Innovation

ThinkSono’s innovation to diagnosing DVT is bringing a paradigm shift to healthcare in DVT, revolutionizing the care of DVT patients through novel technology and infrastructure. Co-founders Fouad Al-Noor and Sven Mischkewitz created ThinkSono in 2016 after meeting through the prestigious Entrepreneur First program, a London-based startup accelerator program for talented leaders seeking to become entrepreneurs.

Al-Noor and Mischkewitz connected over their common passion for improving access to medical diagnostics around the world when they came across DVT. “[It was] super random. We were talking to a general practitioner who mentioned it.”, Al-Noor says. After doing more research and talking to more healthcare professionals, Mischkewitz and Al-Noor found a problem to solve. The diagnosis of DVT represents a huge unmet medical need and “it is not high profile”, Al-Noor explains. “You hear about cancer all the time. You don’t hear about DVT.” The diagnosis of DVT requires an ultrasound scan, and the process is lengthy and inefficient. Getting test results to patients takes hours, if not days.

ThinkSono AI, however, changes the playing field. Using just a handheld device and a phone, any healthcare professional, including professionals not trained in ultrasound, can perform a DVT diagnostic ultrasound exam in less than 15 minutes. AI guidance helps the user properly position the device, identify the correct anatomy, and collect accurate data. The data is uploaded to a dashboard for review by a qualified clinician—a diagnosis is made within minutes.

ThinkSono is driving the UN goal of good health and well-being by increasing the accessibility of DVT diagnostics. With their technology, any non-expert can perform a scan yielding quick results, enabling at-risk patients to receive a rapid diagnosis and potentially life-saving treatment. By expanding the available DVT diagnostic pathways through their handheld device and technology, ThinkSono is also working towards the UN goal of industry, innovation, and infrastructure. What’s more, ThinkSono is bringing AI to the intersection of medicine, a spark for future innovation as the fields are consistently challenged to revolutionize themselves.

Inspiration

Al-Noor studied electrical engineering at university and completed his masters in bionanotechnology—now he is the entrepreneur of a biotech startup revolutionizing DVT patient care and diagnostics through AI. Al-Noor always knew that whatever he would end up doing, it would be interdisciplinary. “When two big spaces intersect, it’s very interesting because weird stuff happens. And that's what I always like”, he tells us.

But Al-Noor didn’t wake up one day, suddenly passionate about blood clots—he didn’t even know they existed. It was a process of delving deep into the material, from textbook reads to internet searches and online videos, that began an ‘obsession’—as Al-Noor calls it. “The biggest boost was [when we spoke] to patients or a doctor [who] are in the front line dealing with this problem”, he shares. “When you’re telling them ‘Hey, I might have a solution [...]’, their reaction is ‘Oh my god! This is amazing. How can I help?’”. Naturally, this excitement and support made it easy for co-founders Al-Noor and Mischkewitz to transform their obsession with blood clots into a passion to create a better diagnostic pathway for DVT.

The unrelenting commitment Al-Noor and Mischkewitz develop comes from their realization that their work has an impact. Al-Noor was never purely driven by money. Instead, what keeps him going is that he is “doing something [...] where [he] feels even when it's difficult or long-winded, at least it's worth it”. Al-Noor’s positivity is inspiring and infectious: “If you want to solve this big problem [...], you might not. It might not happen. It's very difficult, but if you believe in it, it's actually worth waking up and working on it every day”. It is this mindset that has led Al-Noor and Mischkewitz to success as they continue to improve their technology and spearhead DVT diagnostics.

At the core of this passion, however, lies curiosity—it’s a prerequisite, Al-Noor assures us. “You just have to be curious enough about things in general, and then that curiosity brings about passion later on.”

Overall impact

Every year, 1 in 1000 adults develop DVT. Combined with Pulmonary Embolism (PE), DVT forms the number one cause of preventable hospital death. Thus, the immediate impact of ThinkSono’s innovation is clear: by enabling a rapid diagnosis of DVT, physicians can bring life-saving treatment to patients with a potentially fatal disease.

