social impact with their work, Gil Seton also has contributed to many nonprofits, serving people’s diverse needs, including Operation Smile. Founded by Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee, Operation Smile provides cleft lip and palette surgery for children in countries where such procedures are either too expensive for families in need, local facilities lack proper medical equipment or expertise, or both. The cleft lip and palette surgeries address many issues, including impaired eating, speaking, and breathing. Via medically-trained volunteer doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and more, Operation Smile provides these surgeries at no additional cost. Besides providing the surgery, Operation Smile also assists children before and after the procedure. Pre-surgery, children may receive nutrition assistance to grow healthy enough to undergo it. Children also receive speech therapy and psychological support at Operation Smile’s care center post-surgery. As of 2022, the organization has assisted children in over 30 countries via their staff of over 6,000.

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Proper Care Extends Life Expectancy for CHD Patients https://ift.tt/39x80TX

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Allotrope receives FDA Approval for its Medical

Throughout his career at SP Investment Fund, LLC, Gil Seton leverages his finance and real estate background to invest in promising affordable housing projects and emerging technologies. As the fund’s manager, Gil Seton has been involved in all of SP’s investments, including funding medical device developer, Allotrope Medical, which just received FDA approval for its technology that increases the safety of minimally-invasive pelvic surgeries. While complications from pelvic surgeries are rare, they can be difficult to identify. Without proper treatment, the patient can develop life-threatening conditions. Gynecological surgeries, such as hysterectomies, are the leading cause of ureteral injuries, which affect the tubular muscles that transfer urine from the kidneys to the bladder. Many of these complications can involve damage to the ureter, which is what Allotrope's device helps to prevent. Damage of the ureter can lead to urinary leaks, blockages, and sepsis. Patients who experience a post-surgical pelvic injury often require a lengthier and costlier hospital stay. Many of these patients file a claim against their medical practitioner. In nearly 100 percent of legal cases, the claim is awarded to the patient. As are result, physicians, health systems, and insurers are likely to highly motivated to adopt Allotrope's technology as its commercialization gets underway.

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Causes of Physician Shortages in Developing

Gil Seton serves as Manager of SP Investment Fund, LLC in Los Angeles, California. During Gil Seton’s tenure, SP Investment Fund’s emerging technology portfolio has grown to include many biotechnology companies working to improve lives. One such early stage SP investment is Unima, which creates diagnostic tools for low-resourced health systems. The term "low-resourced" describes regions where healthcare is difficult to obtain due to a lack of facilities, equipment and supplies, and medical professionals. In most developing countries, the ratio of doctors to patients far exceeds the ratio recommended by the World Health Organization which is 1:1000. The WHO also states that 10 million additional medical workers will be needed to meet worldwide healthcare demands within the next decade. Low-income countries face physician shortages for several reasons. Firstly, many of these countries cannot support the expensive education and training pipeline needed to educate local medical providers. Furthermore, the few doctors that do complete medical training are often recruited by high-income countries. The healthcare workers that remain must manage a population with disproportionately-high disease burdens with few resources.

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How Tax Credits Increase Affordable Housing Stock https://ift.tt/3s0Wu9Y

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What Is Trauma-Informed Medical Care? https://ift.tt/3oIaVxP

[gilseton]

HIV-Positive Women Less Likely to Achieve Viral Suppression

A manager at California based SP Investment Fund LLC, Gil Seton has invested in, renovated, and constructed affordable housing all over the United States for residents at high risk of displacement, including the elderly and lower-income tenants. In his personal life, Gil Seton also supports the work of charities located in and outside of California, including the Women’s HIV Program of the University of California at San Francisco. The program follows a trauma-informed care approach to address health outcome disparities for minority women and girls at risk of or living with HIV. While groundbreaking HIV treatment regimens have been approved over the past decade, millions of low-income and minority women living with HIV are not benefitting from this progress. The Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed data from HIV-positive women living in several major cities collected between 1994 and 2017. The study found that women facing complex socio-economic challenges were the least likely to achieve viral suppression or undetectable levels of HIV in the bloodstream. The results suggest that stress and instability due to housing and mental health issues and a lack of access to treatment and ongoing specialized care make it difficult for women to adhere to a treatment plan that would promote viral suppression. Women also have issues surrounding childcare, a factor that is not usually considered by traditional HIV treatment frameworks. The JAMA study concluded that long-term solutions to eliminating HIV should include care models that consider and address these non-medical obstacles.

[gilseton]

C16 Biosciences Develops Alternative to Palm Oil

Experienced investor Gil Seton is the manager of SP Investment Fund, LLC, in Los Angeles. At SP, Gil Seton manages investments in affordable housing and as well as companies in the health sciences and biotechnology fields that have the potential to positively impact lives. Once such biotechnology startup is C16 Biosciences. Palm oil has emerged as an important ingredient in food, clothing, fuel, cleaning solutions, and health and skin care products. However, the process of harvesting palm oil significantly impacts the environment and surrounding social structures. To accommodate palm tree plantations, large sections of rainforests in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are being cleared. As a result, natural habitats are eliminated, the global climate is damaged, and the surrounding communities are disrupted. It is estimated that 10% of greenhouse gases are as a result of palm oil production and deforestation. In response to the harmful effects of palm oil harvesting, C16 Biosciences has developed a synthetic form of palm oil that is brewed from microbes in a fermentation process. The lab-grown synthetic palm oil is 20-percent less expensive than its natural counterpart and does not require deforestation or questionable labor practices. As C16 Biosciences rolls out its synthetic palm oil, the company is focusing first on the skin care and beauty industries.

