About Us
About us
Advancing Cardiometabolic
Health
We believe that to conduct the most impactful clinical trials and research for cardiometabolic conditions, healthcare providers need seamless and timely access to comprehensive patient data. Our platform ensures accurate pre-screening in outpatient clinics, facilitating the discovery of the best candidates for clinical trials focused on diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and related conditions.
For Cardiologists, By Cardiologists
Our platform is tailored to enhance the precision, speed, and cost-effectiveness of pre-screening in outpatient clinics. This ensures that specialists—such as cardiologists, endocrinologists, and internal medicine physicians— their research and clinical trials teams can focus on their work in a timely, accurate, and efficient manner.
Our Leadership Team
Naveed Ahmad
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
A seasoned entrepreneur with over 20+ years of corporate and startup experience. He was CEO of one of the fastest growing mobile ad-tech start-ups in Canada, which exited by acquisition to The Weather Network in 2017.
Accomplishments:
- Senior Advisor to the CAN Health Network
- Interim CEO of Heart Health Institute
- Entrepreneur In Residence at the DMZ
- EMBA from Ivey Business School at Western University
- MA in International Conflict Resolution University of Kent in Canterbury
Dr. Andrew Yadegari
Co-founder & Chief Medical Information Officer
A leading Interventional Cardiologist at Scarborough Health Network (SHN). Dr. Yadegari has 10+ years of experience in medicine with a focus on Interventional Cardiology. He is a health tech entrepreneur and co-Founder of Armery Medical Technologies.
Accomplishments:
- Interventional Cardiologist within the cardiac catheterization lab since 2015
- Partner at Heart Health Institute that operates 2 outpatient clinics with 11 other Cardiologists
- In 2007 he completed his medical degree from University of British Columbia
Sriram Gowrishankar
Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer
A veteran health care technologist with a passion for data. Sri has over 15 years of experience building solution architectures for data analytics at large acute-care hospitals in Ontario including UHN and THP. He also has 3 years of experience within the start-up ecosystem working for Canada’s 1st Unicorn health tech company – Point Click Care.
Accomplishments:
- Solutions Architect, Institute for Better Health
- Enterprise-Data-Engineering team 3 years in a technical leadership role
- MA in Health Informatics from the University of Waterloo
- BA in Computer Science and Engineering
Board Advisors
Dennis Giokas
Dennis Giokas has more than three decades of experience in the information and technology fields. Alongside being a Strategic Board Advisor to Cardea Health Inc., Dennis is the Chief Information Officer at MedChart, another Canadian health tech start-up. Prior to this, Dennis was CTO for Canada Health Infoway for 12 years.
Accomplishments:
- At Infoway, Dennis headed up the Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem Group years
- Dennis has served as a board director of COACH, Canada’s health informatics association and HL7 International Inc
- He is the past chair of Canada’s representative to the SNOMED International General Assembly
- Dennis has a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Boston University
Dr. Mark L. Cohen
MD, PhD, FACC
Dr. Cohen completed a combined MD, PhD at The Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and The City University of New York in Biomathematical Sciences followed by Internal Medicine, Cardiology, and then Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology training. After 17 years of private practice in Cardiac Electrophysiology, he transitioned to medical administration as the Chief of Quality for the Piedmont Heart Institute, and then as the Chief Medical Officer for Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. He is now working as a consultant in healthcare.
Accomplishments:
- Accountable executive for the installation of two EHRs: NextGen and Epic, for Piedmont Atlanta Hospital
- As CMO, led the effort that resulted in Piedmont Atlanta Hospital’s consistent performance at the “A” level of Quality and Safety
- Lead executive on programs that developed automated referral of patients to clinical research programs and hospital-based quality and safety programs
Bala Gopalakrishnan
Bala is currently a strategic advisor to a number of start-ups within the Toronto area.
He was formerly the Chief Data Officer for the Weather Network ( Pelmorex Corp.) leading AI solutions @ scale in Weather/ Consumer insights, Sales transactional data and AdTech in B2B/B2C. Bala leads research into AI/ML with internal teams in collaboration with top Universities.
