Agilis Consulting Group
Your trusted human factors partner for the global medical market

Agilis Consulting Group, a full-service medical human factors firm that helps new and established companies achieve successful human factors submissions, has named Denise Wagner as Principal Consultant, Human Factors Engineering. 

"It is so exciting to see the growth, in depth and breadth, of the Agilis team," states Shannon Hoste, President of Agilis Consulting Group. "We have the experts that will help shape the future of human factors in the medical device and combination product industries." 

Denise comes with an impressive background: she formerly led Johnson and Johnson's Orthopedic Robotics Systems Engineering Team. Prior to joining Johnson and Johnson, Wagner provided usability engineering and quality systems consulting to several medical device companies as the Principal and Owner of HFE and QS Consulting, LLC. She has also worked as the Associate Director of the New Product Development Process for Zimmer's Reconstructive Division, in addition to holding other roles in R&D leadership and development. Prior to Zimmer, Denise was an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering and Technology at Trine University for 10 years. During her tenure at Trine, she collaborated on industry projects with dozens of companies across multiple business sectors. 

Denise began her engineering career at NASA's Johnson Space Center, initially working in space shuttle program integration, then she moved to the robotics group within mission operations, where she served as a space shuttle mission designer and controller for multiple space shuttle missions. She received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado and an MS in Industrial and Knowledge Systems Engineering at the University of Houston. Her graduate research focused on designing and testing the user interface of a time-delayed tele manipulation system for the space station. 

Agilis is looking forward to continued growth with Denise as the Principal Consultant to help clients achieve their regulatory goals and create safer medical products for the end users. 

About Agilis Consulting Group
Agilis Consulting Group is your trusted human factors partner for the global medical market. We enable product realization through successful human factors submissions while navigating the complex global regulatory landscape, resulting in safe and effective medical devices and combination products. Agilis' proven human factors strategies, process and expertise drive regulatory success and speed to market - the first time.

To learn how Agilis can support your medical device or combination product human factors success, please contact [email protected] or visit us at www.agilisconsulting.com.

Agilis Consulting Group
Your trusted human factors partner for the global medical market

Denise Wagner
Denise Wagner is a Principal Consultant in Human Factors Engineering at Agilis Consulting Group

Empyrean Medical Systems

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Empyrean Medical Systems, Inc. today announced an exclusive license and joint development agreement to advance novel technologies and products in the fields of radiation oncology and cancer therapeutics.

This agreement brings together the complementary research and development expertise of both institutions to advance innovative intellectual property from MD Anderson to improve the delivery of radiation therapy for patients with cancer.

"We are proud to collaborate with MD Anderson as we work toward bringing these novel technologies to light," said Kal Fishman, Founder, President, and CEO of Empyrean Medical Systems. "Our goal is to develop multiple state-of-the-art products to deliver optimal radiation therapy for our clinicians and make a real difference for patients and their families."

Under this agreement, Empyrean obtains an exclusive license to develop and commercialize a new approach for delivering radiation therapy originally discovered by MD Anderson researchers. The Magnetically Optimized Very High Energy Electron Therapy (MOVHEET) method has the potential to significantly improve the precision of radiation delivered by machinery with a similar footprint to conventional options. 

"The combined expertise of MD Anderson and Empyrean allows us the opportunity to take advantage of dosimetric characteristics of very high energy electron beams for the treatment of malignant tumors," said Mohammad Salehpour, Ph.D., professor of Radiation Physics at MD Anderson. "The MOVHEET system is designed from the ground up to deliver both conventional and FLASH dose rate radiotherapy with enhanced precision to increase its efficacy."

In addition to MOVHEET, Empyrean and MD Anderson intend to collaboratively develop additional technologies based on Empyrean's intellectual property, all with the goal of optimizing care for patients with cancer. MD Anderson will receive an equity interest in Empyrean and is eligible to receive certain royalties and other financial considerations. 

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Disclosure

MD Anderson has an institutional conflict of interest with Empyrean Medical Systems due to this exclusive license and joint development agreement and is implementing an Institutional Conflict of Interest Management and Monitoring Plan for all research related to this agreement.

About MD Anderson:

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. The institution's sole mission is to end cancer for patients and their families around the world. MD Anderson is one of only 53 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). MD Anderson is No. 1 for cancer in U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals" rankings. It has been named one of the nation's top two hospitals for cancer since the rankings began in 1990. MD Anderson receives a cancer center support grant from the NCI of the National Institutes of Health (P30 CA016672).

About Empyrean Medical Systems, Inc.:

Empyrean Medical Systems is an innovator and paradigm shifter in radiation oncology. The company aims to fundamentally change how cancer patients are treated worldwide while enhancing and improving every patient's clinical outcome and quality of life. As a cutting-edge innovator, Empyrean aims to disrupt the fields of oncology and radiation oncology through the introduction of state-of-the-art medical devices, artificial intelligence analytical solutions, clinical applications and therapeutic agents. Empyrean's multi-modal solutions provide personalized and effective healthcare, enhancing clinical productivity and improving outcomes for patients, providers, health systems and researchers worldwide.

For more information, visit www.empyreanmed.com.

