BrainScope Company Inc.04.19.16
Bethesda, Md.-based BrainScope Company Inc., a privately held neurotechnology company with an initial focus on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and concussion assessment announced today that Dallas Hack, M.D., Col. (Ret.) and Geoffrey Ling, M.D., Ph.D., Col. (Ret.) have joined BrainScope’s Scientific Advisory Board.
“We are deeply honored to have both Dr. Hack and Dr. Ling join our Scientific Advisory Board. Their expertise in traumatic brain injury and concussion is unparalleled in the field, and we look forward to their important contributions to help foster the development of BrainScope’s objective medical devices for assessment across the spectrum of TBI,” said Michael Singer, CEO of BrainScope.
“Dr. Hack and Dr. Ling are among the most respected scientific minds in military medicine. We are very pleased to be able to gain from their expertise in traumatic brain injury,” added James B. Peake, M.D., LTG (Ret.), Chairman of BrainScope’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Hack most recently served in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command where he coordinated leading-edge research focused on new products and technologies to save lives and reduce morbidity of troops injured in the line of duty. From 2008 to 2014, Hack served as the director of the U.S. Army Combat Casualty Care Research Program and the Chair, Joint Program Committee 6 (Combat Casualty Care). One of his major responsibilities was overseeing a portfolio of more than 500 TBI projects. Hack was also a key author of the 2013 National Research Action Plan, where he developed a strategic action plan addressing the fundamental problems in TBI, initiating major efforts across the continuum of care. The NCAA-Department of Defense Grand Alliance was established under his leadership as the largest-ever study of concussion that will comprehensively evaluate the natural history of concussion. He also co-developed the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium, which is the largest-ever study of the long-term effects of TBI. Hack completed his M.D. from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. He also holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins University, an MSS from the U.S. Army War College, and a CPE from the Certifying Commission in Medical Management.
“BrainScope has set the standard of a public-private partnership in medical device development,” said Hack. “They have repeatedly risen to the challenges and uncertainty that are inherent in science, engineering, and physiology, yet have maintained momentum to achieve regulatory approval of the Ahead 100 and Ahead 200 systems for evaluating head injury. Their dedication to caring for Servicemembers and Veterans is unsurpassed, their science impeccable, and their attention to detail flawless. It is a true pleasure to assist in moving this technology forward.”
Geoffrey Ling is a leading authority on TBI, and for many years was the leading TBI expert for the Department of Defense. He helped lead the Clinical Practice Guidelines groups that published the Guidelines for the Field Management of Combat Related Head Trauma (2005) and the VA-DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (2009). He has published over 180 peer reviewed journal articles, reviews and book chapters. He is the author of the TBI chapter in Cecil’s Textbook of Medicine. Ling is a retired U.S. Army colonel and was deployed as a neurointensive care physician to Afghanistan in 2003 and to Baghdad, Iraq in 2005. In addition, Ling has had four in-theater missions as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “Gray Team” to assess TBI care in the combat theater (2009, 2011). Ling was also a “requested by name” consultant to Congresswoman Gabby Gifford’s trauma team following her tragic attack. He is presently a professor of neurology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and is an attending physician in Neuro Critical Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was the founding Director of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency where he served for almost 12 years. He was the DARPA Program Manager of the Year in 2009. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. from Cornell University.
“BrainScope’s regulatory progress represents a remarkable tangible achievement. This is possible because of its technical ingenuity coupled with demonstrated efficacy in determining risk of structural brain injury, which would otherwise require a CT to identify,” said Ling.
Approximately 100 million people worldwide experience a TBI annually. It is estimated that 90 percent of TBIs are concussions. Currently, the state of concussion diagnosis is ineffective, leaving the clinician with only subjective assessment tools that patients easily and often “game” so they can continue with their activities. While CT scans can rule out a bleed in the brain, they do not help the physician diagnose concussion. In fact, according to a recent article in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, of the almost 5 million people who receive a CT for head injury in U.S. Emergency Departments annually, over 90 percent are CT negative, exposing patients to harmful radiation and unnecessary procedural costs.
BrainScope’s disruptive medical technology will change the way head-injured patients are assessed and managed, giving clinicians—for the first time—a comprehensive, objective and accessible view of a person’s head trauma. The company’s technology is on track to be the first fully FDA-cleared, integrated and objective system used to immediately and objectively assess patients for all forms of TBI—from concussions to bleeds in the brain.
