Vassiliki Rentoumi and Virginia Korma, founder and Chief Growth Officer of LANGaware.
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Published by Roberta Tihomirova and Valeri Petrov.
In the heart of the evolving tech landscape, two visionary women crossed paths to make a lasting impact in #healthcare. Having bid farewell to a 25-year-long corporate career, Virginia (Chief Growth Officer at LANGaware) decided to pivot her career and discover her unique value in the tech industry. It was during this exploratory phase that she met Vassiliki (founder and CEO) and her bold vision to touch millions of lives through early detection of all diseases, which affect voice and speech.
What makes their story particularly compelling is the audacity to dream big – two Greek women carving out space in the healthtech sector and conquering the US market one meeting at a time. It’s courage and collaboration like this that captures the essence of being #Oneof11.
LANGaware is uniquely positioned at the crossroads of artificial intelligence, neurological diseases, and early diagnostics, three powerful trends shaping the future of healthcare. It is not just filling a gap but creating a whole new pathway for patient care.
Currently, over 55 million people worldwide suffer from dementia,
a figure that’s projected to increase annually, reaching 155 million cases by 2050. This is also coupled with a burgeoning mental health crisis. The common statement circulating around the news that “America is in a mental health crisis” is well-supported – 1 in 5 adults in the US live with mental illness. Conditions that fall into this category are particularly problematic as they often remain undiagnosed/untreated and bring almost immeasurable burden not only to the health system but to the entire US economy. Considerable proportion of the issue is contributed by shortages of closely-available mental health practitioners for 37% of the US population that lives in less populated areas, pushing the need for alternative methods for screening.
LANGaware solves a pervasive problem in the healthcare industry
affecting both payers and providers – late diagnostics. Currently, traditional methods for diagnosing diseases such as dementia involve a lengthy, expensive process that requires numerous tests and exams, and multiple in-person visits. This significantly limits vast amounts of elderly people at risk of developing dementia and leaves millions, especially those residing in so-called “neurology deserts”, at a disadvantage. For reference, 20 states in the US, 20 are considered “neurology desserts” with 5-9 neurologists per 10,000 inhabitants – leaving a 1,638,800 dementia population in struggle. Furthermore, these methods often have inconsistent accuracy rates, leaving room for costly errors. Combined with difficult-to-detect symptoms, the resulting late diagnoses carry both a human and economic toll, impacting healthcare providers, insurers, and most importantly, patients and their families.
LANGaware stands out as a one-of-a-kind solution that
allows for early, accurate, and cost-effective diagnostics. Its screening software can detect cognitive and mental impairment through an AI-powered voice processing that remarkably simplifies the diagnostic process. The test is administered prior to the doctor’s visit as a front gate to the patient’s journey who is asked to perform a 2-minute voice-based task to describe a picture or a situation. The recording is then uploaded, analyzed and delivered to the practitioner. After the test, the patient is scored against a healthy and at-risk cohort across multiple cognitive domains.
The existing solution can identify biomarkers for dementia, mild cognitive impairment and depression. With the ability to analyze over 600 biomarkers in just a 2-minute speech recording, LANGaware’s solution has already shown a striking 80% accuracy in its early trials. But it’s not just about the impressive tech, it’s about the scalability and user-centric design. By integrating seamlessly into a practitioner’s existing workflow, it allows for the administration of 10 times more screenings, thus increasing healthcare efficiency while reducing costs.
The force behind LANGaware is
Dr. Vassiliki Rentoumi, a powerhouse with a considerable academic background in the intersection of Natural Language Processing and neurodegenerative diseases. Vassiliki has 20 publications and 319 citations in her 15 years of both research and project management roles in a number of science projects in the UK and Greece. She started LANGaware back in 2019 as a spin-off from St George’s, University of London, while the initial research work behind the product dates back from 2012. Alongside Vassiliki is Virginia Korma, Chief Growth Officer, bringing two decades of commercial leadership to the table in multiple geographies and industries including biotech, consulting and tech. This dynamic duo offers a rare blend of scientific rigor and business acumen, making them perfect leaders for a venture as groundbreaking as LANGaware.
Head to LANGaware’s website to learn more about their revolutionary work – https://www.langaware.com/.
