Several challenges are driving the innovations in medical imaging. The new Chair of the Board of Radiobotics, Ayse McCracken, shares some of her insights and visions for the future of medical imaging.
“It’s a really exciting time in medical imaging. This field has had a lot of innovation over the years. And yet, this is a space that can continue to create great value in health care by advancing clinical outcomes and improving efficiencies in the future,” Ayse McCracken said.Ayse McCracken is an experienced executive, advisor, and strategist. She has four decades of experience as an executive in some of the most prominent healthcare systems in the USA and has since 2016 worked as a consultant through her company eNNOVATE Health Ventures LLC. Ayse McCracken has been a strategic advisor to Radiobotics since January of 2020. In August she takes on a new role as the chair of the board of Radiobotics.Ayse McCracken sees three main challenges facing medical imaging globally. The first is an increasing demand for radiology services driven primarily by the rise in an aging population combined with the increasing volume of images taken for diagnostic purposes. The second is rising costs for radiology as the demand for more and better services increases. The third is a global shortage of radiologists. These challenges are the major forces driving continued innovation in the field of medical imaging.
“If you look at the increase in demand for services for radiologists and the rate at which radiologists are burning out, we've got a huge problem. As the global population ages, the demand for health care services is only going to accelerate,”
Solving the problem of shortages of radiologists and burnout is crucial in maintaining and strengthening the health care systems of the world. A technology like Radiobotics’ can augment and assist radiologists, making them more productive and prevent the delays that a shortage in radiologists creates. In the UK, it’s estimated that at any time there are over 300.000 radiographs that wait over 30 days to be read by a radiologist.Ayse McCracken has previously been Senior Vice President of Texas Children’s Hospital and President of Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Senior Vice President of Houston Methodist Hospital and COO of The Methodist Hospital Physicians Organization, and Senior Vice President of Memorial Hermann Health System, and CEO of Memorial Hermann Medical Group. Today, she focuses her time on advising CEOs of digital health and medical device startups. She serves as an advisor at TMCx, the accelerator program at Texas MedicalCenter and has supported several startups involved in their programs since 2016. In 2017, Ayse McCracken founded Ignite Healthcare Network, a nonprofit organization that hosts one of the largest mini-accelerator programs for women-led digital health and medical device startups. With her expertise and experience, she is excited about the potential for Radiobotics in the USA.“In the US, the Quadruple Aim serves as a guide for health care delivery redesign. This is centered around four overarching goals: improving the individual experience of care; improving the health of populations; reducing the per capita cost; and improving the experience of providing care. The innovative technology being developed by Radiobotics has the opportunity to hit across all four of those goals, “ Ayse McCracken said,
“If you can take large volumes of MSK images and have a reliable platform like Radiobotics’, then it allows the radiologist to have more time for those things that are going to require their attention. It will enhance their capacity making them more productive, maybe more satisfied with their work, and, at the end of the day, reduce clinical variability and create better patient outcomes.”
It’s her goal to help Radiobotics make valuable connections in the USA with clinical partners who can work with the company’s capable R&D, clinical and commercial team to refine and accelerate the creation of new products on their platform as well as with potential customers and investors. To her, Radiobotics has made great strides and has momentum in Europe now that can help advance their progress in other markets.“Radiobotics is advancing certain partnerships and product development opportunities in Europe and in the U.K., which will have transferable value to the partnerships that are being advanced simultaneously in the US and vice versa. This process of running simultaneous paths will help expedite both product development and time to market. I find that exciting as I see that potential becoming a reality” she said.In her opinion, Radiobotics has an outstanding team of biomedical engineers, ML engineers and very capable founders which to her is vital. She enjoys working with them and sees great potential for them and their company.“Radiobotics has an amazingly dynamic and talented team. They are extremely focused and complement each other in terms of the technical skills and business experience that each member brings to the company,” Ayse McCracken said.
Medical Device Regulation (MDR) is the regulatory framework in the European Union. The MDR 2017/745 concerns the production and distribution of all medical devices and software that provides any kind of decision support. The MDR strengthens patient safety, and the standards help medical device companies develop recipes for how they can build their products in an as safe and effective manner as possible. This recipe book is called the quality management system or QMS. For further information see www.eur-lex.europa.eu and www.tuvsud.com
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