December 22, 2023 — HeartBeam, Inc., a medical technology company focused on transforming cardiac care through the power of personalized insights, announced significant developments for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applied to its proprietary vectorelectrocardiography (VECG) technology, including the addition of new leadership and advisory roles. By coupling machine learning methods with the company’s VECG technology, HeartBeam aims to provide physicians with unprecedented diagnostic and prognostic insights about cardiac health that it believes will exceed the information provided by a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG).
HeartBeam’s core VECG technology collects 3D signals of the heart and converts them into an easy-to-interpret 12-lead ECG. Designed to be used with portable, patient-friendly devices, the company’s first planned application of the platform technology is its HeartBeam AIMIGo, the first and only credit card-sized device that provides a 12-lead ECG to facilitate remote evaluation of cardiac symptoms.
The HeartBeam technology gathers more data than a standard 12-lead ECG by capturing signals in 3 projections (X,Y,Z) that, when taken together, generate a complete 3D map of the heart's electrical activity. By leveraging AI to analyze these data-rich signals, HeartBeam believes it will be able to improve diagnostic accuracy and extract unique information that today’s 12-lead ECGs are unable to detect, such as complex heart rhythms, subtle signs of deteriorating heart health and cardiac events that may have previously been missed. In addition, as the device is used by the same patient over time, there will be a series of readings for each patient – data that is of great diagnostic value. HeartBeam believes this presents a unique opportunity to create a comprehensive repository of data that could unlock personalized AI-driven insights to improve cardiac care.
“It’s rare to acquire a large series of 12-lead ECGs from the same individual over time,” said Branislav Vajdic, PhD, CEO and Founder of HeartBeam. “By pioneering a user-friendly device that enables frequent 12-lead ECGs over time and by coupling AI with our proprietary VECG technology that can go beyond a 12-lead ECG, HeartBeam is well-positioned to identify nuanced cardiac trends that could ultimately improve patient care.”
To lead this effort, the company has hired Mohammad Shokoohi-Yekta, PhD, as Senior Director of Machine Learning. A renowned expert in the field of data science and machine learning, Dr. Shokoohi-Yekta was most recently at Microsoft. During his tenure at Microsoft, he spearheaded the use of advanced analytics, machine learning techniques and predictive modeling to improve the accuracy of software tools. He also played a pivotal role in growing a small team of data scientists and AI professionals into one of the most influential teams within the organization, resulting in a significant financial impact. He previously held data science and machine learning positions at Apple and has been a keynote speaker at more than 60 data and AI summits around the world. Dr. Shokoohi-Yekta received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside.
Additionally, Lance Myers, PhD, a pioneer in digital health data analytics and body-worn biosensor technologies, will be joining HeartBeam as Chief AI Advisor. Previously, Dr. Myers was the Head of Cardiovascular Devices and Head of Data Science at Verily Life Sciences, where he led a team developing a novel heart failure monitoring solution and built strong leadership in computational biology, biosensor algorithms, digital biomarkers, health informatics and digital pathology. He also held leadership roles at Sentrian, VivoSense, Boston Neurosciences and Vivometrics. He currently serves as a board member for VivoSense and is on the scientific advisory boards of Acorai and Bryte. Dr. Myers received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
“Having Mohammad and Lance join the company will be invaluable as we work towards our mission of transforming cardiac health. With their expertise and acumen, I am confident both will make an immediate impact to harness the power of AI within our data-rich VECG technology to ensure we deliver the most impactful technology with the goal of improving patient outcomes,” added Dr. Vajdic.