An intellectual property lawyer, a biomedical engineer, and a team of exercise physiologists from the University of Miami are focusing their efforts on combating the burden of chronic disease by using an integrative and innovative wellness strategy. Their applied research technology is the start of a new way of looking at illness, taking on a preventive approach.
The team founded Healthsnap Solutions, and developed a powerful lifestyle management platform for healthcare providers, built around a proprietary algorithm developed at the University of Miami’s department of Kinesiology and Sports Sciences. HealthSnap’s algorithm is powered by the latest research in exercise and nutritional science, and significantly reduces the time and effort it takes health providers to evaluate and interpret their patient’s lifestyle health and chronic disease risk.
The creator of the original algorithm that the technology is based on, Dr. Wesley Smith, Ph.D. ’07, is the chair of the exercise physiology program at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami. The platform grew based on the algorithm developed by Smith, and evolved from there by incorporating the expertise of Samson Magid, B.S.Ed. ’14, and Chase Preston, B.S.Ed. ’14, while they were graduate students, to expand on and implement the algorithm. The trio joined biomedical engineer, Yenvy Truong, B.S.B.E. ’03, and intellectual property attorney Misha Kerr, B.M. ’02, to bring the technology to light.
So far the team says the response from doctors in a variety of specialties has reaffirmed the paradigm shift in medicine, with practitioners and patients becoming more comprehensively informed, prior to diagnosis of disease. Meryl Brandwein of the Brandwein Institute for Nutrition and Wellness has successfully implemented the technology into her practice. "We have been changing lives one by one with HealthSnap Solutions," said Brandwein. "The reports are concise, easy to understand and not intimidating for clients to dive into."
The analysis tool is a streamlined approach to gather lifestyle data for each patient, providing a comprehensive breakdown of a patient’s metabolic, cardiovascular, and nutritional health to each practitioner. It also allows patients to get a more comprehensive glimpse into their holistic health, serving as a benchmark for reducing chronic disease risk through diet and exercise. HealthSnap's Electronic Lifestyle Record (ELR) uses the power of research and cloud technologies to standardize and simplify the way practitioners collect, interpret and track lifestyle data for patients. In essence, the platform acts as a clinics virtual exercise physiologist and nutritionist.
HealthSnap Solutions’ technology is a win-win for providers and patients and is fueling the shift in health care from a reactive “disease-care” model toward proactive value-based care.