[gilseton]

Genomics Offers Innovative Ways to Personalize Medicine

Los Angeles-area businessman Gil Seton manages the real property investment firm SP Investment Fund. Through SP Investment Fund and its affiliates, Gil Seton also invests in innovative new companies in the health care and biotech sectors, focusing on firms such as HepaTx, Allotrope Medical, and Coral Genomics, whose products hold potential to improve the lives of numerous patients. Coral Genomics works with the goal of making drug delivery more responsive to patient needs. It accomplishes this through analyzing each patient’s genomic profile to better predict his or her reaction to any particular drug or treatment choice. The company is one of many in an emerging field that is using the science of genetics (the study of the workings of heredity) and genomics (the study and mapping of an entire genetic profile) to individualize medical care. Analysis of the genomic blueprint allows physicians to figure out a patient’s vulnerability to specific diseases, produce more precise diagnoses, facilitate earlier intervention, and create highly personalized--and therefore more effective--treatment plans. Genomics can be employed in multiple ways to pinpoint susceptibility to a range of diseases, including hereditary colon cancer, breast cancer, and spinal muscular atrophy, before a patient is even symptomatic.

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Doctors Without Borders Reaches Out to Rohingya Refugees

As manager of Los Angeles-based SP Investment Fund LLC, Gil Seton directs the work of a team focused on acquiring affordable multifamily apartment complexes and rehabilitating those properties for the benefit of seniors and other vulnerable residents. SP Investment Fund additionally invests in a range of startup biotechnology companies working on solutions that will benefit broad cross sections of the population. Gil Seton’s charitable contributions align with the medical and social service aspects of his investments, including his contributions to Doctors Without Borders. As part of its work to bring healing, hope, and practical medical care to people in need around the world, Doctors Without Borders maintains a presence among the Rohingya refugees fleeing from ethnically based persecution in their native Myanmar. In 2017, some 700,000 Rohingya began an escape to Bangladesh, in a migration now cited as among the world’s major refugee crises. Today, the majority of this population lives in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, in refugee camps located in a terrain prone to dangerous flooding. Skin diseases, respiratory infections, diarrhea, diphtheria, and other health problems related to substandard living arrangements are rampant. Doctors Without Borders has responded to the need by sending professionals, who have to date treated more than 13,000 inpatients and conducted more than 650,000 examinations among this refugee population. In addition, Doctors Without Borders physicians have provided mental health treatment, improved sanitation and water systems, and administered life-saving vaccinations.

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The Importance of Trauma-informed Primary Care

With approximately 30 years of experience in the affordable housing industry, Gil Seton serves as Manager of SP Investment Fund LLC. Gil Seton has been responsible for all aspects of operations for SP Investment Fund and its affiliated companies, including the acquisition, financing, renovation and development of affordable housing and its seed investment in a significant number of socially positive emerging technology companies. In addition to his involvement with socially positive investment, Mr. Seton also supports several charities including the Women’s HIV Program at the University of California at San Francisco. Established in 1993, the Women’s HIV Program at UCSF conducts research and provides effective health care to women and girls who have had HIV. Besides medical treatment, the program also highlights the importance of Trauma-informed Primary Care in providing a holistic approach to medical care. Trauma-informed Primary Care (TIPC) is a patient-centered method that recognizes the effect of recent or lifetime trauma on the patient’s health choices and lifestyle. The TIPC framework has four components which include the foundation, environment, screening, and response - all necessary in developing effective therapeutic care. The foundation defines the core sets of values of TIPC that will serve as a guide when organizing healing exercises, collaborations with other medical institutions, and community programs. A safe and empowering environment is also crucial for medical practitioners to deliver trauma-specific students to patients. Before administering any treatment, medical staff must screen for the different ways that trauma can affect health either through a recent abuse, lifetime trauma, or consequences of trauma such as chronic pain, depression, and substance abuse. The clearer the link is between trauma and poor health, the easier it is to substantiate the type of response needed.

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Operation Smile and EVMS Host Trauma Workshops

Real estate professional Gil Seton serves as the manager of SP Investment Fund LLC and as the president of Showplace Development, Inc. in Los Angeles California. With over 25 years of experience in real estate development and acquisition, Gil Seton has invested in over 100 limited partnerships that collectively own well over 10,000 units of affordable housing in the United States. He has provided long-time support to several charities including Operation Smile. Founded in 1982, nonprofit organization Operation Smile is dedicated to providing medical care to children with cleft lip and cleft palate around the world. The organization works with volunteer professionals and medical institutions to help disseminate the latest procedures in surgery and pediatrics. In May 2018, Operation Smile partnered with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) to host a two-day trauma workshop aimed at sharing the proper techniques in performing a thoracic surgery to trauma patients. A resident surgeon at EVMS conducted a simulation for tube thoracostomy, a common procedure in thoracic surgery. Plastic surgery residents from Vietnam, China, Ecuador, and Madagascar participated in the demonstration. The workshop also included a training course called Trauma Evaluation and Management (TEAM) which presented the concepts of trauma assessment through clinical case scenarios and skill sessions. The event was attended by more than 40 plastic surgery residents and medical volunteers from over 20 countries.