(Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia)
Changing of the Guard at Women’s Philanthropy
Julie Savitch is the new chair of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Women’s Philanthropy affinity group, succeeding the outgoing Jodi Miller.
Women’s Philanthropy hosted the final board meeting of its term on May 20, with 115 women on the call thanking Miller, who completed a two-year stint, for her work and focus on connecting women in all stages of their lives
“My experience as chair of Women’s Philanthropy has deepened my relationship with the incredible women of our community who are so caring and have so much to give, and it has connected me in much more meaningful ways with the work that is done by Jewish Federation.” Miller said. “The women with whom I have worked side by side, the recipients who we help every day whom I have met — sharing their joys and their sorrows, and the work that we do to help and heal the world and to guarantee our Jewish legacy, have personally touched me forever.”
Law Firm Founder Morton Wapner Dies at 87
Personal injury law firm founder Morton Wapner died May 15 in Jupiter, Florida. He was 87.
The Philadelphia native graduated from Central High School before attending Temple University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree, LLB and JD.
Wapner served as research editor of the Temple Law Quarterly and later clerked at the U.S. District Court of Philadelphia before founding Wapner Newman.
Wapner founded and served on various charitable boards, including the National Kidney Foundation of Delaware Valley, Golden Slipper Club Camp and the Federation of Jewish Charities in Philadelphia and Palm Beach County, Florida. He also co-founded and co-chaired Admirals Cove Foundation in Jupiter, Florida.
Wapner is survived by his wife Elinor, sons Howard and Paul (Diane Singerman), daughter Susan Wapner Thiele and four grandchildren.
Health Technology Contest Winners Named
Israel Innovation Authority and Thomas Jefferson University announced the four winners of a $1 million program to develop, test and pilot innovative technologies in the health sector.
The winning companies include Agamon Technologies, ART Medical, Seegnal and Somatix, all of which feature technologies that help medical personnel analyze data gathered throughout medical treatment and gain real-time insights for optimizing personalized medical care.
The technologies are expected to help fight challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19.
The winning companies received a total of $1 million in funding from the IIA and in-kind services that will help them leverage Jefferson’s co-development business model, along with its clinical care footprint and clinical trials consortium.
Agamon Technologies of New York City has built advanced software artificial intelligence that automatically assesses the significance of findings from unstructured medical texts, starting with radiology reports.
ART Medical of Netanya, Israel, has a smART+ platform that monitors and analyzes new data to help reduce complications due to hospitalization and enable faster recovery.
Seegnal of Savyon, Israel, offers a patient-specific digital platform to mitigate drug-related problems at the point of care.
And Somatix of New York and Raanana, Israel, has developed SafeBeing, an artificial intelligence-based, wearable-enabled, remote patient monitoring system.
NCJW Announces Emergency Grants
The board of directors of the National Council of Jewish Women Greater Philadelphia Section made several $250 grants to agencies in Montgomery, Bucks and Philadelphia counties to subsidize residents experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic.
Montgomery County agencies receiving grants are Inter-Faith Housing Alliance in Ambler, which supports the Roslyn Food Pantry; Laurel House in East Norriton, which works to end domestic violence affecting women and children; The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard in Ambler and North Hills, which services 3,000 families annually; and Manna on Main Street, a Lansdale food pantry providing meals to go and grocery bags of food.
In Bucks County, the Bucks County Housing Group received a grant and earmarked the money to go directly to the Doylestown Food Pantry.
And in Philadelphia, NCJW provided a grant to Jewish Family and Children’s Service that will be used to buy supermarket cards for clients needing food assistance.
