THOUGHT-LEADERS

As the debate rages on about the use of artificial intelligence (AI)—Will it be a force for good? Or does it portend a dystopian future?—it is people like Mikael Hartman, PhD, who tip the scales in favour of the former.

- Alvin Wong, Amos Chin, Haziq Yusoff and Low Weixian

MIKAEL HARTMAN Founder, Fathom X

Hartman, who hails from Stockholm and is now based in Singapore, has been practising breast surgery for more than 15 years. Alarmed by the exponential rise in breast cancer among Asian women, and confounded by the inaction for early detection and treatment, he felt compelled to raise awareness and develop tools to improve the situation.

In 2014, Hartman went on a “transformative motorcycle journey” that spanned 23,000km from Singapore to Sweden to raise awareness about breast cancer across Asia. The ride led to the establishment of the Asian Breast Cancer Research Fund, which supports breast cancer-related research endeavours across Asia. “This initiative underscored the power of collective action and the profound impact of community-driven efforts,” says Hartman.

As the founder of Fathom X, a digital health AI spin-off company from the National University of Singapore and the National University Health System, he was also instrumental in developing FxMammo. FxMammo is a revolutionary AI-powered breast cancer screening solution that helps improve diagnoses while cutting diagnosis time to a few minutes.

Tested in top universities and hospitals across Asia, and currently regulatorily approved in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, the AI tool is said to significantly reduce the false positive rate by over 20 per cent and false negative rates by over 38 per cent, giving more opportunities for early detection.

How do you see the work for breast cancer awareness evolving in the next five years?