Dennis Nelson, CEO
Dennis Nelson, Ph.D. is the Founder, President, and CEO of MIMvista Corp. His passion to serve in the healthcare field developed at a young age.
Remembering his family’s influence, Dennis recalls, "I was very fortunate to have learned the value of service from my mother and father. They instilled in me the concept that the best way to serve people was to improve their quality of life."
In preparation for a career in both healthcare and technology, Dennis obtained his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University. Three years later he completed his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.
Working in collaboration with physicians and technologists at University Hospitals of Cleveland for almost two decades, Dennis observed the needs and limitations of clinical radiology imaging. CT scans were read on a light box, and PET scans on a nearby monitor. Physicians had to mentally align structures and tumors, which was a tedious and inexact exercise.
The cumbersome process fueled Dennis’ dedication to create a solution that would substantially improve physicians’ ability to align metabolic and anatomical structures. Dennis worked independently on nights and weekends to create algorithms and a software interface, which eventually became MIMfusion. From the earliest version, his fusions of a PET to a CT or MR dramatically reduced fusion and reading time from over an hour to just a few minutes.
"Initially when I designed the software, I had no intention of starting a company. But I remember being disappointed that the value of diagnostic PET was not available to everyone."
In March of 2002, Dennis gave each of his children the book, Visioneering by Andy Stanley. Dennis’ son, Andy, and son-in-law, Pete, responded to Stanley’s message about taking control of one’s life and proposed a new company based on Dennis’ initial fusion software.
Shortly after the inception of the company, MIMvista began diversifying into other areas and markets. "We didn’t want to just build one product really well, sell it out to someone, and be done. Everything that is currently done in this company is built on a long-term, long-range plan. We invest greatly in our engineering infrastructure, something that doesn’t pay off today but it will tomorrow. That has influenced our whole philosophy of how we run this company."
As MIMvista grows and flourishes in a highly competitive field, Dennis’ mission remains the same, "My vision is that this company will directly enhance patient care. That’s an easy thing to say, but that’s really what I want to do. We only develop products that will make an impact on patient care."
