Karen Holzberger, President & CEO, SpinTech MRI | LSI USA '22 Emerging Medtech Summit

Summary

Karen Holzberger, newly appointed CEO of Spintek MRI, introduces the company as a software platform enhancing MRI data for neurology. Dr. Heike, founder and CSO, is a pioneer in MRI sequences for Parkinson's and dementia. Spintek's solution streamlines MRI data extraction, aiding in early diagnosis and treatment planning. With FDA approval since 2021, Spintek aims to expand its market presence, currently raising Series A funding of $6.5 million, focusing on the US and China's growing neurology market.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Karen Holzberger is the newly appointed CEO and President of Spintek MRI.
• 🧠 Spintek MRI is a software platform that enhances the MRI ecosystem by providing data outputs to care teams for better decision-making in brain health.
• 👨‍⚕️ Dr. Heike is the Chief Scientific Officer and founder of Spintek MRI, known for inventing MRI sequences used in neurology.
• 📈 The company aims to address the global prevalence of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's and dementia, which are difficult to diagnose early.
• 🏥 MRI is a critical diagnostic tool for neurological disorders, but there are challenges with the efficiency and effectiveness of its use in healthcare systems.
• 🚀 Spintek's software operates as an MRI software platform, aiming to improve diagnostic efficiency without compromising the quality of imaging data.
• 🌐 Spintek's solution is comprehensive and works across the MRI ecosystem, regardless of the MRI system used, providing interoperability.
• 💉 The company is FDA approved since October 2021 and is working on expanding its market presence, especially in the United States and China.
• 💼 Spintek is currently raising Series A funding, with a commitment of $6.5 million, $5 million of which has already been committed.
• 🌐 The company's global market priorities include improving patient outcomes, financial outcomes, and clinical outcomes in neurology.

Q & A

Who is Karen Holzberger?

Karen Holzberger is the newly appointed CEO and President of Spintek MRI.

What is Spintek MRI?

Spintek MRI is a software platform that operates across the MRI ecosystem to extract and deliver imaging data outputs to care teams for better-informed decisions regarding brain health.

Who is Dr. Heike?

Dr. Heike is the Chief Scientific Officer and founder of Spintek MRI. He is recognized for inventing many MRI sequences used in neurology for diagnosing and treating diseases like Parkinson's and dementia.

What are some of Dr. Heike's accomplishments?

Dr. Heike has over 300 research papers and nearly 20 patents, focusing on neurological disorders and MRI technology.

What challenges is Spintek MRI addressing?

Spintek MRI is addressing the challenges of diagnosing and treating neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease, which is difficult to identify within the first five years and often misdiagnosed.

How does Spintek MRI's software help with MRI scans?

Spintek MRI's software allows for efficient extraction and curation of imaging data without compromising sequence time or patient time in the MRI machine.

What is the significance of being FDA approved for Spintek MRI?

Being FDA approved since October 2021 allows Spintek MRI to market their solutions in the United States and assures the quality and safety of their software platform.

What is Spintek MRI's Series A funding goal?

Spintek MRI is closing their Series A funding with a commitment of six and a half million dollars, with five million already committed.

What are Spintek MRI's priorities in the global market?

Their priorities include expanding their solutions in the United States, addressing the specific needs of the Chinese market, and continuing to grow their presence in the global MRI market.

How does Spintek MRI plan to expand its services?

Spintek MRI plans to expand into neck and spine imaging, potentially using MRI data outputs for musculoskeletal applications, and to continue developing their software platform.

What partnerships does Spintek MRI have?

Spintek MRI has partnerships with Siemens and GE Healthcare, as well as with Octave in the diagnostics and bioscience space.

What are some of the institutions working with Spintek MRI?