Contacts

MD Anderson

Name: Clayton Boldt, Ph.D.

e-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: 713-792-9518

Empyrean Medical Systems

Name: Madelyn Seal 

e-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: 561-931-2086

Empyrean Medical Systems

MD Anderson

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We are advised by Perceptive Solutions LLC that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, "Perceptive Solutions Integrates With Oracle Cerner, Joins Cerner Code Program" issued July 27, 2022.

Smile CDR Inc., a leading health data and integration company, is pleased to announce the appointment of George Rollins to the newly created role of president, effective Sept. 6, 2022. 

Mr. Rollins will support Smile's ongoing success as a world leader and activist in the growth of global health management systems, reporting to Smile CDR's Chief Executive Officer, Duncan Weatherston. He brings more than 35 years of senior leadership expertise in health information technology operations, sales, and management for organizations in the private and U.S. government sectors including, most recently, Peraton (based in Virginia) and, prior to that, IMS Health Inc. (now IQVIA). Over his career, Mr. Rollins has led international teams and grown comprehensive business portfolios with annual revenues of more than $250 million.

"George will help position Smile CDR as a game-changer at handling the world's emerging needs for health data, health technology, and health services IT/tech," said CEO Duncan Weatherston. "He will be focused internally, leading Smile CDR's executive team and working with the broader Smile CDR community to drive excellence and efficiency in the delivery of company operations."

"As a former business unit owner, George is passionate about Smile CDR's technologies and has first-hand knowledge of how to develop, sell and use them most effectively. He was an early advocate of interoperability and seamless technology, and he deeply believes in the 'care without boundaries' principle," Weatherston added.

Smile CDR has more than doubled its revenue and its team in the past year. The company won the 2022 Microsoft Canada ISV Breakthrough Partner Impact Award in recognition of its work bettering the lives of Canadians through skilling initiatives, excellent customer service, and digital transformation that leverages Microsoft technology. 

"Smile CDR's leadership structure is now best matched to further this trajectory of growth and innovation, and support an expanding, diverse team and product portfolio in a rapidly evolving industry," said George Rizk, Chair of Smile CDR's Board of Directors. "George offers the visionary leadership and executional excellence that will enable Smile CDR to continue to lead the digital transformation of healthcare, improve patient outcomes, and make major advances towards #BetterGlobalHealth."

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For more information, please contact:

Lucy Railton
Director of Marketing
Smile CDR Inc.
(800) 683-1318 x 712
[email protected]

SpendMend
SpendMend

SpendMend, a leading provider of solutions to optimize the cost-cycle for the healthcare industry today announced the successful completion of its purchase of VIE Healthcare Consulting. The acquisition will help SpendMend to expand its set of solutions to help healthcare-industry clients reduce costs across purchased services agreements.

Founded in 1999, VIE Healthcare Consulting provides leading-edge financial and operational consulting for hospitals, healthcare institutions, and other providers of patient care. For over two decades, the company has been a recognized leader in healthcare costs, the hospital purchased services, healthcare benchmarking, supply chain management, and performance improvement. 

VIE Healthcare Consulting has developed proprietary software and technology in the area of healthcare data optimization and intelligence that is designed to deliver financial improvement. Through the deployment of their software solutions and consulting services, the company has generated over $1Billion in non-labor cost savings and revenue improvements for their healthcare clients.

"For years, our primary mission has been to develop and facilitate strategies to help healthcare systems reduce costs, improve outcomes and increase operating margins," states VIE founder Lisa Miller. "Joining the SpendMend team helps us to deliver our solution on a much larger scale, with the potential to deliver an even bigger impact to the Healthcare market."

"Visibility within Purchase Services is a significant challenge for all hospitals and health systems," says Dan Geelhoed, founder, and CEO of SpendMend. "With VIE, we are now able to provide deeper visibility into the line-item detail which will help lead to material cost savings and stronger insight across many critical spend categories."

Steve Rodgers, managing director and head of healthcare at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, which manages the investment funds that acquired a controlling interest in SpendMend, said: "The acquisition of VIE should enable SpendMend to significantly increase the impact of their cost-cycle management and compliance management services. The combination of VIE's cost analytics alongside the SpendMend solution suite will allow SpendMend to provide actionable insights and value for hospitals and healthcare systems."

Existing VIE clients will benefit from an expanded menu of services as a result of the acquisition. The newly acquired group will continue operations as usual; Miller will remain in place, leading the largely remote staff and working directly with clients out of her New Jersey-based offices.

About SpendMend

SpendMend is a leading provider of tech-enabled, cost-savings solutions in the healthcare industry. Combining the use of data, proprietary technology, and rigorous analytics with its healthcare focus and expertise, SpendMend partners with healthcare networks to expose the dark data to improve and optimize their costs in meaningful and collaborative ways. SpendMend's mission is to help its clients improve their patient care through innovative cost-savings solutions.

About VIE Healthcare Consulting

VIE Healthcare Consulting has been delivering real results to clients since 1999. Located in Wall Township, New Jersey, VIE Healthcare Consulting specializes in healthcare organization non-labor expense reduction and offers the industry's only Cost Savings Strategy that is a proven framework for mining every cost-saving opportunity. The company fields a team of cost savings experts, data scientists, technology specialists, healthcare business analysts, and healthcare executives.