About Us

Company history

Acumen Healthcare Solutions, is a medical software development company whose products reflect the meaning of Acumen - "keenness of perception, discernment and discrimination, especially in practical matters". The individuals that founded Acumen have extensive backgrounds in establishing, designing and managing large medical databases and marketing of medical devices.

In 1996 it became apparent to one of the founders of the Company, because of his experience in founding and maintaining an International Registry for Heart and Lung Transplantation, that there existed a need for a reliable, paperless and convenient method for gathering longitudinal patient data as well as a more convenient way to record and send clinical trial data back to the sponsor of medical device, pharmaceutical and biotech clinical trials.

After searching and experimenting, it became apparent that the most reliable method of recording and transmitting data would be through the use of an EDC (electronic data capture) system utilizing the Internet for transmission of data. Subsequently, AHS was formed in 1997 and has developed a unique system encompassing all facets of data collection from design of electronic data collection forms (e-CRF's) through data cleansing, transmission and uploading into any ODBC database.

Founders

William Kobi, President and Chief Executive Officer :

After attending perfusion school at Baylor University in Houston Texas, Mr.Kobi spent eight years working at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Colorado Medical School as a clinical perfusionist. Mr. Kobi began his business career at Baxter Travenol Laboratories in Chicago, Illinois. He has been involved in the medical device industry for over forty years, making contributions to the success of some of the industry's leading companies. From 1976 to 1989, Mr. Kobi worked at SciMed Life Systems in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a pioneer in the area of membrane oxygenators and a world leader in the field of angioplasty catheters. During his years at SciMed, Mr. Kobi led the sales efforts in the positions of Director of Sales, Director of Marketing, Director of International, Vice President of International, and lastly as Vice President of Worldwide Sales for its cardiovascular division. SciMed was sold to Boston Scientific in 1992. Mr. Kobi is on the Board of Directors of Synovis Life Technologies, a publicly held medical device manufacturer located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Kobi left his own non-medical business in Northern Minnesota to found AHS.

Michael P. Kaye, M.D., Senior Vice President & Medical Director:

Dr. Kaye is a semi-retired cardio-thoracic surgeon who has had his training at St. Louis University and the Mayo Clinic. Besides a distinguished career at Loyola University, Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota, and the Heart and Lung Institute of San Diego, Dr. Kaye organized and maintained the registry of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. He has 191 publications to his name. Dr. Kaye was also the first editor of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, and during his ten years as editor, he developed it into an internationally recognized journal. During his career, Dr. Kaye was the Director of the Artificial Heart Facility at the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (IITRI) and managed the Heart and Lung Institute at the University of Minnesota. Both of these positions required management of annual budgets of $10-15 million dollars. Dr. Kaye has also had extensive interaction with industry, having served as a consultant to a number of major device and pharmaceutical companies.