Spintek MRI is working with institutions like Yale University, University of Maryland, and Loma Linda, among others.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Spintek MRI's Vision and Mission

Karen Holzberger introduces herself as the new CEO and President of Spintek MRI, a software platform that enhances the MRI ecosystem for better brain health decisions. She highlights the company's collaboration with Dr. Heike, the Chief Scientific Officer, who is a pioneer in MRI sequences used for diagnosing neurological disorders like Parkinson's and dementia. The script discusses the global prevalence of such disorders and the challenges in their early diagnosis and treatment. It emphasizes the importance of MRI as a diagnostic tool and how Spintek's software can efficiently provide data outputs to care teams without compromising the scanning time, thus aiding in early and accurate diagnosis.

05:00

🌐 Global Market Priorities and Expansion

The second paragraph delves into Spintek MRI's global market strategy, with a focus on the United States and China. It discusses the urgency of efficient MRI scanning, especially in China where time constraints are stringent. The company's goal is to reduce scan time while maintaining comprehensive diagnostic information. Holzberger outlines the company's ambition to expand its software's applicability across different body regions and disease states, not just in neurology but also in musculoskeletal (MSK) imaging. She mentions partnerships with industry leaders like Siemens and GE Healthcare and ongoing pilots with academic institutions. The script concludes with an update on the company's Series A funding, which aims to bring Dr. Heike's research to market and address significant challenges in brain health and neurology.

Keywords

💡Spintek MRI

Spintek MRI is a software platform that operates within the MRI ecosystem. It is designed to extract and deliver imaging data outputs to care teams, aiding them in making more informed decisions about brain health. The company's mission is to improve diagnostic capabilities and treatment plans for neurological disorders, as highlighted by the CEO, Karen Holzberger, in the video script.

💡MRI

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive medical imaging technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images of the inside of the body. In the context of the video, MRI is a crucial diagnostic tool for identifying and monitoring neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and dementia.

💡Neurological disorders

Neurological disorders are conditions that affect the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. The video script discusses the global prevalence of such disorders and the challenges in their diagnosis and treatment, emphasizing the importance of Spintek MRI's software in improving patient outcomes.

💡Dr. Heike

Dr. Heike is identified as the Chief Scientific Officer and founder of Spintek MRI. He is recognized for his significant contributions to MRI technology, including the invention of many sequences used in diagnosing and treating neurological disorders. His work is central to the company's mission to bring advanced MRI capabilities to the market.

💡Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects movement, with symptoms such as tremors and difficulty with balance and coordination. The video script uses Parkinson's disease as a prime example of the types of conditions that Spintek MRI's software aims to assist in diagnosing and treating more effectively.

💡Dementia

Dementia is a broad term for a serious loss of cognitive ability in a person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging. It is mentioned in the script as another neurological disorder for which Spintek MRI's software can provide diagnostic support, helping to improve treatment plans.

💡Neurology

Neurology is the medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. The video emphasizes the importance of neurologists in diagnosing and treating brain disorders, and how Spintek MRI's software can assist them by providing efficient and effective data outputs from MRI scans.

💡Interoperability

Interoperability refers to the ability of different systems and devices to work together. In the context of the video, Spintek MRI's software is designed to be interoperable across various MRI systems, regardless of the manufacturer, which allows for the extraction and analysis of imaging data in a unified manner.

💡FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval is a regulatory process that ensures the safety and effectiveness of medical devices. The video script mentions that Spintek MRI has received FDA approval since October 2021, indicating that their software meets the necessary standards for use in the medical field.

💡Series A funding

Series A funding refers to the first significant round of investment in a startup company after the initial seed funding. The video script indicates that Spintek MRI is in the process of finalizing its Series A funding, which will be used to further develop and market their software platform.

💡Health systems

Health systems encompass the organizations, people, and actions whose primary purpose is to promote, restore, or maintain health. The video script discusses the tension within health systems to keep MRI machines running efficiently while also obtaining the necessary data for accurate diagnoses, a challenge that Spintek MRI's software aims to address.

Highlights

Karen Holzberger is the newly appointed CEO and President of Spintek MRI.

Spintek MRI is a software platform that works across the MRI ecosystem to improve brain health decisions.

