After losing family members to chronic conditions, including his father, Ilker Hacihaliloglu decided something needed to be done to ensure that preventable diseases are discovered early rather than too late. His innovation, developed at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, became the company PONS, which seeks to give families “the precious gift of time.”
Hacihaliloglu, PhD, MSc, conceived of PONS’ technology during his tenure as a faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers. He is currently an associate professor in the Departments of Radiology and Medicine at the University of British Columbia. The software enhances ultrasound images using advanced, physics-guided processing, improving image quality and standardizing structural representation across devices. By enabling effective data scaling and extraction of quantitative features, it provides clinicians with richer, more reliable information to support earlier disease detection and more accurate diagnostic assessment.
“Our ultimate goal was, and is, to be able to identify diseases at an earlier stage, like chronic conditions,” said Hacihaliloglu. “We believe that nobody should lose their loved ones to preventable diseases. The sooner we catch a disease, the sooner we can begin treatment, and the better the chances are of a successful outcome.” To read the full story.