"It is becoming more and more clear that the human eye and brain simply cannot process and extract all of the information that is inherent in the data on a screen [...] and AI undoubtedly has been shown to be a technology that can and will be the future of such image interpretation in conjunction with the human physician.”
— Dr. Michael Byrne, Founder & CMO of Dova
As Dova expands its infrastructure to shape how gastrointestinal (GI) disease is measured, monitored, and managed, our work is built on decades of clinical knowledge and expertise spanning medicine, technology, and healthcare innovation.
Dova brings together a global team with complementary expertise in gastroenterology, medical technology, Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), quality and regulatory affairs, product and business development, and engineering across AI, machine learning, medical devices, and software. By combining deep clinical insight with technical excellence, we continue to advance our intelligence platform for inflammatory bowel disease.
To begin our Meet the Team series, we are featuring Dr. Michael Byrne, who serves as the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dova. Dr. Byrne has more than 30 years of experience as a practicing physician at the intersection of clinical medicine, research, and technology. He is internationally recognized as an academic and clinical leader, with extensive experience spanning the medical device and biotechnology sectors. He is widely regarded as a pioneer in introducing artificial intelligence (AI) to gastroenterology and endoscopy.
He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, as well as the Director of the Interventional Endoscopy Fellowship programme at Vancouver General Hospital and the University of British Columbia. Dr. Byrne is also a renowned speaker, often invited to present his research on AI and gastroenterology at leading conferences around the world. He has published over 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, presented more than, 200 abstracts, and serves as the lead editor for the seminal textbook “AI in Clinical Medicine,” a foundational reference published by Wiley that explores the integration of AI into clinical practice.
We had a conversation with Dr. Byrne to learn more about his career as a gastroenterologist, and the experiences that led him to found Dova.
What originally drew you to the gastroenterology specialty, and how has your perspective on patient care evolved over the course of your career?
I have always liked procedural medicine. Gastroenterology has always been procedural, but over the last 15 years it has evolved into an incredibly advanced endoscopic surgical field with many procedures now replacing the need for previous formal surgical intervention. It really is very exciting.
What gaps in GI care did you observe throughout your career that convinced you technology could make a meaningful difference, and how did those insights shape your vision for Dova?
Over the last thirty years, there have been ever-improving endoscopic visualisation technologies, from the days of fibre optic endoscopy through to contemporary high resolution video endoscopy. As the screen resolution, magnification, and various filtered light modalities improve, what can be seen on the screen during an endoscopy is becoming more and more clear.
However, it is also evident that the human eye and brain simply cannot process and extract all of the information that is inherent in the data on a screen, particularly a moving image. Doing a so-called virtual biopsy or virtual pathology was possible for truly global experts. It is really quite challenging for most GI physicians, and AI undoubtedly has been shown to be a technology that can and will be the future of such image interpretation in conjunction with the human physician.
As both a practicing gastroenterologist and founder, how has your clinical experience shaped how Dova approaches the development of AI-driven medical technology?
Being at the front face of GI medicine for many years and addressing a wide range of disease states that are managed using endoscopic technology is a very rich lens for being able to see the challenges and the opportunities in malignant and inflammatory conditions. Being a practising physician also makes it easier to have a network of global key opinion leaders in the various specialties. This has been a key driver for us at Dova, where we have been able to bring truly world-leading experts in GI cancer and inflammatory bowel disease into our advisory circle.
How do you see AI supporting clinicians without replacing the human side of medicine? What's one misconception about AI in healthcare that you wish more people understood?
AI is not going to replace humans in medicine. That is probably the key misconception about AI in healthcare. It's really about human and machine in perfect harmony.
There are many tedious and administrative tasks which physicians do on a daily basis, which can be more efficiently performed by AI. This liberates doctors to spend more time actually caring for their patients and listening to their patients' concerns.
In addition, when it is abundantly clear that AI can "see" so much more detail in the imaging data and other health record data than one human can ever conceptualise, then we have to embrace the fact that AI is there to work with us and help our performance as human physicians.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends in AI and GI do you believe will have the greatest impact on patient care over the next five years?
After a decade of rapid advance in the application of AI to GI imaging in endoscopy, I believe we will have several real-time tools able to help us better detect early cancerous lesions in the GI tract and therefore improve survival overall. In addition, much more granular assessment of chronic lifelong diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease will be possible using AI technology. This should improve patient care overall and also improve the efficiency of clinical trials for treatments.
There will be an explosion, in my opinion, of AI-driven digital endpoints for various diseases in the GI space that will allow us to move to another level of physician performance, as well as significantly improving treatment and monitoring of disease. It will also allow us to rewrite some classification scores based on AI technology rather than human interpretation.
What is a hobby or activity outside of work that you’re passionate about?
I love to travel widely. Travelling to me opens the mind and broadens the horizons, even if that sounds like a cliché. In the winter, I love nothing more than spending time in the mountains on a pair of skis with my family and friends.
I am a classically trained singer but sadly find it hard to find the time to dedicate to performing with a professional choir. Hopefully, sometime in the future I can do that before my voice ages too much.
Finally, as many people in my life know, I am a hugely devoted and lifelong Everton football fan. It is not unusual for me to go back to Europe for three days to watch a game, and despite having left the UK nearly 30 years ago, I still have my season ticket. That's passion!
