The more we learn about the human body, the less we seem to actually know.
Medicine is always playing catch up with its own science. And more and more, the industry is moving toward individualized care, armed with metrics that help us stay on top of our wellness.
What if we could catch a problem before it happens? If that’s the goal, we’re not talking about preventative medicine; we’re talking about predictive medicine.
Marc Landry launched Healthy Heart Clinics and Cardio Care after he lost his parents. He wanted to create a company that could help patients manage their own cardio care and make sure that it fit what they needed.
Healthy Heart Clinics is a primary care practice. It offers cardiac care, wellness visits, health coaching and remote health monitoring. And Cardio Care is an online management tool for patients with chronic illnesses. It links technology and remote care to help patients keep track of their wellness between visits. The program comes with software that helps patients track their biometrics and prescription records.
Marc is originally from Scott and worked for 30 years in Dallas. He moved back to Lafayette in 2018, founding Healthy Heart in 2020.
Sometimes diseases are written right into our genetic code. Congenital defects can hide out for decades before becoming serious ailments. The early signs might be there, but with more than 7,000 rare genetic disorders known to medicine, it’s tough for even the best doctors to keep track of. Enter, ThinkGenetic.
Dawn Laney is the founder and chief genetic officer for Think Genetic, based in Lafayette. The idea for the company came from a genetic illness identified in Dawn’s own family. Her dad and aunt both suffered from non-fatal aneurysms. Dawn went looking for a genetic link and found an opportunity.
Dawn and her father founded ThinkGenetic in 2014. The company offers two basic products. They help researchers locate people at risk for rare conditions for clinical trials. And they help physicians narrow down options to refer patients for more testing or diagnosis. The goal is to cut down the amount of time it takes to achieve a diagnosis. The company also connects patients with rare diseases with advocacy groups and with genetic counselors.
Dawn is a genetic counselor herself. She’s Director of the Genetic Clinical Trials Center at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. Photos by Giada Morgan .