Dallas, April 2022
ImageBiopsy Lab, Inc. (IB Lab) announced a strategic collaboration with three leading experts in the field of musculoskeletal(MSK) radiology and orthopedic surgery, Avneesh Chhabra, MD, Joel Wells, MD and Ajay Kohli, MD, all part of the prestigious University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (“UTSW”) in Dallas. According to IB Lab CEO Richard Ljuhar, “these additions to our Medical Advisory Board will allow us to continuously explore, develop, and implement non-invasive AI-based imaging assessment tools to positively change medical workflows, diagnostic thinking, and patient management decisions.”
IB Lab is the global leader in MSK-imaging AI with its platform of solutions that enable radiologists, orthopedic surgeons, and other healthcare providers to assess and predict bone and joint health.
MSK conditions, such as osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee and hip or osteoporotic fractures affect hundreds of millions of patients globally, far outstripping patients affected by circulatory or respiratory disease syndromes. In the United States alone, close to 10 million patients are living with a knee or hip replacement while 7 out of 10 vertebral fractures go undetected. With patient numbers rising and the radiology workforce decreasing, data-driven solutions are needed to improve morbidity and patient quality of life outcomes through improved (early) detection, longitudinal tracking, and prevention of MSK diseases.
“We are excited to expand our medical and scientific collaboration with Avneesh Chhabra, MD, and Dane Wukich, MD, chairmen of the MSK Radiology and Orthopaedic Surgery department respectively at the UT Southwestern Medical Center,” said CEO Richard Ljuhar. Through a series of planned radiology and orthopedic standalone performance studies, the collaboration will evaluate ImageBiopsy Lab’s existing MSK-AI platform solutions as well as embark on co-developments of novel AI-based imaging assessments for Orthopedic- and MSK population health use cases. The close collaboration will create several research arms with additional academic institutions that will be recruited as subsites under the direction and guidance of UTSW investigators.
“Joining forces with ImageBiopsy Lab will provide our research staff access to cutting edge MSK-AI technology that will broaden our capability to harness the multitude of imaging and patient data available within the UTSW network of clinics,” said Avneesh Chhabra, MD, Professor & Chief of its Musculoskeletal Radiology Division. “Artificial intelligence’s potential role in orthopedic surgery is significant. Using deep learning, we aim to support pre- & post-operative decision management, representing a potential key for a more personalized treatment pathway for each patient”, explains Ajay Kohli, MD of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. Fellow orthopedic surgeons Joel Wells, MD, will join the consortium as a globally preeminent authority in hip surgery alongside Jay Shah, MD, specializing in orthopedic sports injuries, George Liu, MD, focusing on foot & ankle injuries, and Orhan Oz, MD, as Chief of Nuclear Medicine Division.
Along with implementing the MSK-AI technology platform into the UTSW research infrastructure, the two sides also will look to collaborate around data-driven results, post-market surveillance, physician education, training, and feedback. This collaboration could affect upward of 40 million imaging exams annually, estimated to be one of the largest research deployments of MSK-AI in healthcare. Ajay Kohli, Assistant Professor in both Radiology and Orthopedic Surgery will be the co-lead investigator, supporting the collaboration from a medical and imaging informatics perspective, while Chief Scientific Officer Matthew DiFranco, Ph.D., will be leading the research efforts for ImageBiopsy Lab.
About Avneesh Chhabra, MD, MBA
Avneesh Chhabra, MD, MBA is Chief of the Musculoskeletal Radiology Division and a Professor of Radiology at the UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Originally from India, Dr. Chhabra earned his Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree at Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi. He completed his residency in radiology at Delhi University’s Willington Hospital before receiving additional diagnostic residency training at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. He then received advanced training in musculoskeletal radiology through a fellowship at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. In 2021, he earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2013, Dr. Chhabra was an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Orthopedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
About Joel Wells, MD, MPH
Joel Wells, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and a comprehensive hip surgeon at UT Southwestern’s Orthopaedic Surgery Clinic.
Dr. Wells earned his medical degree at Tulane University, followed by an internship in surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a residency in orthopedic surgery at Harvard Orthopaedics and Massachusetts General Hospital. He then received advanced training in joint preservation, resurfacing, and reconstructive surgery through a fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis.
Among his numerous honors, Dr. Wells received the Gold Humanism in Medicine Society Award in 2009, the Tufts Accomplished Teaching Award in Surgery in 2011, and the Harvard Orthopaedic Surgery Best Clinical Research Award in 2015 for two of his presentations: The Long-Term Outcomes Following The Bernese Periacetabular Osteotomy and Predictors of Failure.
About Ajay Kohli, MD
Ajay Kohli, MD is an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Orthopedic Surgery at the UT Southwestern Medical Center and a physician entrepreneur of innovative technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI) technology in healthcare.
Dr. Kohli completed his radiology residency at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has spearheaded several clinical studies using innovative technological platforms. These include using wearable technology to apply real-time histopathologic analytics during surgical oncology cases. Additionally, he has built two mobile platforms to manage chronic heart failure and streamline care for breast cancer patients and survivors. He was named a ‘40 under 40 Healthcare Innovator’ by MedTech Boston Magazine in 2017.
About ImageBiopsy Lab
ImageBiopsy Lab (IB Lab) is the global leader in developing and certifying state-of-the-art AI-based software for image analyses and workflow tasks in musculoskeletal (MSK) radiology, orthopedic surgery, and traumatology. Their deep tech platform has been built to automatically read and prioritize large numbers of MSK-imaging data, thus freeing valuable physician resources and providing structured data sets for population health aspects. IBL’s mission is to enable a change of management in MSK use cases by standardizing this highly subjective diagnostic workflow for improved patient care.
With offices in Europe and the US, IBL is constantly expanding its network of research and commercial partners, having been selected “Best New Radiology Vendor 2021” by the prestigious radiology community platform “AuntMinnie Europe”.
Media contacts:
UTSW
news@utsouthwestern.edu
ImageBiopsy Lab
Matthew DiFranco, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer IBL
+43 1 905 12 06
clinical@imagebiopsy.com
