2024 UHF Gala Journal - Flipbook - Page 13
Sunset Park; a street-based medicine team by Harlem United providing low-threshold
medical services for people with opioid dependency; and the Razom Ukrainian Response
Initiative, which hosts monthly health events for Ukrainian refugees in New York. Since
2020, RTW Foundation estimates its health equity initiatives have reached more than
94,000 New Yorkers.
A critical tenet of this success is RTW’s focus on going beyond financial support to
collaborate with grant partners.
A prime example is the newly launched STEM mentoring program for middle and high
schoolers, BioQuest, which RTW Foundation co-created with Areté Education, BioBus,
Hunts Point Alliance for Children, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Alongside mentors from
RTW Investments, RTW Foundation, and Yarrow Biotechnologies, BioQuest provides
opportunities for students to explore careers in science, biotechnology, and medicine.
RTW Foundation also regularly cohosts Days of Action with its grantee partners and RTW
volunteers. This year, a Community Health Fair in Sunset Park provided health screenings,
fresh produce, and other health resources to more than 120 people.
“We’re not just writing checks and then attending a celebration,” Rod said. “We’ve chosen
to work with local partners who are embedded in the community and are really interested
in, and benefit from, having additional partners.”
On the research side, this hands-on role takes the form of the foundation’s advisory
program for burgeoning ultrarare disease foundations, often started by parents of
children living with the conditions. In addition to funding drug-discovery projects, RTW
leverages its research and operational expertise to guide these research foundations in
any way they need.
“We would encounter academics who were working on programs that had a great chance
of being a real therapy for someone but didn’t make sense from a for-profit perspective,”
Rod said. “We thought, if we have the ability to do something about that, we should.”
This knack for maximizing impact is critical in Rod’s day job, too. Since founding RTW
Investments in 2009, he has built the firm into a global leader in biotech and medtech
investing. Rod leads the firm and manages its investments focused on innovative drug
development.
Prior to forming RTW, Rod was managing director and sole portfolio manager for the
Davidson Kempner Healthcare Funds and held various health care investment and
research roles at Sigma Capital Partners and Cowen & Company.
Rod’s career path took shape as a blend of his love for economics—which he studied at
Duke University—and science and medicine. Raised by two professors in Kansas, perhaps
it is no surprise Rod pursued these passions by pulling double duty in higher education.
After undergrad, he simultaneously earned an MD from the University of Pennsylvania
Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
For his steadfast commitment to improving the health of underserved populations and
advancing health equity in New York City through founding the RTW Foundation, United
Hospital Fund is proud to present Roderick Wong, MD, with the Distinguished Community
Service Award.
