About Us
What We Do
Cardihab™ is a digital health company that exists to help patients reach optimal health when at risk of, or living with, heart disease. Our scientifically validated Digital Cardiac Rehabilitation (DCR) solution uses smartphone apps and web portals to give clinicians the ability to deliver more convenient, flexible and engaging cardiac rehabilitation services to patients. Our solution has been demonstrated to increase cardiac rehabilitation uptake, adherence and completion rates, which means better outcomes for patients, clinicians and health service administrators.
Our History
Cardihab Pty Ltd is a spinoff company from Australia’s leading publicly funded science organisation, the Commonwealth Science & industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Cardihab was incorporated in February 2016 as the commercialisation vehicle for mobile health (m-health) research at the Australian E-Health Research Centre (AEHRC) - a joint venture between CSIRO and Queensland Health. Cardihab completed the CSIRO ON and HCF Catalyst accelerator programs and its shareholders include Artesian Capital Management, Uniseed and CSIRO (on behalf of AEHRC).
Management Team
Helen Souris - Chief Executive Officer
Helen Souris is the CEO for Cardihab, with 20+ years digital & healthcare commercial expertise from within market leading global organisations including ACNielsen, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, and successful innovative Australian start-ups like Red Sheriff and PainChek. Her Bachelor’s degree in Statistics (CS) ignited her passion for leveraging the capabilities of technology and data to deliver solutions that improve clinical outcomes for patients and healthcare professionals. She is a strong advocate for evidence based digital health innovations that supports the growth of the Australian digital health ecosystem.
Christine Kwong - Clinical Specialist
Christine is a Clinical Nurse with experience in cardiac nursing such as Coronary Care, Cardiac Catheter Lab and last 10 years as a Cardiac Rehabilitation Nurse.
Within Cardiac Rehabilitation Christine has worked in Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 to improve patient's health with cardiovascular disease.
Her other passion is in education and she has worked as an Associate Clinical Lecturer teaching undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing Students.
She brings her knowledge and experience of these areas to Cardihab by health promotion, design and delivery of Cardiac rehabilitation programs.
Board of Directors
Dr John Rivers
Dr John Rivers is a practising cardiologist and founding member of the Queensland Cardiovascular Group. John has extensive experience in business development and governance in the healthcare industry. He has a long term interest in medical quality systems, particularly clinician driven systems for measuring and improving patient outcomes, including the interface with clinical governance. He is a previous board member and Commissioner of the Health Quality and Complaints Commission of Queensland. John is an active member of the Brisbane Angels group.
Natasha Rawlings
Natasha Rawlings is an Investment Manger at Uniseed – an early stage commercialisation fund supported by four outstanding Australian universities and CSIRO. Before joining Uniseed, Natasha was a tech entrepreneur who led, founded and mentored early and mid-stage tech start-ups, with a particular focus on creating revenue through sales and marketing. Before startups, Natasha had a successful career as a marketer holding top management positions in Australian and UK companies including Marketing Director of International Masters Publishers (publishing), Guthy-Renker (cosmetics and fitness), and was a Senior Manager in corporate innovation/ new revenue streams at News Corporation in the UK. Natasha holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Charles leads medical/healthcare technology commercialisation at CSIRO. He has coordinated the establishment and capital raising for many spin-out companies, several of which are now significant ASX listed companies. Previously he was responsible for medical business development and CSIRO’s partnerships with a wide range of medical technology companies. Prior to CSIRO, Charles worked in the UK for Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemical and pharmaceutical company.
Cardihab Advisory Team
The Cardihab™ Advisory Team (CAT) provides guidance and advice to the management team on various aspects of Cardihab’s business and markets.
Ms Tanya Hall
Tanya Hall is the founder and CEO hearts4heart – a national organisation supporting, educating and advocating for Australians who, like her, live with heart disease. Through Tanya’s hard work and advocacy, hearts4heart has grown exponentially and is now seen as an expert voice in the field of patient education and support for heart disease and arrhythmia’s. Tanya is often called upon to present at clinician, research and industry conferences and contacted by the media to contribute to cardiac related stories. Tanya is involved in a number of cardiac committees across Australia including the Cardiac Devices Registry Steering Committee of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Dr Rob Grenfell
Dr Rob Grenfell MBBS, MPH, FAFPHM joined CSIRO in June 2016 as the Health Director of the Health and Biosecurity Business Unit. Rob was previously the National Medical Director of Bupa Australia and New Zealand. He has also held roles as the National Director of Cardiovascular Health at the Heart Foundation and as the Strategic Health Advisor to Parks Victoria and previously a Senior Medical Advisor at the Department of Health Victoria. As a practicing GP, Dr Grenfell maintained an isolated rural general practice in Natimuk, Victoria for 13 years until June 2011.
Dr Marlien Varnfield
Dr Marlien Varnfield MSc, PhD is a research scientist at the Australian E-Health Research Centre. Marlien’s research focus is the evaluation of health-care program implementation, specifically self-management care-models. Her PhD research involved two ICT-supported home-care models in the management of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Marlien has been a faculty member of the Third European Congress on eCardiology and eHealth and is a member of the Australian Cardiac Rehabilitation Association (ACRA) and Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA).
Mr Mark Heinemeyer
Mark Heinemeyer is an experienced US healthcare CEO, CCO, CMSO executive. He is recognized for taking companies and products to market in ways that are fresh and compelling. Mark’s goal is to continuously elevate and accelerate the adoption of reliable solutions that support effective & efficient medicine while improving the patient experience. Specialties: Customer discovery, validation and development for early stage companies, products or verticals. Product experience: Digital health, telemedicine, value-based care, informatics, clinical software, medical devices, MDI, genomics, managed care, disease management, patient engagement and adherence.
Our Supporters
CSIRO Incubator Program
