When Dr. Amar Patel, MD, Prenuvo’s VP of Neuroradiology, was still a medical student; he volunteered to let his classmates practice an abdominal ultrasound on him. It was supposed to be routine, a harmless training exercise. Instead, his instructor froze, then pointed out something no one expected: a large mass on his liver.
Several years later, when he was scanned again, the mass had grown. Surgery followed with five hours in the operating room and a week in the hospital. The experience changed everything.
“I realized how lucky I was to have access to advanced imaging and expert care,” Dr. Patel says. Not everyone gets that chance, and that’s why Prenuvo’s mission immediately clicked for him. “The idea of giving people early, meaningful insight into their health isn’t just something I believe in — it’s something I lived,” he adds.
That conviction runs through every member of the Prenuvo Medical Group*, a team of physicians who believe healthcare should not only treat illness, but prevent it. Through advanced imaging, comprehensive blood labs, and patient-centered care, they are working to move medicine from reactive to proactive, from potentially delayed answers to earlier clarity.
Introducing the Prenuvo Medical Group*
The Prenuvo Medical Group* brings together physicians with diverse backgrounds, but a shared conviction: medicine should do more than treat disease after it appears. Our internal team of medical doctors at Prenuvo come from all different paths — some drawn by frustration with the gaps in traditional training, others by personal experiences that underscored the power of early detection.
“One of the things that struck me in medical school was how much we learned about disease and treatment, but how little we learned about the healthy state — and how to keep people there,” says Dr. Giuliana Zaccardelli, MD, MBA, and Chief of Staff for Prenuvo Clinics. “What really drew me to Prenuvo was the focus on preventative care and proactive care, and really giving patients the insights they need to keep themselves healthy,” she adds.
For another, it was about already being fundamentally aligned with Prenuvo’s mission. “Prenuvo’s whole ideal of being proactive, not reactive, was exactly the motto I had carried into my own clinic,” adds Dr. Vikash Modi, MD, Prenuvo’s Senior Medical Director of Preventative Medicine. “There’s more to healthcare than prescribing medication, getting them in front of the operating room, and there’s really a lot more to a patient than what we see in a chart,” he adds.
And for another, it was a calling that came from an experience with a childhood doctor and desire to connect with people on a deeper level. “My pediatrician at the time growing up was a coach of her kids’ team, so you’d see her around town, and I thought if I was going to do medicine, I wanted it to look like that,” says Dr. Shannon Ashley, MD, a Senior Preventive Medicine Physician at Prenuvo. “I wanted to be an integral part of my greater community which would only help my connections with my patient,” she explains.
For these Prenuvo doctors, prevention is not a buzzword. It’s the foundation of their practice and the lens through which they approach every patient conversation.
Related: What to expect during your Prenuvo experience
Why a reactive care model falls short
The doctors at Prenuvo all agree: the system may not be optimized for prevention. Too often, patients don’t engage with healthcare until symptoms appear — sometimes when it’s already too late. According to a Gallup poll, about 40 percent of Americans skip annual physicals, says Dr. Zaccardelli.
Even for those who do, sometimes access can be riddled with obstacles: long wait times, referral loops, and testing that can take months to schedule. Data may sometimes be difficult for patients to access directly, potentially making it harder for them to fully understand their results.
Prenuvo is trying to change that.
Prenuvo’s approach: Prevention in practice
Prenuvo was built to help give people timely, transparent, and actionable insights into their health. That approach combines three elements: advanced whole body imaging, comprehensive blood labs, and conversations with nurse practitioners and/or physicians who take the time to explain not just what they see, but what it means.
“We get a chance to sit down with the patient after going through the results of their scan with them,” explains Dr. Ashley. “And we’re describing not only the findings we may see, but giving them more insights into the body in general and why we care about those areas,” she adds.
That’s something many patients don’t always get and it can help them feel more in command of their health, not just waiting in fear.
The emphasis is on clarity. Patients can access their images and reports directly through the Prenuvo app, something that can be difficult to obtain in other healthcare settings. More importantly, they leave with a more comprehensive understanding of their health and next steps, grounded in prevention rather than reaction.
What you feel as a patient when care is human
While data can be helpful to patients, it’s not everything. It’s about how patients experience healthcare from the moment they walk in.
“When you come into one of our facilities, you’re met with a warm, personal journey,” says Dr. Modi. “And that human-centric approach is what drove me into medicine in the first place,” he adds.
Instead of the fast-paced, impersonal rhythm many patients may associate with some healthcare environments, Prenuvo aims to slow things down. Our physicians make it a top priority to take the necessary time to explain findings, answer questions, and try to give people a clearer understanding of their bodies.
“You could think of it like the difference between fast-food healthcare and a sit-down meal,” Dr. Modi adds. “We’re not rushing you through and handing you a report, we’re guiding you through a full experience, course by course, so you can actually digest what it means for your health,” he explains.
Patients leave not only with images and lab results, but with context and confidence. They may know more about what to watch for, what they could do next, and how to think about their health in a more proactive way.
The broader vision of where prevention may be headed
The Prenuvo Medical Group* believes that technology is rapidly advancing, and that some costs may be coming down, and more patients could start seeking out direct access to their health data.
“We’re at an inflection point,” explains Dr. Modi. “Patients want the kind of insights we’re providing, whether you call it Prenuvo or something else, the idea of a whole body MRI and a preventive conversation could become part of what people do every year,” he adds.
Looking ahead, some in the group also predict there may be opportunities to work more closely with specialists and insurers, particularly as more evidence connects early detection to improved outcomes and reduced costs. “As our data grows, Prenuvo may play a bigger role in guiding earlier clinical decisions, especially in primary care and preventive medicine,” says Dr. Patel. “And that’s where healthcare needs to go,” he adds.
In the meantime, Prenuvo will continue its work.
“I’m hopeful that in ten years, Prenuvo will still be at the forefront of giving patients unique insights into their health,” says Dr. Zaccardelli.
Why prevention must come first
For the Prenuvo Medical Group*, prevention is not an abstract idea. It is this through-line in their work, rooted in lived experiences, medical training, and the daily conversations they have with patients.
To them, prevention is a chance to shift the patient journey from fear to clarity and from uncertainty to action. Instead of waiting for symptoms, patients may leave Prenuvo with knowledge they can use like what looks healthy today, what to watch for tomorrow, and what steps can keep them ahead of illness.
This commitment to earlier answers and tracking changes over time is what binds Prenuvo’s team together. It’s a belief that technology should empower rather than overwhelm, that conversations should extend beyond charts and prescriptions, and that healthcare should feel like an ongoing partnership rather than a series of disconnected appointments and testing.
The challenges of healthcare are far from solved, but every scan, every blood draw, and every conversation is a step towards where medicine belongs: prevention first.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of whole body MRI or what to expect in your own Prenuvo experience, book a call with a member of our team.
Disclaimer: *Our exclusively-affiliated Radiology group partners are providing medical services to Prenuvo.
