RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. & TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Analytics 4 Life, a digital health company applying the power of artificial intelligence to develop solutions that improve existing care pathways, today announced that it has expanded its Medical Advisory Board with the addition of two global experts in cardiology and digital health. Junbo Ge, M.D. is president of the Chinese Society of Cardiology and chairman of the China Cardiovascular Association. Sanjeev Bhavnani, M.D. is a cardiologist and physician-scientist at the Healthcare Innovation and Practice Transformation Laboratory at Scripps Clinic.
“We are thrilled to welcome Drs. Bhavnani and Ge to our esteemed Medical Advisory Board. Their experience and insight will be critical as we seek to bring AI-backed, cloud-based diagnostic imaging to resource-constrained countries,” said Don Crawford, Analytics 4 Life chief executive officer. “Dr. Bhavnani’s passion for and expertise in running digital health clinical trials and Dr. Ge’s deep-understanding of the Chinese healthcare system will help propel Analytics 4 Life’s efforts to initiate its first clinical trial in China.”
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally – more people die annually from them than from any other cause with approximately 7.3 million deaths worldwide due to coronary artery disease (CAD). While there is global progress being made in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, an ongoing shortage of physicians, limited medical resources and challenges relating to access to healthcare have made it difficult for providers to deliver quality care.
“The estimated national rate of percutaneous coronary interventions in China have increased more than twenty-fold over a ten-year period,” continued Don Crawford. “But millions of people in rural areas do not have access to modern healthcare, resulting in overwhelming patient traffic in several major urban hospitals. There is a profound need to reduce cardiovascular disease-related deaths through earlier detection and timely diagnosis with non-invasive testing. We’re encouraged by CorVista’s promising potential as an alternative cardiac imaging technology that could make a significant difference in the lives of the millions of people suffering from CAD in China and globally.”
Sanjeev Bhavnani, M.D. currently serves as a practicing cardiologist and physician-scientist at the Healthcare Innovation and Practice Transformation Laboratory at Scripps Clinic. Dr. Bhavnani was chair of the Writing Committee for the American College of Cardiology’s Roadmap for Innovation, a policy statement on healthcare transformation through new technologies. He was a Qualcomm Wireless Health Scholar at TSRI, where he was involved in the design of next generation digital medicine clinical trials. The health innovation laboratory develops new methods to innovate care delivery and to translate the advances in medical technologies – mHealth, big data, and precision medicine – to patient care. Dr. Bhavnani leads a team of clinicians, researchers, biomedical engineers, translational informaticians and biostatisticians. Collectively, they have executed clinical trials in the United States and in resource limited areas – Uganda, India, and Mexico. These programs have created the first smartphone-connected mHealth clinics and have enrolled 20,000+ patients. He serves on innovation advisory boards of several national medical societies and has worked with digital health think tanks to develop the CONNECT legislation and 21st Century Cures Act. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has received multiple grants exploring new methods for large scale community engagement with new technologies.
Junbo Ge, M.D. currently serves as president of the Chinese Society of Cardiology, chairman of the China Cardiovascular Association, and chief of the cardiology department at Zhongshan Hospital at Fudan University. He is passionate about improving CAD diagnosis and treatment through innovation, making extraordinary advancements in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). Dr. Ge has been responsible for over 20 scientific research projects supported by the Chinese government. He has published over 300 papers in internationally-recognized journals, edited 20 books, and co-edited more than 20 monographs and textbooks. He is the chief editor of Internal Medicine (8th edition), Practice of Internal Medicine (15th edition), and Cardiology Plus and deputy editor of Herz. Dr. Ge was bestowed one of China's most prestigious academic awards, the Scholars of the Yangtse River. He has also been awarded the National Labor Medal by the National Federation of Trade Unions, the Tan Jiazhen prize in life sciences, and the national “Bethune” Medal, and the Shanghai Science and Technology Association has named him among the “science and technology elite.”
About Coronary Artery Disease
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is when the heart becomes weakened from a deficient supply of oxygenated blood due to a buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries, which can lead to blood clots, chest pain, and cardiac arrest. CAD affects approximately 15.5 million Americans and is the number one cause of death in the U.S.
About CorVista™
CorVista is designed to scan signals emitted by the body with a synchronous array of seven sensors without radiation, exercise, or pharmacologic stress. After the signals are acquired, the signal package is instantaneously transmitted to the cloud where it will be analyzed by a machine-learned algorithm to generate a unique image and a heart model indicating areas of potential heart disease associated with the presence of CAD. The results of the test are displayed on a secure physician web portal that, in combination with a patient’s medical history, risk factors, and symptoms, are used by the interpreting physician to recommend further treatment. CorVista is an investigational device limited by federal law to investigational use. CorVista is not available for commercial distribution.
About Analytics 4 Life
Analytics 4 Life is pioneering digital health using artificial intelligence to develop a completely new form of medical imaging. With an initial focus on coronary artery disease, Analytics 4 Life is advancing a novel, radiation-free, and exercise-free cardiac imaging technology aimed at improving existing care pathways. Analytics 4 Life is based in Toronto with U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, NC. For more information, visit www.analytics4life.com.