Sam van Bohemen: The $6B Problem. From PhD to Revolutionising Stroke Care

July 13, 2022

Our host, Richard Sokolov, Executive Director and Co-founder of IDE Group, speaks with Sam van Bohemen, Co-founder and CEO of Nuroflux.

Richard and Sam discuss how Nuroflux is trying to solve the $6 Billion problem with a novel approach, why technology isn’t everything, and what you need as a founder for a successful commercial outcome.

About Sam van Bohemen and Nuroflux There is a stroke every 19 minutes in Australia, and the associated costs are $6 billion annually just for Australians. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Unfortunately, current standard care relies upon subjective observations, and CT perfusion scans do not provide continuous monitoring. However, for an oxygen-starved brain, every second counts.

That is why Sam, founder and CEO of Nuroflux, wants to revolutionise stroke patient care with the first-ever device for continuous, long-term monitoring of brain activity and blood flow in the brain.

Their solution is a wearable device for real-time monitoring of patients with acute ischaemic stroke. It provides continuous monitoring of blood flow and electrical activity in the brain to allow rapid detection and treatment of complications to improve outcomes and reduce the need for repeat CT scans to lower the radiation risk and financial costs.

Nuroflux was born out of seeing how blind the situation can be around stroke and engineers teaming up with clinicians and commercialisation experts to define, discover and deliver.

Nuroflux is the winner of the BBFH challenge 2021, taking home $25,000 of development and commercialisation support from IDE. They recently formed a strategic partnership with The George Institute for Global Health.

About the BBFH Series The Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Series is a series of interviews with Founders, Professors, Executives, and other leaders of the Australian start-up community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare start-up community in Australia and discuss their unique journeys and stories.