Dr. Heike is the Chief Scientific Officer and founder, recognized for inventing MRI sequences used in neurology.

Dr. Heike has contributed over 300 research papers and nearly 20 patents in the field of neurology.

Spintek MRI aims to tackle the prevalence of neurological disorders and improve diagnosis and treatment.

10 million patients are diagnosed with Parkinson's each year, highlighting the need for better diagnostic tools.

Spintek's software operates as an MRI software platform to aid neurologists in disease detection.

The MRI is a powerful diagnostic tool for neurological diseases, but there are tensions in its efficiency.

Spintek has developed a solution to extract and curate MRI data efficiently without compromising sequence time.

The company's Stage solution is a comprehensive brain imaging tool aimed at improving patient outcomes.

Spintek's software is interoperable across different MRI systems, including those from Philips, GE, and Siemens.

Spintek is FDA approved since October 2021.

The company is currently in Series A funding, with a commitment of $6.5 million.

Spintek's priorities include expanding in the US and China, focusing on neurology and potentially into neck and spine.

The company has partnerships with Siemens, GE Healthcare, and Octave in diagnostics and bioscience.

Karen Holzberger has been in radiology and enterprise imaging for 20 years and is committed to solving brain health issues.

Spintek is finalizing Series A funding to bring Dr. Heike's research to market and address neurological challenges.

