Why former Ramsay boss sees EMVision’s portable stroke detection tech as game-changing

Former RHC Australia CEO and EMVision’s newest board director Carmel Monaghan believes the company’s early stroke-detection tech has huge potential.

Time is brain – Carmel Monaghan believes strongly in the potential of EMVision’s stroke tech. Pic via Getty Images

• Former Ramsay boss and new EMVision director Carmel Monaghan believes its early stroke detection tech can transform lives

• Monaghan says EMVision is filling a gap in the market which could improve stroke outcomes

• Leading stroke centres in Australia and US taking part in pivotal trial for EMVision’s first device, the emu bedside scanner

EMVision’s newest high-profile board director Carmel Monaghan believes the company's technology for early detection of stroke has the potential to "transform people’s lives".

Monaghan, who has joined the EMVision board as a non-executive director, stepped down this month from Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC) after five years as CEO of Ramsay Australia.

Ramsay is Australia’s largest private hospital operator and offers a range of multidisciplinary healthcare services along with extensive operations internationally.

"EMVision is filling a gap in the market, and I’ve been impressed with the level of research undertaken over the last seven or eight years to bring rapid portable stroke sensing and imaging to point of care, which will really transform people’s lives," Monaghan told Stockhead.

"We know that time is brain in stroke diagnostics so getting quick, easy access to that neurodiagnostic solution can lead to a much-improved outcome."

EMVision is currently undertaking a pivotal trial to support US Food and Drug (FDA) de novo (new device) clearance for its first commercial device – the emu bedside scanner – which is designed to rapidly diagnose stroke at the point-of-care.

If granted clearance emu is anticipated to become the predicate device for its second device, First Responder, allowing an expedited 510(k) FDA pathway for the pre-hospital market.

Leading stroke centres in Australia and the US are taking part in the trial including Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Houston’s Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the Mayo Clinic in Florida.

EMV is also advancing a strategy to drive ongoing device innovation, refine its algorithms and generate data to support potential expansion of indications to include traumatic brain injury (TBI).

This work forms part of EMVision’s Continuous Innovation Study, which has received ethics approval to start scanning patients with suspected stroke or TBI at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital and Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital – both high-volume, comprehensive stroke and level-one trauma centres.

Interest in advancing medical innovation

Monaghan brings nearly 30 years of experience across hospital, corporate, and international roles at Ramsay.

Before becoming CEO in 2020, she served as group chief of staff for Ramsay’s global operations, gaining deep operational and strategic insight into the healthcare sector in both Australia and overseas.

Monaghan also held the role of group head of marketing and public affairs, where she led the company’s marketing, brand and communications strategy during a period of significant global expansion that saw Ramsay become one of the world’s leading private healthcare operators.

Former RHC Australia CEO Carmel Monaghan has joined the EMVision board. Image: supplied

"I’m passionate about enhancing patient care through emphasising and embedding research and clinical trials into operations," Monaghan said.

"I drove the expansion of clinical trials at Ramsay because I could see how this made a difference to clinical outcomes and people’s lives.

"At any one time, we had more than 250 clinical trials being undertaken at Ramsay facilities.

"I am really interested in getting research to implementation and giving people hope and that has been a big passion of mine and what I love about medicine."

Monaghan emphasised that whether it’s drugs or devices, the goal is the same – to test and prove their impact, ultimately improving not just mortality rates but quality of life for people living with the burden of disease.

"I’ve seen it with cancer drugs, robotic technology and that is what attracted me to EMVision.

"It is health innovation with purpose and impact."

World-renowned clinical team

Monaghan noted EMVision's impressive technical, clinical and leadership team. She joins vastly experienced clinicians, medtech and business leaders on the board.

The company’s clinical advisory group also includes world-leading clinicians, working to address a strong clinical need.

"EMVision have world-leading neurologists advising them along with huge luminary hospitals in the US like Mayo and Mt Sinnai, which are now scanning and enrolling patients,” she said, noting there are around 12.5 million strokes globally each year with 6.5 million dying annually.

"It is a big burden of disease and one in four people globally over 25 will have a stroke in their lifetime, which has increased 50% over the past 17 years.

"With stroke every minute counts and the outcome is heavily influenced by how quick the treatment is delivered.

"Both the emu and First Responder will fill a gap where CT is just not practical and means the clinician who needs to make a quick treatment decision can do that effectively."

She added that in the future there will also be interest in how the devices could be used to promptly diagnose TBI.

"That is down the track, but it has great potential with studies underway at the John Hunter and the Princess Alexandra Hospital that will allow us to begin evaluating traumatic brain injury using our technology."

Australia’s global edge in health innovation

Mongahan said Australia had long punched above its weight in health innovation, producing homegrown companies that have made a global impact.

From hospitals to high-tech medical devices, the nation has cultivated a strong foundation in scientific research and clinical excellence – factors that continue to drive international success.

She pointed to ASX-listed healthcare heavyweights such as Ramsay, blood products leader CSL (ASX:CSL), hearing implant pioneer Cochlear (ASX:COH), diagnostics and imaging specialist Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL), and sleep disorder device manufacturer ResMed (ASX:RMD) as world-class companies.

"I have always admired how fantastic Australia is with healthcare and it’s because we have such well-trained doctors and good scientific research," she said.

"They’ve all been amazing, admirable companies which have been able to successfully transition overseas.

"I think it's exciting how Australia has always performed so strongly in the health field, driven by world-class scientific research and highly trained medical professionals."

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While EMVision is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article. 

Disclosure: The author held shares in CSL and Sonic Healthcare at the time of writing this article. 

Originally published as Why former Ramsay boss sees EMVision’s portable stroke detection tech as game-changing