Jan De Backer, PhD
CEO at FLUIDDA
Dr. Jan De Backer graduated from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands as aerospace engineer. He attained an MSc degree in aerodynamics and specialised in applied biomedical computational fluid dynamics leading to a PhD from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is an alumnus of the MBA programs at London Business School, London and Columbia Business School, New York. Dr. De Backer has received several awards for his innovative research in the field of airway modeling in respiratory and sleep medicine. His work has been published in international journals.
Dr. De Backer founded FLUIDDA in 2005 and he holds the position as Chief Executive Officer since 2007.
Title: Bringing better inhaled drugs faster to market through Functional Respiratory Imaging and Artificial Intelligence
- Conventional pulmonary function tests fail to provide regional information about lung structure and function, and this regional information matters.
- Functional Respiratory Imaging (FRI) and AI can empower physicians and researchers with clinically relevant information, facilitating respiratory drug development with shorter, cheaper, clinical trials. The FDA recognized this potential in a Letter of Support for use of FRI in IPF research.
- FRI provides patient-specific, regional information about lung health, allowing physicians to better assess respiratory disease status and the effects of environmental toxin exposure.