About

Silx Digital Health

Silx Digital Health is a Calgary based digital healthcare company. Our mission is to create an innovative web-based platform that uses Artificial Intelligence to improve patient care. This will empower doctors with the tools they need to navigate the ocean of medical knowledge efficiently and effectively.

Our Story

While working as a resident physician, co-founder Christopher encounters patients undergoing unique combinations of treatments, often with unusual diseases. Alongside his colleagues, he noticed a recurring issue with the existing subscription-based data retrieval products – they frequently lacked actionable and relevant information pertaining to their patients. Details regarding the risks and effectiveness of various conditions and treatments were often unclear or entirely absent. As a result, medical professionals were compelled to scour individual peer-reviewed manuscripts. Given the staggering volume of biomedical papers, which exceeds 50 million and grows by 5% annually, staying comprehensively informed about each patient has become impossible.

Our solution revolves around a web-based search tool empowered by advanced AI. This tool would autonomously crawl through the latest peer-reviewed scientific literature and distill relevant outcomes, simplifying comprehension for doctors. This transformative approach enables doctors to expedite patient care without compromising on being fully informed when making critical decisions. As a result, Silx will improve the overall quality of healthcare.

Founders

CEO – Michael Samsom, PhD

Michael Samsom is currently the CEO of Silx Digital Health, where he works full-time. He holds a BSc in Biomechanics and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Calgary. During his PhD, Michael focused on developing biomaterials and conducting mechanical testing, contributing significantly to the field by publishing six peer-reviewed manuscripts. After completing his graduate studies, he began his career as a Data Scientist and Software Engineer at a small consulting firm, Asica Canada. In this role, he specialized in artificial intelligence and gained extensive experience in full-stack software engineering. Michael has successfully built complete applications in various areas, including image-based search, predictive maintenance, finance, automated video monitoring, and targeted advertising.

CMO – Christopher Newell, MD PhD

Christopher is currently a 4th year Neuropathology resident doctor and Chief resident of Neuropathology at the University of Calgary. Christopher completed his BSc at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia before enrolling in his PhD (Medical Sciences) at the University of Calgary in 2012. The focus of his PhD involved developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets specific to primary mitochondrial disease utilizing basic and clinical experimental models. In 2014, Christopher was accepted into the coveted Leader’s in Medicine Program, a combined MD PhD program at the University of Calgary. During his PhD and MD training, Christopher was successful in securing over $500 000 in research funding and awards, published 20 manuscripts, a book chapter, and was heavily involved with various aspects of local and national governance for clinical and research trainees. A notable academic achievement during his PhD was the successful development of a novel, non-invasive method for detecting mutations in the mitochondrial genome using cell-free DNA (US Patent #: A8136992USP) which has directly impacted clinical patient care and diagnostics. As such, Christopher became interested in the application of technology and clinical practice, which ultimately led to collaboration with Michael and the inception of Silx.