Revolutionising cancer therapy
PERSONALISED LIFESTYLE GUIDANCE
WHAT WE DO
Empowering cancer patients
healark - going 'beyond the pill'
Mission: To give patients the opportunity to enhance their own cancer treatment by providing them with science-backed, personalised lifestyle guidance delivered via a highly intelligent digital companion.
Why Healark?
In 2012, an estimated 14.1 million cases of cancer were diagnosed globally. These cases can hit very close to home by affecting parents, siblings, children and even you directly. However, there is a way to improve the cancer journey for you, your family and friends.
International scientific research leaves no doubt that how we live our lives, i.e. our lifestyle, has a huge impact on the health of a cancer patient during and post treatment.
Appropriate lifestyle behaviours are known to:
- Reduce risks and side effects of cancer treatments
- Speed up recovery after treatments
- Reduce the chances of cancer returning
Cancer patients are a motivated group with the strongest of incentives to improve their quality of life and chances of survival. But when it comes to lifestyle advice for cancer patients, there is a lack of tangible, engaging and patient-specific guidance. Healark aims to address this gap by providing personalised lifestyle guidance for cancer patients through a digital healthcare companion.
Proposition:
Healark aims to enhance patients’ cancer journeys and potentially boost treatment outcomes by encouraging patients to combat the effects of cancer with science-backed lifestyle recommendations.
Our digital healthcare companion will be scientifically designed to modulate lifestyle factors. Accumulating scientific evidence shows that behavioural change in areas such as exercise, diet and nutrition, sleep, mental health and energy conservation can have a positive impact on a patient’s quality of life, and in some cases the outcome of their treatment.
Healark also benefits friends, family and healthcare professionals by updating them on patient progress. Healthcare professionals can remotely monitor key lifestyle parameters, giving them a holistic view of a patient’s journey, not just a discrete snapshot during visits which may be misleading.
WHO WE ARE
Our team is driven and equipped to make a difference
Dr. Leire Escudero-Ibarz
Co-founder & CEO
Cambridge, UK
Leire is a biotechnologist specialising in cancer genetics. She recently finished her PhD at the University of Cambridge, where she has been also involved in leadership and managerial activities with the Building Bridges in Medical Sciences (BBMS) initiative. Her passion is working on projects that have high social impact in the healthcare sector, one of the reasons why she loves working with Healark.
Follow Leire on Twitter @LeireEI
Dr. Jo Anderson
CSO
Cambridge, UK
Jo is a Chartered Psychologist with a background in neuropsychology and health psychology. She currently works as a Research Associate at the Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge. Previously she was associated with Coventry University Applied Research Centre for Health and Lifestyle Interventions. Her research focuses on development and evaluation of interventions delivered using Internet and mobile technologies and self-management of long term conditions. She developed and evaluated a number of self-management interventions including programmes for people with multiple sclerosis, severe food allergies, depression and cancer. Jo has experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods (including usability and feasibility testing).
Neill Brauders
Co-founder & CTO
Cambridge, UK
Neill is an innovation-driven, analytical thinker with a degree in engineering from Imperial College London. In Healark he has found the perfect channel to focus his creative and problem-solving energies having been close to cancer-related illness throughout his life.
"The thought of giving patients the science-backed lifestyle guidance they are asking for and boosting their treatment efficacy focuses and drives me remarkably - the potential for what we are creating at Healark to revolutionise cancer treatment puts life into perspective."
Follow Neill on Twitter @NeillM_Brauders
Dr. Siu Hing Lo
CMO
London, UK
Siu Hing is a research psychologist with ten years of experience in academic and commercial research. She is currently a Senior Research Manager at Acaster Lloyd Consulting, specialising in patient-reported outcomes research. Previously, she worked as a Research Associate at University College London, where her work focused on cancer psychology and screening. Siu Hing passionately believes in the potential for digital health to improve patient outcomes and has found in Healark the perfect outlet for her mission to transform cancer care.
Follow Siu Hing on Twitter @SiuHingLo
WHO'S TALKING ABOUT US
We are part of the prestigious Accelerate Programme at the Cambridge Judge Business School, which provides regular coaching and mentoring by entrepreneurial leaders to promising young startups.
Our beginnings
Winning a place on the Accelerate Programme kicked Healark into overdrive.
Social Feed
Check out our latest updates!
© Healark 2015