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SUNY Downstate Chief Resident for Internal Medicine Launches Smartphone Clinical Guidelines App

By Office of Communications & Marketing | Mar 11, 2020

MEDIA CONTACT: Dawn Skeete-Walker | Dawn.Walker@downstate.edu | (718)270-2262

avoMD Brings Evidence-based Medicine to the Point of Care

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (March 11, 2020) – Throughout his training, Yair Saperstein, M.D., MPH, Chief Resident for Internal Medicine at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, looked for ways to improve access to the clinical protocols he needed at the bedside to provide the best care for his patients.

With the idea that there is an app for everything, and with the support of his colleagues and mentors at Downstate, Dr. Saperstein and his collaborators developed avoMD, a proprietary smartphone mobile app with easy to access, validated clinical guidelines and protocols that deliver knowledge and information to the physician’s fingertips, in real time, at the point of care.

“As many of my colleagues know, it is a challenge to stay abreast of the latest medical literature and guidelines,” said Dr. Saperstein. “Furthermore, hospital systems want their physicians to follow their institutional protocols. We serve both needs with a digital assistant for accessing the latest guidelines, including institutional protocols, where doctors need them most -- at the point of care.”

Along with co-founders Joongheum Park, M.D. and Laurence Coman, Dr. Saperstein set his mind to leveraging mobile technology to put timely, relevant, and easy-to-use clinical guidelines at the physician’s fingertips. The software serves as a digital assistant to physicians, guiding them through the process of evaluating and treating specific patients.

Additionally, the avoMD app provides links to supporting materials so the physician may better understand the science that supports the recommendations. The content is reviewed by a Scientific Advisory Board of specialist clinicians and scientists, and is approved for use by each institution that has implemented its use. The avoMD protocols include pre-operative evaluation based on the ACC/AHA guidance, as well as skin and soft tissue infection management based on the IDSA guidance.

“The avoMD app changes the way we take care of patients,” said Moro Salifu, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP, Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine at SUNY Downstate and Director of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center. “The Department of Medicine at SUNY Downstate fully supports the use of avoMD because it goes beyond the traditional information data source by actually guiding providers through the treatment plan. Additionally, the platform also allows our physicians and faculty to contribute content, which will enhance our academic productivity.”

Last fall, avoMD was a semifinalist in the International Business Model Competition and also took third place in the 2019 Columbia University Fast Pitch Competition – Columbia Engineering’s annual elevator pitch competition where teams have 60 seconds to sell their ideas to a panel of judges.

Earlier this year,  avoMD and Samsung Medical Center (SMC) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, entered into a research partnership to study the integration of the avoMD interactive software into SMC's electronic health record, with three other healthcare organizations, including SUNY Downstate’s University Hospital of Brooklyn, in the pipeline.

Already available in both the App Store and Google Play, avoMD has already been downloaded more than 35,000 times. 

“A generation ago, it was the growth of the internet and advent of the electronic health record that began to transform healthcare by providing more complete and timely information to physicians,” said Dr. Saperstein. “It is our belief that mobile technology like avoMD, and its ability to connect physicians with robust, concise and evidence-based care at the bedside, is the next innovation that holds the key to better care and patient outcomes.”

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About avoMD

avoMD offers physicians interactive and personalized medical guidelines and educational resources at the point of care. avoMD actively partners with medical institutions and physicians to deliver contextualized and digestible clinical decision support to clinicians, improving physician workflow and education. avoMD’s content is organized and developed by a growing community of physicians and maintained by a Scientific Advisory Board, which consists of specialist clinicians and scientists. Two of avoMD’s founders are practicing Internal Medicine physicians: Dr. Joongheum Park and Dr. Yair Saperstein. For more information or to get involved, visit avomd.io

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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University is the borough’s only academic medical center for health education, research, and patient care, and is a 342-bed facility serving the healthcare needs of New York City, and Brooklyn’s 2.6 million residents. University Hospital of Brooklyn (UHB) is Downstate’s teaching hospital, backed by the expertise of an outstanding medical school and the research facilities of a world-class academic center. More than 800 physicians, representing 53 specialties and subspecialties—many of them ranked as tops in their fields—comprise Downstate's staff.

A regional center for cardiac care, neonatal and high-risk infant services, pediatric dialysis, and transplantation, Downstate also houses a major learning center for children with physical ailments or neurological disorders. In addition to UHB, Downstate comprises a College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health, and a multifaceted biotechnology initiative, including the Downstate Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT for early-stage and more mature companies, respectively. For more information, visit www.downstate.edu or follow us on Twitter at @sunydownstate.