ThinkSono has been working on the innovation since 2016, and the company aims to introduce the technology to the front lines of public healthcare systems across the globe. “We’ve already completed multicenter double-blinded clinical trials in Europe and we’re almost ready for full clearance now” Al-Noor tells us. Meanwhile, ThinkSono has started launching clinical trials in the US.

What’s more, ThinkSono is revolutionizing the ultrasound industry. With the device, “99% of all healthcare staff can use ultrasound”, says Al-Noor, compared to approximately 1% of all healthcare staff who can perform ultrasound without it. This has huge clinical implications: expanding the number of existing healthcare professionals who can perform ultrasounds can help combat high-stress environments in low-staffed hospitals and clinics, as well as ensure patients receive a quality diagnosis and treatment. Outcomes from trial settings have been supporting the efficacy of the innovation. Al-Noor shares with us an anecdote from a physician who found a blood clot using ThinkSono’s technology that they would have overlooked in a traditional ultrasound scan. It is such positive outcomes, as well as the incredible feedback from patients and clinicians alike, that bring to the forefront ThinkSono’s significant impact in transforming DVT patient care and—ultimately—saving lives.

Business benefit

ThinkSono has become the leading ultrasound AI software company in the world—an impressive feat, especially considering ThinkSono is a biotech startup with a mere 10 employees. The groundbreaking innovation has become a treasure trove for funding: ThinkSono has secured partnerships with some of the biggest ultrasound vendors in the world, and “investors are doubling down on the technology”, Al-Noor explains.

ThinkSono’s success is attributed to the remarkable development of its technology. In the beginning, the company struggled with huge technical issues, having to connect the software to a plethora of devices before it would even run. Now, within clicks, the software is downloaded on a phone and the diagnostic test can be performed. When facing initial setbacks like these, Al-Noor tells us, “you can’t overreact. [...] You will get distracted [and] you will make bad decisions.” A big part of his leadership at ThinkSono is making good decisions for himself and his team by avoiding getting emotionally involved in a challenge. It may sound ‘robotic’ as Al-Noor coins it, but he tries to cultivate this leadership style—“otherwise it’s not sustainable”.

Ultimately, it is this mindset that helps Al-Noor and his team transform seemingly insurmountable challenges into something that can be overcome. “There's always a workaround, even if it's not immediately obvious what the workaround is.” Overcoming challenges as a team has driven the company forward, and it will continue to inspire ThinkSono’s innovation, progress, and success.

Social and environmental benefit

ThinkSono is impacting lives on every level: patients, who are getting a diagnosis that could result in life-saving treatment, healthcare professionals, who are empowered to perform DVT diagnostic exams, clinicians, who are able to assess an ultrasound scan in a matter of minutes.

Beyond this, ThinkSono is transforming the healthcare system as a whole. The company’s innovation is increasing accessibility to the DVT diagnostic pathway, which is especially important from an equity perspective. “If you’re a patient in a rural area, you do not always have access to the same [resources] as [a patient] in New York, [for example], Al-Noor explains. Yet ThinkSono’s device could change this. Increasing the number of healthcare professionals who can perform the exam, as well the ease with which it is done, can help bring the innovation into under-resourced areas—driving the cause in closing the equity gap in diagnostics.

With the UN SDG goals in mind, ThinkSono’s remarkable benefit to society becomes clear. The company is transforming DVT diagnostics through novel, life-saving infrastructure, bringing a groundbreaking shift to the healthcare industry. Al-Noor concludes “we want every institution, every hospital to be using [the technology] to improve patients’ outcomes. That's why we built it”. In years to come, it will be exciting to watch as ThinkSono’s impact continues to grow and expand.

Interview

Fouad Al Noor, Co-Founder