Combining software, architecture & business to provide next gen Radiology solutions

Eric S. Schulze, CEO – Lifetrack Medical Systems

Eric started his career, planning to go into academic Medicine and earned his MD & PhD and Radio Credentials from UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and Harvard Massachusetts General Hospital. Soon in his journey, he realized that he can have a larger impact using his skills more effectively in Software development and Business. He was involved in a Startup – US Software Company in 1997-2000 as the 4th hire and got his first US patent based on his work in that company.

Eric then built went on to build high end Private Practice Radiology group and as part of providing Emergency Room night time Radiology coverage he established one of the World’s first Teleradiology companies that leveraged the software which he helped design, to provide Teleradiology coverage across the USA. Because of the Time Zone difference Eric kept moving West and was able to provide US Night time coverage from Singapore/Philippines daytime.

He was exposed to radiology in Emerging Markets while doing the US call coverage in The Philippines and India and realised that there is a huge scarcity of Radiologists throughout the emerging markets.

With the advent of cloud & browser era, Dr. Eric engineered a new generation of Radiological Information system/ Picture Archive and Communication System (RIS/PACS) that is robust, secure, easy to use, easy to deploy and maintain and reduces total cost of ownership.  Lifetrack’s solution is designed to bring radiology departments to the next level at just a fraction of the cost.

“The problem is that the Tools were lacking since the current software was 15 years old and was designed for developed economies and infrastructure. So I saw a problem where my Skill set as a Software Architect, Radiologist and Business person could be leveraged to help”, says Eric.

Team ABT reached out to Eric to find out more from his journey so far, captured in this short interview below.

Where do you usually find inspiration from?
I read a lot of History and Science and am inspired by Inventors and Problem solvers throughout History.

What got you started on Lifetrack Medical Systems?
I sold my last company to a NYSE listed company – and realized I had a lot more ideas left to be explored. I started Lifetrack because I saw no one was addressing the problems from the ground up.

What is the biggest that interests you about entrepreneurship?
I don’t think of Entrepreneurship as a goal in itself. I think that entrepreneurship happens when you find a problem and realize no one is fixing the problem. I do love the daily excitement related to discovery – as when you realize that something you developed addresses problems that no one even realized existed. For me every morning is like Christmas as I see the new software features coming Alive and see them solve Real World Problems.

How is Artificial Intelligence transforming the future of Healthcare?
I am a bit of an AI Agnostic.  I see enormous potential for AI – so in our software we have built an API for what I call “Feature Detectors” – for instance Tuberculosis identification on chest X-rays.  I also think that many AI companies are chasing only the “Sexy” problems – like replace the Cab driver or Radiologist – whereas I think the biggest impact is likely related to boring workflow and efficiency improvements.

What’s the Radiology industry like in your country?
We are now in 9 countries from Nigeria to India to Singapore, The Philippines and the USA. The radiology industry across these countries is diverse. Fortunately, our software covers the diversity based on the second of our 2 US patents “Managing Permissions”. This patent allows us to meet the challenge of being the First of a kind “Distributed Enterprise Radiology” platform.

An emergent property of the patent is that it can be localized into any language in an afternoon – which opens up markets all across Asia as well as Europe and South America. Because of the architecture – the software allows us to connect Flagship hospitals in each country and region with undeserved rural hospitals with the Lifetrack Platform enabling an Ali Baba like approach to connecting Rural Hospitals with Name Brand Hospitals with excess capacity in the Metros.

What is the high-reliability challenge in Healthcare?
The biggest issue in Radiology (on the diagnostic side of healthcare) is a lack of Radiologists both in Developed and emerging economies.

Lifetrack addresses this in 2 ways:
We make Existing Radiologists far more efficient with patented structured reports. We help improve quality with patented in -line Decision Support.  The in-line Decision Support System is also used for Radiologists in training.

What’s your most cherished Career Achievement so far?
As someone who has been inspired by inventors my entire life – I am proud of my 3 Patents – as well as my Scientific Research papers in peer reviewed Journals including Nature. I am also excited for the future as our Company helps Save Lives with more timely and accurate reporting – while providing long term capacity building in countries all around the world while saving money through intelligent use of Technology.

We also decrease the total cost of ownership such that our software can accomplish these goals in even the poorest countries with installations in Bangladesh and Nigeria while also improving efficiency and outcomes in developed markets like the USA and the EU.

What Advice do you have for other aspiring Entrepreneurs?
Know something deeply that interests and excites you. Find the problem/challenge in your area of interest. Find a solution and NETWORK LIKE CRAZY ?