HealthTell Expands Scientific Advisory Board To Advance Innovation In Diagnostics
SAN RAMON, Calif., Jan. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthTell, an early stage Life Sciences company, today announced two distinguished advisers, Paul Bunn, Jr., M.D. and Ralph de Vere White, M.D., have joined HealthTell's team as Scientific Advisors. As leaders in Oncology, Dr. Bunn is considered a foremost expert and adviser in Lung Cancer detection and monitoring, while Dr. de Vere White brings 44 years of experience in patient care and research in urology-based diseases, with emphasis on prostate and bladder cancer.
HealthTell's Scientific Advisors will leverage their specific disease expertise as the company builds its Immunosignature Technology to measure a person's real-time response to over 30 identified diseases. HealthTell's Scientific Advisors will conduct research across disease states and collaborate with HealthTell, to validate various immune signatures.
"We are building a world class advisory team with expertise throughout various disease categories, including oncology, infectious disease, autoimmune, neurology, and metabolic disorders," said Bill Colston, Ph.D., CEO of HealthTell. "Drs. Bunn and de Vere White offer leadership in lung, prostate and bladder cancer diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. We are honored that both highly respected leaders in the oncology space will be contributing their professionalism to improve patient outcomes, decrease unnecessary diagnostic procedures, and improve the patient experience."
Having earned his M.D. from Cornell University, Dr. Bunn joined the University of Colorado (CU) Health Sciences Center in 1984 and became a Professor of Medicine in Medical Oncology at the University. He is currently a distinguished professor at CU. Dr. Bunn's research interests focus on novel therapies for lung cancer. He has published more than 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 122 reviews and 90 book chapters on lung cancer. Dr. Bunn's studies have identified biomarkers of prognosis and therapy selection, and set standards for the treatment of lung cancer.
"Lung Cancer is notoriously difficult to catch, leading to a low 16 percent survival rate. While low dose CT scans are used for screening some patients, it results in very high rates of falsely identified cancer, which often leads to unnecessary, expensive and dangerous follow-up," said Dr. Bunn. "HealthTell's unique platform to detect changes in the immuno-response to cancer, rather than the cancer itself, may provide the breakthrough we desperately need to detect lung cancer in the early stage, which will reduce costs in diagnosis and hopefully identify patients in the early stages of cancer, when treatment is most effective."
Dr. de Vere White joins HealthTell as Assistant Dean for Cancer Programs at the UC Davis School of Medicine. He is Director of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and a distinguished professor in the Department of Urology. He received his medical degree from Dublin University in Dublin, Ireland, and completed his internship and residencies in surgery and urology at St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin and at Duke University Medical Center. The author of more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters, Dr. de Vere White is highly respected in the urology space.
"A cancer diagnostic that requires only a drop of blood will have a major impact on the way we monitor bladder cancer in the future," said Dr. de Vere White. "Today, bladder cancer patients experience a 30 to 70 percent recurrence rate, which requires quarterly follow-up that is both invasive and uncomfortable for patients. The ability to monitor a patient's health, particularly those who reside in rural America would truly transform follow-up for patients."
HealthTell is thrilled to embrace their first two advisors, Drs. Bunn and de Vere White and will continue to build a competent Scientific Advisor Team with physicians and researchers from around the world spanning multiple disease states.
About HealthTell
HealthTell is an early stage Life Sciences company that utilizes an Immunosignature Technology for accurate and timely detection and monitoring of more than 30 progressive diseases. Based on robust, proprietary technology, the company is developing the first and only diagnostic platform capable of assessing an individual's immune system response to specific diseases. This disruptive technology enables physicians to detect the presence or absence of a disease in its earliest stage, improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare expenditures. Applicable to a broad range of therapeutic areas, HealthTell is empowering physicians and patients to proactively manage one's health and make more informed decisions. For more information, please visit: http://www.healthtell.com/
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SOURCE HealthTell