Brian de Francesca

Brian de Francesca is a Johns Hopkins educated expert in the use of digitalization and connectivity to improve healthcare quality, access and efficiency; most specifically, in the use of platform technologies to increase, optimize and improve healthcare human resources – for which there is a significant global need. This has broad implications on healthcare staffing and facility: design, development, number, location and the scope of services to be offered by healthcare facilities worldwide. Brian was first exposed to the tremendous potential of “digitalization and connectivity” in 1993, with the success of the world’s first tele-radiology program in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. Brian has been a “super user” of digitalization and connectivity (aka - telemedicine) ever since. He was deeply involved with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce e-commerce IBEX (International Business Exchange) project and conducted the some of the first pilots of Digital Pathology. His company participated in the “Whole System Demonstrator Project” in the U.K., which was the largest randomized control trial of telehealth and telecare in the world and demonstrated the significant benefits of telemedicine; they also remotely monitored over 35,000 patients in Europe for post discharge and chronic disease management. Brian has won awards for his Tele Stroke program in Asia, Telemedical education programs in Africa, the Frost and Sullivan 2018 “Telemedicine Leadership Award” and the 2018 International Life Sciences Awards for ‘Best Healthcare Staffing Solutions Provider,” for the services provided by Ver2 in human resource capacity building, optimizing and quality improving. Brian maintains a full roster of international speaking and writing engagements, covering a wide array of healthcare topics. Brian has over 20 years international healthcare experience having lived in Thailand for over a decade, where in addition to founding the region’s first biomedical engineering company – Asia Bio Systems; he also worked with Bangkok Hospital and Bumrungrad Hospital – both of which receive large numbers of medical tourists each year that benefited from his innovative use of telemedicine to support inbound and outbound medical travel. He later worked for Johns Hopkins in Abu Dhabi, where he was responsible for a wide network of healthcare facilities. It was during this time that he refined his vision for a Virtual Healthcare Service Platform, which eventually became Ver2.