Imperative Care recently announced the appointment of Kirsten Carroll as the new CEO of Kandu Health—a digital health startup with the aim of improving quality of life for people affected by stroke. The company has also announced the successful enrolment of the first 50 stroke survivors in its stroke recovery programme, and the appointments of chief financial officer, Stefan Heuser, and senior vice president of commercialisation, Clayton Duncan.
“The patient is the one constant in the continuum of care for stroke,” said Fred Khosravi, chairman and CEO for Imperative Care. “Our vision for Imperative Care has always been to connect each part of the care journey for patients affected by stroke, and be the company that delivers both treatment and post-acute care for stroke survivors. Kirsten has championed this vision for Kandu Health since its early days. Through her leadership and the company’s impressive bench of leaders, I see the embodiment of our mission to provide real, life-changing care to stroke survivors.”
Carroll previously served as senior vice president and general manager for Kandu Health, leading the company from inception through its formation as an independent company. She brings more than 20 years of experience in stroke product development, clinical research, marketing, strategy and business development, an Imperative Care press release details.
“Once a person has a stroke, every aspect of their life can be affected, diminishing both their quality of life and health. Improving these outcomes for stroke survivors has been my passion for over 20 years now, and Kandu is the most important thing I have worked on in that time,” said Carroll. “The Kandu programme is intended to address critical gaps in care and to provide personalised support to stroke survivors as they transition back home from the hospital. It is my greatest privilege to step into this new role and lead the company forward in delivering on our mission.”
Kandu Health previously began piloting its stroke recovery programme with its first hospital partners in the greater Los Angeles and South New Jersey areas of the USA. More than 50 stroke survivors have enrolled in the programme—and early data have shown enrolment rates, engagement and outcomes that exceed expectations for the programme.
Heuser brings decades of executive leadership experience in finance to Kandu Health, having previously served as vice president and head of investments at Hyundai Motor Group’s Corporate Venture Capital Arm, as well as vice president of operations and innovation at Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center. Meanwhile, Duncan has over 20 years of leadership experience in strategic growth roles within early- and growth-stage healthcare companies. He leads Kandu Health’s commercialisation efforts focused on creating accretive strategic partnerships with payers, providers, and other healthcare enterprises.
“We have seen very promising results in data collected from some of the first 50 stroke survivors enrolled in our programme, and these survivors have uniformly endorsed the programme, noting that it has strengthened their health, agency and quality of life. I am excited to continue scaling our programme to have an impact on many more stroke survivors and their families,” Duncan said.
