Caradigm, an international healthcare IT company founded as a joint venture between GE Healthcare and Microsoft, has appointed Dr Joel Ratnasothy as medical director for EMEA.
“Dr Ratnasothy will play a vital role in supporting Caradigm across the EMEA region in line with our strategy to create a sustainable international business” said Dr Brandon Savage, chief medical officer and senior vice president of product strategy.
“But more importantly,” he added, “we will be able to draw on his broad knowledge, accumulated both through clinical practice and healthcare industry experience, to increase clinical engagement and to ensure our customers receive the most-advanced solutions to deliver against the challenges they face.”
As a health economy, and considering the global financial challenges that we face, there is a great need to improve efficiency in the delivery of healthcare
Caradigm offers healthcare analytics solutions that provide insight into patients, populations and performance, enabling healthcare organisations to understand their clinical and financial risk and identify the actions needed to address it.
Dr Ratnasothy will be responsible for providing direction for future product development for the EMEA region as well as leadership and industry insight for sales, marketing, partnerships, and implementation. He will work closely with Dr Brandon Savage and Ralf Klein, regional vice president and managing director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland; and Richard Craven, regional vice president and managing director of the UK and Nordic region, to provide clinical input into road mapping.
In addition to working in the region, Dr Ratnasothy will also be a member of the healthcare leadership team, contributing to the global strategy of the company.
He said of his appointment: “I have long believed in the potential of technology to improve the way we diagnose, treat and prevent disease. My previous experience as a doctor in the NHS and as an academic research fellow at Imperial College London has given me valuable insights into how technology can improve the quality and efficiency of clinical care.
“The problem is that this potential is still largely untapped. There are many reasons for this, but two stand out: large software applications seem to be difficult, and expensive, to modify; and patient data remains fragmented across many such applications.
“Caradigm takes a different approach: it provides a robust platform to connect disparate islands of patient data and the development tools to build agile and adaptable applications that can exploit these rich data sets.
“As a health economy, and considering the global financial challenges that we face, there is a great need to improve efficiency in the delivery of healthcare. This is why I believe this approach has the potential to address these issues and dramatically improve the way we manage healthcare services, support our clinicians and facilitate excellent patient care.”
Dr Ratnasothy has worked and studied in the health sector for 17 years, most recently as medical director in the UK for Fujitsu. Before starting work in IT, he obtained a degree in neuroscience, a medical degree and medical doctorate from Imperial College London, and trained as a surgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Craven said: “This is an exciting time for us as we enter new markets and further develop our analytics portfolio. As healthcare, and the way that it is delivered evolves at a rapid pace, Dr Ratnasothy’s experience and expertise will be a significant asset to Caradigm in ensuring we are able to provide the best possible solutions for our customers – helping them continue to provide excellent patient care while improving efficiencies and ultimately driving down costs.”
