Healthcare CEO Peer Advisory Group

October 5, 2022

Opening Discussion Topic:

From Brains to Bladders:
Accelerating Adoption of Medical Technology

It’s considered a truism in healthcare that it takes an average of 17 years from research to adoption of new medical processes and technology. Yet, in the past two years all of us witnessed a major exception to that rule with the accelerated adoption of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, following their FDA EUA approvals within 9-10 months of March 13th, when COVID-19 was declared a national emergency. Of course, BioNTech began working on its vaccine in 2008, and Moderna in 2010, so did have some lead time. Plus, at least Moderna received $1billion from “Operation Warp Speed” to accelerate their development.

While the stars seldom align to rocket-boost most med technologies into the stratosphere, clearly some take hold faster than others. During our Opening Discussion, we’ll look to hear your experience and observations of how some diagnostics, devices, practices and procedures were adopted much faster than the norm.

Then, our Featured Members, Yap Chew, President of Pangea Laboratory, and Mark Heinemeyer, CEO of PRODEO, will share the breakthrough technologies they’re introducing to the U.S. market. Pangea’s Bladder CARE^TM is a non-invasive qPCR bladder cancer detection test that provides a superior diagnosis, faster turnaround, and lower cost to replace the long-standing approach of using invasive (and painful) as well as expensive cystoscopies to detect and monitor the fourth most common cancers in men.

One of the most destructive aspects of COVID has been the negative impact it’s had on the mental health of employees. With the stresses of a lethal disease, greater social isolation, and a myriad of other social ills that have exploded during the past nearly three years, Mark Heinemeyer will share how employers now have an opportunity – if not an obligation – to help their employees develop their brain health. Mark’s now involved in bringing to market a new technology that will enable employers to do this.

Yap Ching Chew, Ph.D., is COO of Pangea Laboratory, a diagnostics company focused on the precise, early detection of emerging diseases. Yap joined Pangea in 2015, as a Director, and became COO in November 2020. In addition to Pangea, Yap has also worked for Zymo Research Corporation, a globally established biotechnology company and industry leader in the fields of epigenetics, microbiomics, and the emerging Next-Gen Sequencing space. In addition to Bladder CARE, Pangea also offers PrecisionBIOME, a next-generation microbial test that can detect and identify all bacterial and fungal pathogens in a clinical specimen together with antibiotic susceptibilities – all in one test.

Mark Heinemeyer is CEO of PRODEO, which propels novel, proven brain health technologies into the market. PRODEO is engaged by companies and their investors to advance emerging technologies and therapeutics in various areas of brain health including genomics, gut-brain axis, multi-omics, biometrics, and affective computing. Their work addresses conditions across the life span and includes those deemed neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric as well as brain injury. Mark is also co-founder of the PRODEO Institute has partnered with the OECD to develop new approaches to brain-based investing, economics, and policy.

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