In the world of digital health entrepreneurship, there are many bright minds who aim to make a difference in the field of healthcare. One such remarkable entrepreneur is Meghan Conroy, who, as the CEO and Founder of CaptureProof Inc., has been instrumental in revolutionizing the way medical professionals and patients interact with each other.
Armed with a background in pharmaceutical and degrees in physiology and digital photography, Meghan founded CaptureProof, an innovative clinical photo and video platform for medicine. Utilizing patented visual capture on any smartphone and AI-assisted protocols, CaptureProof provides solutions that allow patients to better share their symptoms, recovery, or other health stories with their providers, leading to better, faster care and more positive patient outcomes. The platform has received several awards, including Singularity University’s Winner in Health, Accenture’s Healthtech Top Innovator, Medtech Breakthroughs “Best Store and Forward Imaging Solution”, and the “Most Disruptive” Medical Entrepreneurship and Disruption Award (MEdY Awards).
Meghan’s extensive experience in IP development in the digital health sector has led her to author four granted patents. Her media coverage includes profiles on news programmes such as CBS News and Bloomberg, as well as in publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Aljazeera America, Business Insider, and CIO. She is also the founder of brilliantHush, a clinical trial photography management company, and Unicorn Cashmere, a leading e-tailer of luxury cashmere clothing.
An Unplanned Career Shift
Meghan’s journey as an entrepreneur started with a chance encounter on a transatlantic flight. She had been pursuing her passion for photography and had recently traveled to the eastern African nation of Zambia to photograph those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS while researching the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission. This impactful project resulted in her giving 1000 families cherished polaroid print portraits to honor the memories of loved ones.
Shortly after completing this project, she was traveling from San Diego to London and sat next to the head of R&D for Cytori Therapeutics, a stem cell research company. He mentioned they were looking for a photography solution for a clinical trial and had hired a company for a huge amount of money. Meghan gave him a lower price, and as a result, she managed photography for clinical trials across Europe. This experience led her to formulate the plan for CaptureProof, as she saw how important photography and images were to the patient experience and providers making accurate diagnoses.
From Personal Experience to Professional Mission
While managing one of the first photography endpoint projects for a clinical trial early in her company’s existence, she met a woman who was a breast cancer survivor and had multiple surgeries prior to the trial to remove tumors from her breasts. When Meghan showed her the before and after images of one year and six months, the woman began to cry, saying, “I had no idea I got that much better.” This experience shook Meghan to her core, and she knew that visual health was her mission.
Making Healthcare More Accessible
Through CaptureProof, Meghan and her team are working to solve problems on both the provider and patient sides. Decoupling medical care from time and location aims to assist in the top issue across the globe of diminished access to medical care. The platform aims to make healthcare more accessible for all by extending remote experiences to assessments and imaging that can be done by a patient when they’re experiencing or noticing symptoms. CaptureProof’s power not only extends into the home but acts as the fastest form of accurate documentation during the doctor’s visit as well. This not only helps patients access care when they need it but also helps doctors see accurate and consistent data and evaluate their symptoms as they have experienced them. This has become even more critical during the pandemic, with the decrease in the availability of doctors’ time and the popularization of telehealth and remote care.
Meghan and her team at CaptureProof recognize the challenges that patients face in traditional healthcare settings, such as having to wait for appointments, going into an office, or explaining symptoms that may not be present at the time of the appointment. Moreover, they also realize that patients often have to repeatedly recount their medical history to different doctors, which could be frustrating and hinder effective care.
To address these challenges, CaptureProof developed an asynchronous, offsite healthcare platform that allows patients to capture videos or photos of their symptoms at any time using their iOS or Android device. This makes it easier for patients to communicate their symptoms and for doctors to diagnose and treat them more efficiently. Studies have shown that doctors frequently speak over patients and that patients are reticent to talk about their symptoms. However, using CaptureProof, patients report feeling like their doctors believe them for the first time in their healthcare journey.
In addition, CaptureProof’s technology also streamlines administrative work and data entry, freeing up time for care teams to focus on delivering better care. By turning mobile phones into medical tools that capture symptoms, progress, and the physical exam anywhere, anytime, CaptureProof provides better on-site documentation, remote patient monitoring, and a synergistic partner to traditional telehealth.
Talking about the future aspirations, Meghan mentions that CaptureProof will continue to develop proprietary algorithms using advanced computer vision technology, utilizing its existing granted patents as a foundation. She asserts, “With Artificial Intelligence having its first big time in the spotlight, we are excited to highlight how this can be used for the good of society. To monitor patients and identify trends earlier than we are currently able to do, will have an amazingly positive impact on medicine, health, and society. As we continue to have an aging population having clearer triage and better utilization of resources is imperative. The amount of disease states beyond that of fall risk where visual monitoring can be applied is vast, imagine a world where we identify Parkinsons, ALS or Alzheimer’s disease at very early states to slow progression or even stop it in its tracks.”
Learnings from a Trailblazer
Meghan Conroy’s journey into digital health entrepreneurship has been an inspiring one. She has shown that chance encounters and unplanned career shifts can lead to significant changes in one’s life. Her passion for photography and healthcare has led to the creation of CaptureProof, which is already making a significant impact on the healthcare industry. Meghan’s determination to make healthcare more accessible for all is a testament to her dedication to the field. She is truly an extraordinary CEO and a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs.
When asked what advice she would give to emerging entrepreneurs, she says,“To be an entrepreneur is not the same as being a CEO of a large well-established corporation. It is the top and bottom of the pyramid, so be ready to dig deep and give all you have. Make sure your heart and passion are fully into the mission, and then try to sleep. This is gonna take longer than you would ever think. It is a marathon that often ends up being a sprint and then another marathon. Good luck.”
Company Name – CAPTUREPROOF, Inc.
Featured Person – Meghan Conroy, CEO and Founder
Quote- “At CaptureProof, we believe the most limited resource in healthcare is doctor’s time.”
