Business Briefs
Athletes Help Create Logo for 2022 Special Olympics USA In anticipation of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games that will take place in Central Florida, a group of nine athletes gathered in Orlando in August for a very special assignment. For the first time in the history of the Games, the athletes had been chosen from across the nation to help create an event logo, and they unveiled it at a celebration Aug. 8 at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The athletes worked with national advertising agency partner Publicis Seattle, and a mini-documentary on their three-day workshop in May was directed by filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi, best known for her 2018 Academy Awardwinning documentary short “Period. End of Sentence.” “This logo tells a story of how a combined passion for
sports, perseverance and art can literally come to life on a blank canvas,” said Joe Dzaluk, president and CEO of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games. “These incredible athletes used their unique talents to inspire and design an iconic image for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games brand, and it proved to be more meaningful than any of us could have ever imagined.” The event on June 5-11, 2022, will bring more than 4,000 athletes, 10,000 volunteers, 1,500 coaches and 125,000 fans from all over the U.S. It will be hosted at venues across the Orlando area. Walt Disney World has been announced as the official host and Jersey Mike’s Subs as the presenting partner. Orlando Health and Orange County have committed as Platinum Partners of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games.
Translational Research Institute Research May Help the Elderly
AdventHealth Rated Top Hospital in Florida
Research conducted in Central Florida has unveiled a new class of chemical compounds with the potential to revitalize metabolic health in the elderly population. The pioneering pharmacological approach for healthy aging was the result of a drug discovery initiative conducted by the Translational Research Institute in Orlando, part of the AdventHealth Research Institute.
In its latest Best Hospitals rankings, U.S. News & World Report magazine has named AdventHealth the No. 1 hospital in Florida. It was recognized as having seven nationally ranked specialty programs: diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and GI surgery; geriatrics; gynecology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; and urology. Additionally, AdventHealth was recognized for having four “highperforming” programs: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; orthopedics; and pulmonary and lung surgery. The rankings cover more than 4,500 medical centers across the country.
The research, led by Dr. Stephen Gardell from AdventHealth and published in Nature Communications, was conducted in partnership with the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, California, and Daiichi-Sankyo Co. in Tokyo. It involves using specific chemical compounds to raise the body’s levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a crucial natural substance that promotes health. Tissue levels of NAD decrease as people age, which is believed to contribute to muscle weakness and neurodegeneration.
Business 18 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | i4Biz.com
Innovation
Silver Spurs Arena to Host Brand-New Basketball Event The Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee will host the inaugural Sunshine Slam, a men’s collegiate basketball tournament that will take place Nov. 8-10. Four teams have been announced to participate in a sixgame round-robin format, with each team playing each other during the three-day event. The teams are the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware; Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan; Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois; and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Education
