Xploration Health® was spun out of Baylor College of Medicine to commercialize the Smart Pod® platform.

Where we started

In the wake of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Smart Pod was developed by Baylor Global Health at Baylor College of Medicine to help healthcare workers on the front lines provide timely and better care to patients to prevent the spread of Ebola.

One of 12 winners of the USAID Ebola Grand Challenge, the first Smart Pod was deployed in Monrovia, Liberia as an independent, self-sufficient (autonomous power/water/telecommunications) hospital ward. This Smart Pod initially provided isolation capacity for infectious patients and was subsequently used for providing cataract surgeries for Ebola survivors (and the pod is currently used as an isolation clinic for patients with infectious diseases).

Baylor Global Health was also one of seven awardees selected from Vulcan Inc.’s Paul G. Allen Ebola Program, and one of three awardees to receive funding for emergency infrastructure and logistics, a critical challenge in any disaster response or infectious disease spread situation. Through this award, two Smart Pod laboratories (a BSL-2 laboratory and a BSL-3 laboratory, which were connected together) and one Smart Pod pharmacy were donated to the University of Liberia where these facilities are currently being used for the training of microbiology and virology students and laboratory personnel, with the goal of increasing laboratory and diagnostic capacity in West Africa.

 Xploration Health History

  • Operating Room at the 8063rd MASH, South Korea. Digital image. United States. Army. Web. 25 June 2021.

    August 1945

    Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, former Baylor College of Medicine President and chairman of the Department of Surgery, conceives the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit, which enables doctors to station themselves closer to the front lines, thus improving the wounded soldier’s chances of survival during the Korean War.

  • August 2014

    Baylor Global Health (formerly Baylor Global Initiatives) was established by Baylor College of Medicine to enhance the delivery of healthcare on a global basis with a vision by Dr. Paul Klotman, BCM President and CEO, and a gift from BCM Trustee Wallace S. Wilson.

  • November 2014

    Dr. Sharmila Anandasabapathy, Gastroenterologist, Baylor College of Medicine Vice President, and Director of Baylor Global Health, conceives the Smart Pod, as an independent and self-sufficient medical facility to improve healthcare in underserved and under-resourced areas around the world.

  • February 2015

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awards Baylor College of Medicine the Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development grant to develop the Smart Pod to reinforce the response to current and future Ebola outbreaks.

  • November 2015

    Baylor College of Medicine patents the Smart Pod.

  • September 2017

    The Smart Pod is deployed to the Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, allowing surgeons to perform eye surgery immediately after the Ebola epidemic, a story featured in The New York Times. The unit is currently used as an isolation ward.

  • January 2019

    A BSL-2 laboratory Smart Pod, connectable to a BSL-3 laboratory Smart Pod (with negative and positive pressure systems), and a Pharmacy Smart Pod (with pass-thru windows and tracking supply system) (PHAB units) were deployed to the University of Liberia (UL) in Monrovia, Liberia for use in epidemic training and preparation.

  • October 2020

    The first United States-based Smart Pod units, equipped with a negative pressure isolation room, were deployed in Harris County to provide care management for COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccination, community health access, and an emergency response solution.

  • November 2020

    Baylor College of Medicine forms Xploration Health LLC to commercialize the Smart Pod platform.

Xploration Health Today

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, two Smart Pod isolation clinics have been designed and deployed in Precinct 2 of Harris County, Texas as a solution to provide care management of patients with symptoms of COVID-19 and more recently to serve as vaccination clinics. These units leverage knowledge gained in the development of the Ebola laboratories and use advanced airflow technologies to minimize the risk of disease transmission from airborne pathogens. Harris County Precinct 2, nearly all of which is comprised of medically underserved areas, was named one of six winners of American City & County’s 2020 Crown Communities Awards for its deployment of our Smart Pods.

With multiple Smart Pod facilities deployed, more deployments in progress and several Smart Pod clinical applications already designed, Xploration Health is poised to make a truly meaningful difference in enhancing public health around the world.