BrainScope’s medical technology uses an off-the-shelf Android device and proprietary disposable electrode headset. It collects recordings of brain electrical activity and other vital patient-specific data. The technology utilizes classification algorithms created from sophisticated signal processing methods based on a large database of injured and non-injured patients. With novel and patented technologies, the BrainScope device provides a full panel view of the state of the brain after injury.
“We are deeply honored to have both Dr. Hack and Dr. Ling join our Scientific Advisory Board. Their expertise in traumatic brain injury and concussion is unparalleled in the field, and we look forward to their important contributions to help foster the development of BrainScope’s objective medical devices for assessment across the spectrum of TBI,” said Michael Singer, CEO of BrainScope.
“Dr. Hack and Dr. Ling are among the most respected scientific minds in military medicine. We are very pleased to be able to gain from their expertise in traumatic brain injury,” added James B. Peake, M.D., LTG (Ret.), Chairman of BrainScope’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Hack most recently served in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command where he coordinated leading-edge research focused on new products and technologies to save lives and reduce morbidity of troops injured in the line of duty. From 2008 to 2014, Hack served as the director of the U.S. Army Combat Casualty Care Research Program and the Chair, Joint Program Committee 6 (Combat Casualty Care). One of his major responsibilities was overseeing a portfolio of more than 500 TBI projects. Hack was also a key author of the 2013 National Research Action Plan, where he developed a strategic action plan addressing the fundamental problems in TBI, initiating major efforts across the continuum of care. The NCAA-Department of Defense Grand Alliance was established under his leadership as the largest-ever study of concussion that will comprehensively evaluate the natural history of concussion. He also co-developed the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium, which is the largest-ever study of the long-term effects of TBI. Hack completed his M.D. from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. He also holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins University, an MSS from the U.S. Army War College, and a CPE from the Certifying Commission in Medical Management.
“BrainScope has set the standard of a public-private partnership in medical device development,” said Hack. “They have repeatedly risen to the challenges and uncertainty that are inherent in science, engineering, and physiology, yet have maintained momentum to achieve regulatory approval of the Ahead 100 and Ahead 200 systems for evaluating head injury. Their dedication to caring for Servicemembers and Veterans is unsurpassed, their science impeccable, and their attention to detail flawless. It is a true pleasure to assist in moving this technology forward.”
Geoffrey Ling is a leading authority on TBI, and for many years was the leading TBI expert for the Department of Defense. He helped lead the Clinical Practice Guidelines groups that published the Guidelines for the Field Management of Combat Related Head Trauma (2005) and the VA-DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (2009). He has published over 180 peer reviewed journal articles, reviews and book chapters. He is the author of the TBI chapter in Cecil’s Textbook of Medicine. Ling is a retired U.S. Army colonel and was deployed as a neurointensive care physician to Afghanistan in 2003 and to Baghdad, Iraq in 2005. In addition, Ling has had four in-theater missions as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “Gray Team” to assess TBI care in the combat theater (2009, 2011). Ling was also a “requested by name” consultant to Congresswoman Gabby Gifford’s trauma team following her tragic attack. He is presently a professor of neurology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and is an attending physician in Neuro Critical Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was the founding Director of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency where he served for almost 12 years. He was the DARPA Program Manager of the Year in 2009. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. from Cornell University.
“BrainScope’s regulatory progress represents a remarkable tangible achievement. This is possible because of its technical ingenuity coupled with demonstrated efficacy in determining risk of structural brain injury, which would otherwise require a CT to identify,” said Ling.
Approximately 100 million people worldwide experience a TBI annually. It is estimated that 90 percent of TBIs are concussions. Currently, the state of concussion diagnosis is ineffective, leaving the clinician with only subjective assessment tools that patients easily and often “game” so they can continue with their activities. While CT scans can rule out a bleed in the brain, they do not help the physician diagnose concussion. In fact, according to a recent article in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, of the almost 5 million people who receive a CT for head injury in U.S. Emergency Departments annually, over 90 percent are CT negative, exposing patients to harmful radiation and unnecessary procedural costs.
BrainScope’s disruptive medical technology will change the way head-injured patients are assessed and managed, giving clinicians—for the first time—a comprehensive, objective and accessible view of a person’s head trauma. The company’s technology is on track to be the first fully FDA-cleared, integrated and objective system used to immediately and objectively assess patients for all forms of TBI—from concussions to bleeds in the brain.
BrainScope’s medical technology uses an off-the-shelf Android device and proprietary disposable electrode headset. It collects recordings of brain electrical activity and other vital patient-specific data. The technology utilizes classification algorithms created from sophisticated signal processing methods based on a large database of injured and non-injured patients. With novel and patented technologies, the BrainScope device provides a full panel view of the state of the brain after injury.