Media Cold Fusion!
I'm taking the liberty to quote a message posted to the Gilder Tech Forum about the head scientist of this outfit.
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posted: Mon Jan 3, 1900 11:04am -- read 116 times, 1 reply
author: Julie
subject: Media Cold Fusion
My bs detectors have been going off while reading the "news" about Media Fusion recently. So far, it looks
as though a bunch of major news outlets that should know better have simply picked up MF's press
releases and reprinted them with a "gee, wouldn't that be great" comment.
Remind anyone of anything?
I checked out MF's website, www.mediafusionllc.net, and found the following "biography" on resident genius
William "Luke" Stewart:
William "Luke" Stewart
VP of Technology and Chief Scientist
As the inventor of Advanced
Sub-Carrier Modulationª, Luke has
been promoting his Media Fusion
technology as a solution to the
Internet's authentication problems and
the developing world's communications
dilemma. Luke is expert in the fields
of: laser electro-optics (system design
and implementation), nuclear
propulsion, plant design, systems
operation, computer science, computer
hardware architecture, software
development (design and
implementation), quantum
electrodynamics, and semiotics. In the
past, Luke focused on the creative
application of both computers and
lasers to the solution of problems in the
fields of medical imaging and
entertainment. He is a veteran of the
US Navy and has consulted on
numerous special projects for the US
government.
Ooooh, he's expert in nuclear propulsion AND laser electro-optics AND semiotics? No wonder he's been
too busy to hold down a job!
A news search on NEXIS turned up the following item on William "Luke" Stewart from 1990. For those too
busy to read the whole thing, I will summarize: Stewart invented "HeartLink", which was supposed to
transmit EKG data over normal phone wires. ("Gee, wouldn't that be great?") This claim, too, was reported
in the Wall Street Journal. Stewart's company, Claritek, apparently disappeared without a trace -- their
California business license was suspended in 1991.
Sorry for the long post, but I'd hate to see anyone get sucked in by this.
Copyright San Diego Business Journal, Inc. 1990;
Business Dateline;
San Diego Business Journal
February 26, 1990
SECTION: Vol 11; No 9; Sec 1; pg 9
LENGTH: 1079 words
HEADLINE: Biomedical Startup Company Seeks Funds for Cardiac Tool
BYLINE: Mary Hardie
DATELINE: San Diego; CA; US; Pacific
BODY:
Deep in the recesses of a Gaslamp Quarter office building, secured by two deadbolted doors,
a computer scientist, a Disney animator and a TRW spacecraft engineer work on computers
and pore over pictures of hearts.
Since last June, the three have been ensconced in the windowless offices of Claritek, a
biomedical startup. They've mixed mathematics, graphics, computer, medical and
telecommunication technologies to come up with HeartLink. Claritek's first product, the
system clarifies or enhances current ultrasound images of the beating heart and transmits
them in real time over telephone lines.
"It's something I've never heard done before," said Claritek founder William "Luke"
Stewart, the company's computer whiz. Last week he unveiled HeartLink to venture
capitalists and others attending the Sixth San Diego Technology Financial Forum at the
Hotel del Coronado.
The forum, which links emerging biotechnology and high-technology companies with
potential investors, was sponsored by a group of banks, law firms and accounting firms in
association with the University of California, San Diego Connect program, the San Diego
State University Entrepreneurial Management Center, the San Diego Economic Development
Corp. and Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation.
Stewart wants to raise $ 1.2 million to establish the computerized system in five major
university hospital test sites.
When operational, HeartLink will allow doctors all over the country instant access to
cardiologists and other specialists at the five medical centers.
"Lots of GPs (general practitioners) and doctors using ultrasound at small or rural hospitals
where there are no cardiologists on staff often can't recognize heart disease in its early stages.
Now they'll know right away if it's a simple case of eating too much pizza the night before,"
Stewart said.
Currently, these doctors mail videotapes of a patient's ultrasound test to cardiologists for
review and diagnosis. Results can take days or weeks.
"And if the transducer isn't positioned on the patient right, the video could be worthless and
the patient then has to undergo a second test. All of this takes time, costs money and if there's
a real medical problem, it could mean the difference between life and death," Stewart said.
The five test sites are: the University of Kentucky, Chandler Medical Center; the Hospital of
the University of Pennsylvania; Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital in
association with Harvard University; the University of California, San Francisco Medical
Center; and the University of California, San Diego Medical Center.
Claritek lined up the prestigious facilities through the help of Dr. David Sahn and Dr. Nelson
Schiller, cardiologists at UCSD and UCSF Medical Centers respectively, who saw the system
in action and were impressed, Stewart said.
The new venture funds also would be used to to hire managers at Claritek, including a chief
executive officer and a vice president of marketing and sales, Stewart said. Currently he is the
company's acting CEO, chief technical officer and only employee.
Since the company's start up nine months ago, animator William Ackerman, who works on
projects for Walt Disney Studios, Lucas Films and NBC Television, and Atle Steen, on leave
from his job at TRW's Spacecraft Engineering Division, have been consulting for Claritek.
Steen developed the system's mathematical programs; Ackerman created the animated
images of the actual video pictures of the heart.
Stewart's wife, Gretchen Cole, formerly a strategic planner with Scripps Clinic for 15 years
and now director of corporate planning for Scripps Memorial Hospitals, sits on the company's
nine-member advisory board.
The instant access to specialists provided by HeartLink eliminates a lot of risky Procedures
for heart patients, Stewart said. For instance, patients wouldn't need to be transported to
bigger hospitals located hundreds of miles away to see the cardiologist. The number of
exploratory surgeries and other invasive diagnostic procedures such as angiograms also
would be reduced, he said.
Smaller hospitals or outreach centers of larger facilities, such as UCSD Medical Center, which
supports 48 clinics county-wide, could cut cardiologists from their staffs if they used
HeartLink, he also claimed.
The system, designed as an add-on product to existing ultrasound equipment and supported
by MicroSoft and Excel software, would save larger hospitals money as well, he said.
"Hospitals wouldn't be throwing away the ultrasound technology they've already spent
millions of dollars on. Instead, they've be improving the value of their equipment," Stewart
said.
Costs for the HeartLink system would range from $ 350,000 to $ 750,000. Patients would pay
a slightly higher price for an ultrasound exam with the HeartLink hookup. A heart
ultrasound procedure without HeartLink costs about $ 450.
With over 6,700 tertiary care hospitals, the potential U.S. market for HeartLink exceeds $ 100
million, said Thomas Crews, former partner with Vista Capital Group, now Claritek's
business advisor.
Large government agencies like the U.S. State Department with employees located at remote
embassies around the globe, and major insurance carriers and other third party payors also
have expressed interest in the system.
The technology could be expanded to enhance the images of more than a dozen other medical
tests, medical resonance imaging and cat scans included, he said. "If you measure any type of
motion and determine a problem, it could have widespread industrial application as well,"
Crews said.
Stewart, an independent software developer for MicroSoft and a computer and laser systems
consultant, first conceived of HeartLink about three years after a day on the golf course with
an Scripps Clinic angiographer.
"He started talking about his job, how he inserted needles in peoples' legs and threaded them
up to the heart for tests. The concept sounded awful! Later he got me dressed in hospital
greens and showed me firsthand what he did. I thought, 'No way. There's got to be something
better, a non-invasive way that's not so painful-looking,'"
Last summer he deposited $ 38 in a bank account, formally launching Claritek at the
downtown location. Over the next several months, he raised $ 100,000 in seed capital from
private investors to develop the technology, then rounded up a medical advisory panel and a
several computer backers.
Happy Due Diligence!
/Julie |
