This year, Yusup Tumgoev graduated from NU SEDS with a master’s degree in Data Science, and Amanzhol Shungeev graduated from NUSOM with a master’s degree in Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation. Last year, they developed an online test called myMind, which helps detect early signs of dementia (Alzheimer’s disease), together with psychotherapist Zhibek Zholdasova. In an interview, NU alumni talked about their project and why they chose the MedTech field.
How did it happen that you work in the medical field?
Yusup: Medicine has always been something distant for me. But our mentor Seytzhan Sypabekov, head of the Galamat Group medical holding company, in one of his lectures said that with entrepreneurial thinking along with hard programming skills, you can conquer this complex field as well. The IT healthcare industry will experience enormous growth soon, and our task is to become part of this growth and contribute to it. This is the main motivation for engaging in MedTech startups.
Amanzhol: I was interested in sports medicine in high school and studied it together with my main technical subjects. After receiving my bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at NU and meeting my mentor Seytzhan Sypabekov, I understood that technology and medicine both give a unique opportunity to help people and create really valuable things for people. It turns out that MedTech has always been somewhere near me, but I discovered it only in 2020.
How did you come to the project?
Yusup: In 2014, as undergraduate students at NU, we started working hard on a FoodTech startup. We made a SuperApp that included a loyalty program, a CRM system, a marketing platform, a mobile payment system, and many other things in one system. At that moment when we needed to attract investment in the project, Ayhan Birimzhan, NU alumni and founder of the coffee shop Health Project introduced us to our future mentor Seytzhan Sypabekov. Because of the pandemic, the project had to be frozen, but when the quarantine ended, we were ready to work on our new ideas.
Tell us about the startup myMind. How does it work?
Yusup: After researching the Kazakhstan market, we concluded that the test, which has already become a virtual clinic, saves patients’ time and reduces medical documentation workload by 40 to 50%, and also decreases human interactions to a minimum. All the doctor has to do is send the link to the test to the patient or his/her caregiver. Then ask additional questions to prescribe treatment if necessary.
Amanzhol: myMind automatically generates a medical history based on patient responses, identifies risk factors and the degree of dementia development, and helps prescribe the right treatment with the help of built-in hints. Most importantly, myMind allows you to manage a virtual clinic with its patient record system and secure storage of patient results in the cloud.
How does the test help identify early symptoms of the disease?
Amanzhol: The test consists of 5 blocks, that help to identify the disease at different stages of development, from prematurity to severe disease stage. If the system understands that the patient does not have symptoms of an average degree of dementia in block 3, then passing block 4 will not be necessary. The test includes possible answers, applied tasks to determine cognitive abilities, and arithmetic tasks. There are a total of 109 questions on the test.
How relevant is this test to Kazakhstan?
Yusup: Until 2020, it was believed that dementia affects people over the age of 60. However, the average age of patients with this diagnosis has decreased to 45 years because of the effect of COVID-19. According to the Ministry of Health, about ten thousand people in Kazakhstan diagnosed with dementia, but our medical specialist in this project Zhibek Zholdasova cites statistics equal to 150 thousand patients. This difference can be explained by the lack of public awareness and available tools for its detection. According to forecasts, numbers will only grow over years because of the population aging process. Now, several private clinics use our test.
This year you graduated with a master’s degree from NU. What are your plans for the upcoming years?
Amanzhol: Yusup and I agree with one statement: “It’s better to create a job than to look for a job”. This mentality is what got us to where we are. We have always tried and will continue to try to create something new and revolutionary, something that will have a big impact on people’s lives.