Bala has a Master’s of Science in Computer Engineering from The University of Alabama, and an MBA from Ivey Business School. Prior to Pelmorex, he led engineering and software teams at Johnson Controls (Fortune 100) and Eutech Cybernetics which was rated by Gartner as one of the cool companies in smart city solutions.
Accomplishments:
- Was part of the Executive Leadership Team at Pelemox for over 10 yrs
- Recognized within the Canadian data ecosystem has a leader in the commercialization of data solutions ( recognized as KOL – Key Opinion Leader within the Ad-tech space)
Dr. Jason Burstein
Interventional and General Cardiology M.D, F.R.C.P.(C), F.A.C.C.
Dr. Burstein completed medical school at the University of Toronto and completed his residency programs in internal medicine and cardiology in Toronto. He is a staff cardiologist at the Scarborough Health Network-Centenary site with active privileges at Lakeridge Health Oshawa-Ajax site.
Accomplishments:
- He has been a leader in the “code STEMI” program for Scarborough and Durham which takes patients with acute myocardial infarctions directly to the catheterization lab at the Centenary Hospital for a primary angioplasty
- He was the chief cardiology resident at the University Health Network in 2003
Dr. Amir Janmohamed
Invasive Cardiology/Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiologist MD, M.B., B.S., F.R.C.P.(C)
Dr. Amir Janmohamed completed his undergraduate degree from McMaster University and his medical degree from the Aga Khan University. After completing his Internal Medicine and Cardiology training at University of Toronto he went on to a fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology with Dr. Paul Dorian at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Amir’s clinical practice spans the area of general and invasive cardiology as well as interventional cardiac electrophysiology.
Accomplishments:
- Dr. Janmohamed was instrumental in the initial set up of the invasive cardiac catheterization laboratory at Peterborough Regional Health Center in Peterborough Ontario
- He is the director of the Arrhythmia Services Program at the Scarborough Health Network, a position he has held since the inception of the program
Dr. Kibar Yared
General Cardiology and Advanced Cardiac Imaging M.D., F.R.C.P.(C)
General Cardiology and Advanced Cardiac Imaging, Director of Cardiac Imaging and Cardio-Oncology Program: Dr. Yared is a non-invasive cardiologist at The Scarborough Hospital – General Campus. Before moving to Toronto, Kibar received his medical degree at McGill University and completed his training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology in 2007.
Accomplishments:
- Kibar completed an advanced Cardiac Imaging fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital – Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts
- Kibar has led various research studies, many of which have been published in leading medical journals
- Kibar presents regularly at various international meetings in Cardiac Imaging and Cardio-Oncology
Dr. Humayun Naqvi
General Cardiology - MD, MBA, FACC
Dr. Naqvi founded the West Houston Heart Center in Houston, Texas. At his private practice, Dr. Naqvi provides outstanding cardiology care for residents throughout Harris County and other nearby communities. Although Dr. Naqvi is a skilled cardiologist with extensive experience treating heart disease, he prefers to pursue prevention whenever possible. He completed his medical training at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Medicine and his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas at Houston.
Accomplishments:
- Founded West Houston Heart Center
- Extensive work at Texas Medical Center
- Medical Director of BioPharma Informatic
- Principal Investigator on several clinical trials
Dr. Subodh Verma
Dr. Subodh Verma is a cardiac surgeon-scientist, Full Professor, and the Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery, having previously served as the Canada Research Chair in Atherosclerosis. Dr. Verma founded the CardioLink platform that united cardiac surgeons from across Canada to conduct robust clinical trials to better inform on surgical decision-making pathways. Dr. Verma also leads a dynamic pre-clinical and translational research team that leverages pre-clinical disease models and clinical trial-derived data to identify novel mediators of cardiometabolic diseases.
Accomplishments:
- Dr. Verma is considered an International KOL ( Key Opinion Leader) in the arena of Cardiometabolic clinical trials
- In 2022, Dr. Verma was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in Clinical Medicine.
- In May 2023, Dr. Verma was bestowed the University of Calgary Cumming School Medicine Alumnus of Distinction Award for Research.
- He is the current Scientific Program Committee Chair for the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons, and he is an active contributor to Canadian clinical practice guidelines.
- He had/has leadership roles in multiple contemporary global heart failure and cardiometabolic trials.