This is quite simply a master class in collaborative innovation to solve meaningful challenges. Dr. Simon is a practicing cardiologist, the President of Academic & External Affairs and Chief Scientific Officer for the University Hospitals Health System (UH). We discuss the unique non-profit, for-profit model of The Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre’s Therapeutics Accelerator. The Accelerator is a first-of-its-kind, transatlantic initiative to identify, fund and advance breakthrough academic discoveries to deliver new treatments for the 400 million people worldwide who suffer from rare diseases.