New RFU–Xcellerant Ventures Partnership Aims to Advance Healthcare Innovation in Chicagoland using the Jetstream Venture Fund

Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFU) and Xcellerant Ventures announced today a new partnership to expand entrepreneurship education and help RFU students, faculty, researchers and alumni transform innovative healthcare ideas into viable businesses. The collaboration will offer programming focused on venture readiness, company formation, capital strategy and investor pitch preparation, while exploring opportunities for venture capital growth. The initiative will also support companies within RFU’s Helix 51 biomedical incubator.

This new formal partnership, signed on October 23 through a memorandum of understanding between RFU and the Jetstream Venture Fund, a fund managed by Xcellerant Ventures, aims to bridge the gap between scientific discovery, clinical expertise and venture capital.

The RFU-Xcellerant Ventures partnership will provide a structured pathway for eligible ventures to be introduced and reviewed for “first look” potential investment. Promising scientific discoveries have the potential to transform healthcare, but moving those discoveries from the laboratory into treatments, technologies and solutions that improve patient care requires more than scientific expertise. It takes investment capital, entrepreneurial experience and collaboration across sectors — connections that are especially important in the Chicago region, where research institutions, healthcare providers and emerging life sciences companies contribute to a growing innovation ecosystem.

The initiative was conceived through conversation between the university leadership and John Shufeldt, MD, JD, MBA, a graduate of Chicago Medical School at RFU. A physician, attorney, venture capitalist and author, Dr. Shufeldt has spent much of his career developing successful businesses that address challenges in healthcare delivery, including NextCare Urgent Care, a pioneer in its field, which he grew to 58 clinics before exiting in 2010; the MeMD telehealth platform acquired by Walmart in 2021; and VivaMed BioPharma, an AI-enabled drug development company. He is founder of Xcellerant Ventures, a venture capital firm which manages the Jetstream Venture Fund, and invests in emerging companies across multiple industries, with particular expertise in healthcare technology, medical technology and biotechnology.

“After decades in emergency medicine, I’ve seen how often the gap between what we know and what we can actually deliver to patients comes down to execution,” Dr. Shufeldt said. “Researchers are extraordinary at asking the right questions and generating breakthrough insights. But a discovery that stays in a journal or a lab notebook doesn’t help the patient in front of you at 3 a.m. Entrepreneurs bring a different set of muscles: understanding markets, building teams, navigating regulatory pathways, raising capital and staying relentless when things get hard. Neither group can do it alone. When you put them together early and intentionally, you shorten the distance from idea to impact.”

For RFU, the partnership creates an opportunity to connect healthcare education and research with entrepreneurial skills and investment expertise. Students at the university learn across healthcare and scientific disciplines, developing the collaborative skills and critical thinking needed to address complex challenges. “Exposure to entrepreneurship and emerging technologies will extensively broaden student and faculty understanding of how scientific discoveries become practical solutions to ultimately benefit patients,” commented Kristin Wiisanen, PharmD, dean of RFU’s College of Pharmacy and chair of RFU’s Student Entrepreneurial Task Force.

“Scientific discovery improves lives when promising ideas have a path to real-world application,” said RFU President Aron Sousa, MD. “Our partnership with the Jetstream Venture Fund brings together the expertise of our researchers and the experience of entrepreneurs who know how to turn promising ideas into practical solutions. It’s an opportunity to expand what’s possible for our students and researchers, and ultimately for the patients and communities who stand to benefit.”

The partnership reflects a shared interest in moving healthcare innovation from research toward real-world impact by strengthening connections among scientific discovery, clinical expertise and entrepreneurship.