Transcripts

hello again i'm karen holzberger i'm the

newly appointed ceo and president of

spintek mri um let me get the clicker

here

um with that who who are we um we're a

software platform that works across the

mri ecosystem that extracts and brings

data outputs imaging data outputs to the

care teams to make better informed

decisions around brain health

and i'm really excited to be at the helm

with dr hakey dr heike is our chief

scientific officer and founder he is

well recognized in the in the world of

mri

really as the inventor of many of the

sequences that doctors and providers are

using today to really start to indicate

and treat diseases around parkinson's

dementia other movement disorders all

around neurology it's incredible what

he's done over the past 40 years with

300 plus research

papers done around these disease states

as well as 19 and almost 20 patents and

it's really excited to bring his

lifelong work

to to market you know across the globe

and the mri ecosystem

let's talk a little bit about like the

problems and things that we're tackling

if you think about the prevalence of

neurological disorders across the globe

and how they're treated each year 10

million patients are diagnosed with

parkinson's and to give you that example

it's a really difficult

disease to start treating within the

first five years as well as identifying

there's no single clinical test there's

many different treatment options

and incredibly enough

three out of four times they're only

getting the answer correct

and when they start doing this they

start in imaging and this is where we

play a role as being the software

operating system over the mri a

neurologist a primary care physician the

first indication around many of these

diseases to order an mri

and you can see what can happen the mri

is an extraordinarily powerful tool

diagnostic tool and the go-to tool for

these doctors to make these informed

decisions and start to develop these

care treatment plans

there's this tension happening within

the health system that you hear about

all the time the tension to keep these

machines running as effectively and

efficiently as possible

the neurologists are looking for these

data outputs but they come at a cost and

a trade-off to each other you have about

10 minutes to run some of these brain

images to get the data output that you

need the quantitative and qualitative

output of these micro bleeds these very

small nuances found in the imaging you

need to take longer time and what we've

we've been able to develop through dr

hakey's work and our company spintec is

to be able to extract curate and put

together in an output

efficiently effectively without

compromising the sequence time or how

long that patient's in the machine

really important as the departments the

health systems who are you know seeing

so many patients each and every day

whether it's inpatient in the afternoon

the ambulatory patients during the day

to be able to keep these machines

running as efficiently and effectively

as possible and imbalance giving the

information to the neurologist to make

informed earlier diagnosis with the

tools that we're giving them with the

imaging data

and so this is where stage comes in we

are a comprehensive brain imaging

solution

really thinking about and across the

care pathways that we talked about to

really help give the doctors the right

tools early to make these diagnoses to

improve patient outcomes the financial

outcomes as well as the clinical

outcomes um

you know for our health systems and

what's interesting about this is that

because we work across the mri ecosystem

and what does that mean well it doesn't

matter what mr the systems are using

whether it's in china where there's 6

000 high field magnets today in the u.s

where there's 8 000 magnets today

whether it's from philips ge siemens

united

that we've got this ability and the

interoperability to be able to extract

this data and give that information to

the doctor so they can make the right

informed choices i'm excited to say that

we are fda approved and we've been fda

approved since october of 2021

we've been working with key partners

here and i talked a little bit about the

market here what's happening but with

that where we are

to be able to actually

really kind of put the demand to this

market our priority today with the

funding that we've received we're in our

series a just closing that out a

commitment of six and a half million

five million has been committed already

but to really start what is happening in

the united states around mr how do we

start taking our solutions putting in

the hands of the neurologist our second

priority alcohol horizon two is really

what we have to do in china again as i

said they're six thousand high field mr

the pressures that the chinese face is

around how much time do they have to

scan their patients their revelants

around parkinson's disease they allow

four to five minutes per scan and we

have the ability to give them to take 40

of the time off that scan but still give

them the comprehensive information

around these disease states these

movement disorders these brain diseases

for that so you can see the priorities

that we have in the global market that

continues to grow at three to six

percent kgar every year

really incredible time for us to be to

be able to extract this information

and give it into the hands of the

doctors because well the other problem

that's happening is many of these

diseases are have a disconnection to how

they're treated

whether it's in the early stage in the

diagnosis and the identification of

parkinson's or other brain disorders

other movement disorders to the ongoing

treatment

because for example when i talk about

this for the u.s

typically a parkinson's patient is

imaged four times per year on mri so

what else can we do to continue to

provide that longitudinal record of the

imaging data as the brain is kind of you

know continuing to transform in the

information that those neurologists need

and what's interesting for us as i said

you know we hit our first fda of the

stage platform for here focusing on

neuro our ambitions are continuing to

get to our we have a sas based model

today but continuing to get into public

cloud we also know as we go across the

horizontals of the disease state and

neurology we also know that if we can we

will continue into neck and spine

which gives us opportunity to use um mr

and getting the data outputs for

msk or musculoskeletal and continuing to

go across whether it's the body region

or the disease states as well as the

infra the the regions around the world

because what's interesting is the fact

that

you know mr is again the de facto tool

it's a very powerful diagnostic tool the

tensions that happen between of getting

the data having the time to get the data

that we are able to do that too because

of our interoperability so it's really

exciting um we get our net our next

product called crown through fda

approval hopefully by the end of the

year that's our goal which then opens up

the market for us not just for the high

field magnets but the 1.5 team magnets

too so it's a really exciting time for

us and so where are we today so we've

got partnerships with siemens and ge

healthcare as well as in the diagnostics

and bioscience space with octave

who is really tackling the ecosystem

around multiple sclerosis and

parkinson's you know we see ourselves

being the imaging data output and

reporting for the neurologist for this

our thought leaders and continued early

pilots being yale

um university of maryland as well as

loma linda you know in the work that

we're doing at university of michigan

it's really a terrific time for us

and then finally like i had said um

we're even though i'm like very early

stage in my role here as a ceo we're

finalizing our series a funding at six

and a half million dollars five has been

committed um which really we will focus

on you know taking dr hakey's you know

research and software platform and

really bringing it to market to solve

some of the most challenging problems

that we see today

around brain health and neurology it's

my personal mission i didn't really tell

you a little bit by myself but i've been

in

radiology and enterprise imaging for the

past 20 years and to be a part of what

dr hakey's been doing

to really solve these issues and solve

these you know these chronic diseases to

make it a little bit better and hearing

yesterday last night's discussion

around you know american cancer society

and what we can do to help not the

patients today but the patients of

tomorrow with this so thank you very

much for the time i appreciate it and

have a wonderful conference

[Applause]