Benjamin Bielak Joins iSpecimen® as CIO

LEXINGTON, Mass., Aug. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Veteran healthcare informatics expert Benjamin Bielak has joined iSpecimen as its first Chief Information Officer to lead further development of the iSpecimen Marketplace, an online platform that connects biomedical researchers with the biospecimens they need for their work developing new diagnostics, treatments and cures.

Bielak and his team will also support hospitals, labs, biobanks, blood centers, and other health care organizations in sharing their specimen and de-identified patient data within the Marketplace to streamline and automate biospecimen distribution.

"Ben's extensive background and history of leadership in healthcare and information technology are uniquely suited to our mission," said iSpecimen Founder and CEO Christopher Ianelli, MD, PhD. "His visionary approach is elevating our solution with an immediate impact."

Bielak brings more than 25 years of executive and senior information technology experience to iSpecimen. He most recently served as the Chief Information Officer at GNS Healthcare, a data analytics company focused on drug discovery, and director of academic technology at Harvard University.

"I'm incredibly passionate about the opportunity to deploy the marketplace on a much larger scale and to support researchers and suppliers as they use this powerful platform to make a real difference in the world," said Bielak.

Prior to his work at GNS and Harvard, Bielak was Chief Information Officer at Dovetail Health, a company dedicated to lower costs and better outcomes through medication management and patient adherence. He previously held roles as manager of development and integration at Boston Medical Center and senior manager of technology at Sapient.

Bielak earned an MBA in change management from Bentley University and a master's degree from Boston University in computer science. He maintains two certifications, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) Certified Healthcare Chief Information Officer (CHCIO) and the Health Information Management System Society (HIMSS) Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS).

The iSpecimen Marketplace was launched in 2017. Hundreds of biotech, pharmaceutical, and academic institutions have signed on as marketplace users, collectively conducting thousands of searches across millions of patients and samples available for research. Initially providing access to one million banked samples, the iSpecimen Marketplace now also provides access to 25 million clinical remnants annually.

About iSpecimen
Headquartered in Lexington, MA, iSpecimen is the marketplace for human biospecimens, providing researchers with the specimens they need from the patients they want. The privately held company has developed the iSpecimen Marketplace, an online platform connecting healthcare organizations that have access to patients and specimens with the scientists who need them. Proprietary, cloud-based technology enables researchers to intuitively search for specimens and patients across a federated partner network of hospitals, labs, biobanks, blood centers, and other healthcare organizations. Researchers easily and compliantly gain access to specimens to drive scientific discovery. Partner sites gain an opportunity to contribute to biomedical discovery as well as their bottom line. And ultimately, healthcare advances for all. For more information about iSpecimen, please visit www.ispecimen.com.

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SOURCE iSpecimen