From Sales to co-CEO: My Journey to Eon

I graduated from the University of Colorado in 2002 with a degree in advertising and political science and no formal job offer. Not dissimilar from today, the world was facing uncertain times. The dot.com bubble had recently burst, and the economy was feeling the effects. Entry-level applicants like myself struggled to find employment and navigating the job market was extremely difficult. 

Eventually, with a great deal of hard work and perseverance, I found my way selling health technology and discovered a passion for identifying the role technology can play in improving patient care. In 2013, I was working for a company selling a procedure that allowed pulmonologists to reach the periphery of the lungs to biopsy suspicious nodules. The technology was innovative at the time but getting the right patients funneled to this procedure was difficult.

Seventy percent of all patients with a spot on their lung do not receive the proper recommended guideline follow up. As a result, lung cancer is almost always diagnosed late and is responsible for more deaths each year than breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined.

I saw this gap in care throughout my territory and also around the country, and at the same time, met a physician named Dr. Aki Alzubaidi. Aki had developed an algorithm that prevented patients with potentially malignant spots on their lungs from slipping through the cracks due to the antiquated, inefficient healthcare software systems. Even at its earliest stages, the algorithm was so successful that that he started diagnosing lung cancer much earlier and often when there was a possibility of a cure and survivorship.

As Aki’s technology progressed, it transformed from an algorithm into an app, from an app into software, and from software into a young technology company that has since become a market leader in improving patient care and lowering costs for hospitals across the country.

This company is Eon (formerly Matrix Analytics). Shortly after the company’s founding in 2015, Aki invited me aboard. I joined as the Vice President of Business Development and, after a massive rebrand last month, and along with Aki, am now Co-CEO. With our combined leadership, we have managed to help more than 12,000 patients with our technology. By the end of this year, that number will be expanded to 100,000 and, by end of 2019, we expect over 1 million patients to be managed through EonDirect. We have 100 percent client retention and continue to grow, with more large hospitals systems choosing us over well-established, large health technology companies every month.

Why are hospitals choosing a small start-up like Eon over industry giants? Because we are truly delivering on our promises. We are revolutionizing the way healthcare data is gathered, curated, and shared among caregivers to ensure the right data reaches the right people at the right time. Our signature product, EonDirect, is the first cloud-based complex care management application that seamlessly integrates with hospital electronic medical records (EMRs). Our deep learning models and proprietary machine automation stratify patient risk and streamline patient registration and tracking.

What does this mean for patient care? It means that doctors are able to diagnose and treat lung cancer earlier than they could without our technology. It means that hospital staff can spend less time manually entering data and more time seeing patients. It means that we’re developing a comprehensive database of lung patients that can build knowledge and help future patients by enhancing our software’s deep learning and machine automation with actual clinical utility.

We’re expanding our technology beyond lung cancer to manage pancreatic disease, thyroid disease, liver disease, and others, in order to help improve the lives of as many patients as possible. By using data science and improving the flow of data, Eon aims to breathe new life into how we diagnose and treat disease while taking the complexity out of complex patient care. Working with hospitals and healthcare providers, we will defy disease. #DefyDisease

(This article was adapted from a Commencement Speech I gave May 10 to the Political Science Department at the University of Colorado)