UAB startup company focuses on AI to help identify cardiovascular disease

Written by: Amy Jones
Media Contact: Tehreem Khan

Steven Rothenberg, M.D., pictured in the middle with the Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship team.As the No. 1 cause of mortality in the United States and globally, cardiovascular disease has long been a focus for medical researchers like Steven Rothenberg, M.D., assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Department of Radiology.

With the help of the Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the university's innovative hub that provides the infrastructure required to commercialize inventions by the campus community, Rothenberg recently co-founded Body Check, a UAB startup company focused on developing and furthering artificial intelligence algorithms that identify patients with underlying cardiovascular diseases such as cardiomegaly, also known as an enlarged heart.

"The algorithm is groundbreaking because, currently, the diagnosis of cardiomegaly is subjective and inconsistent," said Rothenberg, a cardiopulmonary radiologist. "Even though cardiomegaly is highly predictive of future cardiovascular events, it is typically underreported, resulting in inconsistent cardiovascular care."

Rothenberg lauds the UAB Department of Radiology to be an incubator for cutting-edge ideas like Body Check that improve access to preventive interventions.

"Body Check can ensure and prioritize access to care for high-risk individuals," Rothenberg said.

"Imaging Informatics at UAB is strong and extremely innovative in its approach to enhancing treatments through the application of information technology."

Body Check recently received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, opening doors to market and sell the technology for use in clinical practice.

"After detection of underlying cardiovascular disease, we will be notifying primary care providers of patients who have enlarged hearts and other cardiac risk factors to ensure they get appropriate workup and preventive management," Rothenberg said.

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