What services do you offer?
Keno Health is developing a first-in-market medical device called Keno AI that is attached to a regular stethoscope and is used to automatically detect heart murmurs entirely on-device, without a need for an internet connection or app. Our product approach can enable widespread deployment, democratizing the ability to screen for heart murmurs while producing more equitable outcomes for patients from diverse backgrounds.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
We most enjoy listening to the many different physician groups to understand their needs and what they truly want in a product. This has allowed us to build up a solution from the ground up that is designed to be as simple and quick as possible yet provide a huge amount of value to our users.
What inspired you to start your business?
Through speaking to people in the medical community, we were alerted to how difficult it is to detect heart murmurs in the practice of routine screenings. A deeper dive into the issue revealed the significant global cost attributable to the under-diagnosis of valvular heart disease. At the same time, we saw an opportunity to apply our expertise in resource-constrained neural networks to develop a device which could address this challenge. Ultimately, we want to be a part of improving clinical decisions through solutions that are easily adopted by health care professionals.
What gets you out of bed every morning?
The desire to change and impact the clinical landscape for the better, and ultimately have a positive influence on people’s health with our product. Physicians will be empowered to diagnose and treat patients who have heart murmurs caused by underlying heart valve disease that need clinical intervention.
What is your secret to making progress each day?
A combination of our project manager and engineering backgrounds, genuinely desiring to connect with people daily, and a good pair of noise canceling headphones during focused work. And coffee, lots of coffee.
Tell us one thing people don’t know about you.
I used to teach a cross-functional physics/chemistry/biology undergraduate course at the University of Florida.
A typical weekend for me is…
Spending time with my wife and our 2 children, hanging out with friends and family, and maybe sneaking in a road bike ride or run in the early morning.
What will people get from your business that they won’t get anywhere else?
We have developed a product that is truly unique, and the product is incredibly easy to use in practice. Being able to detect more heart murmurs quickly and easily is important to physicians, and a product like this doesn’t exist in the marketplace. We want every one of our users to be raving fans of our business, so we partner with all of our customers and give back to our local Central Florida community.
Have you won any awards or had any special recognition or acknowledgement of your business?
The results of our clinical trial were submitted and accepted as a Spotlight on Special Topics abstract at the American College of Cardiology national convention in Washington D.C., in April of 2022.
What are your plans for the future of your business?
Our goal is to commercialize our heart murmur detection solution in the coming months and quickly expand nationwide. Eventually we will bring this product to Europe and other global markets. Our mission is to provide a heart murmur detection solution to all corners of the world, allowing health care professionals from all areas to have access to this type of technology.
What’s your secret talent no one knows about?
I play piano, and used to compose music (and even had a song included in a short film).
What did you want to be when growing up?
A doctor! So staying close to this field was important to me.
What is your favorite thing to do in the wonderful area of Central Florida?
Central Florida has a surprising amount of great restaurants and coffee shops that we like to try out.
What would people never guess you do in your role?
Being in the medical device industry, I still spend time on the product development side of the business and use my medical device expertise to help create the best product possible.
What do you love most about your industry?
Being able to create something that helps improve clinical decisions and positively affect patient outcomes is incredibly rewarding, and we’re humbled to be a small part of that process.
How have you advanced professionally since starting your business?
We’ve learned to focus on the customer and not just focus on building a product. Reaching out and listening to what people want is crucial if you want to have a successful business.
