At the center of what we do is a simple idea: that seeing inside the body could change what people believe is possible for their long-term health. As whole body MRI has become more widely adopted, a new need has emerged. Patients are no longer just seeking individual tests. They are looking for coordinated health insights and a whole body approach that brings imaging and blood work together, reduces fragmentation, and helps them understand what their health data actually means over time.
Meeting those expectations has Prenuvo evolving to add more services and levels of care.
From the viewpoint inside clinical operations, Prenuvo’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Giuliana Zaccardelli, M.D., has helped develop this shift in real time.
This interview was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Prenuvo: Could you tell us who you are and what you do at Prenuvo?
Dr. Giuliana Zaccardelli, M.D.: My name is Dr. Giuliana Zaccardelli and I’m Chief of Staff to the Chief Medical Officer at Prenuvo.
Prenuvo: When you think about the future of proactive healthcare, what do you think patients are really asking for?
Dr. Zaccardelli: I think that patients are asking for deeper insights into their health than they've been able to have before so that they can understand their health and make the best choices for themselves.
Prenuvo: Do you have an example of something specific?
Dr. Zaccardelli: Yes. You can not only screen for things like cancer, but you can also see how your body's aging, your spine health, and more. You can look at your liver and see how that's doing, your body composition, so it really gives you that full picture of your health in a data-driven way.
Prenuvo: What made it clear to you and the team that we needed to go beyond just imaging?
Dr. Zaccardelli: Imaging is a very rich set of data that gives you a picture and a snapshot of what's going on inside your body. When you combine imaging with other data like blood labs, you can take what you're seeing visually and look at the metabolic processes and the other data that you get from labs, and get that full health picture in a way that you can't get with either one alone.
Prenuvo: Is there anything we were hearing from patients that supports what you just said?
Dr. Zaccardelli: Our Enhanced Screening was really the first time at Prenvo where we did something beyond imaging, and that was where we took our traditional Whole Body Scan, we added on AI analysis of your body composition and your brain, and then we also added on blood labs. And what we found from patients is that that amount of information together gave them insights that they had never had before.
Prenuvo: How has that been going?
Dr. Zaccardelli: We got a lot of positive feedback on Enhanced Screening, and that's really what has driven us to incorporate blood labs into more types of scans to expand our offerings and keep adding on those different levels of insights. We have been able to give patients more direction and more targeted ways that they could improve their health. I also talked to some of the doctors that we scanned in our educational scan program and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. They were saying that the amount of insights that they got was some of the most useful clinical information that they had ever had.
Prenuvo: Speaking of doctors, what are you hearing they wish they had?
Dr. Zaccardelli: There's a growing trend in healthcare where physicians are recognizing that the way we treat things today is very much diagnosing disease and then treating that disease. We're not really set up in our traditional healthcare system to understand what's going on in a person's body to keep them healthy and keep them from getting to that state of disease, and so what I'm seeing is more and more physicians being interested in how do we intervene earlier, how do we keep patients healthier rather than just wait-and-see them down the road once something has already happened? And part of what we're able to do at Prenuvo is understand how someone's aging or how their body is changing over time, and that data is so powerful for physicians because then they can take that and help their patients make better decisions.
Prenuvo: What sort of new options are becoming (or will become) available to patients?
Dr. Zaccardelli: Patients are going to be able to choose from more options and pick what's best for them. We'll have different types of scans that we offer and those can be combined with blood labs, and there's going to be a lot of flexibility for patients to say, ‘what is right for me, what do I need to understand about myself, what do I want to understand about myself,’ and then choose the right combination that we have at Prenuvo to fit what they're looking for.
Prenuvo: Why is establishing a baseline and tracking trends so important?
Dr. Zaccardelli: When you think about prevention, you need to understand where you are today to figure out how you can best set yourself up for success in the future. If you have the data of where you are right now, you can see how that compares to other people in your age group and how that compares to where you want to be. Then, you can decide what changes to make and track that and monitor it over time to see how you're doing.
Prenuvo: How are you seeing this be helpful for patients?
Dr. Zaccardelli: A good example of this is with fatty liver disease. A lot of people don't have any
symptoms. They might not have any lab abnormalities, but on imaging we can see fatty liver disease. It's one of the most common, if not the most common finding that we see at Prenuvo. Patients can then make interventions and maybe change their lifestyle, change how they're eating, alcohol, exercise- and come back in a year and we can see: did that fatty liver disease get better? Do they have less evidence of it on MRI, or did it not change? And then they can continue to make those improvements and targeted changes to really affect what's important to them.
Prenuvo: What are the most common things patients feel confused or anxious about?
Dr. Zaccardelli: One of the great things about Prenuvo is you get so much data about yourself, but for patients, that can maybe be overwhelming or hard to interpret, so everyone who comes to Prenuvo has the opportunity to consult with a healthcare provider after their scan. That's a very important part of the process because the provider will walk you through your findings.
Prenuvo: What would you say to an anxious patient?
Dr. Zaccardelli: You’re not alone. Everyone at Prenuvo, throughout your journey, is there
to support you. That starts with the front desk staff when you come into our clinic, to the technologist who guides you through the MRI, to the radiologist who's interpreting it, and then the healthcare provider who's giving you that information and helping you understand it. We're here to support you throughout that journey.
Prenuvo: Is that why there’s also Prenuvo memberships available?
Dr. Zaccardelli: Yes, two of the three memberships have a six-month check-in, so that includes lab work and then another consult at six months, so you can check back with a provider, see how you're doing and have that continuity of care throughout the year. It’s really an on-going relationship with the patient and seeing how they're doing over time.
Prenuvo: As a rapidly growing health tech company, how do you ensure consistency and quality across teams when the care model is expanding?
Dr. Zaccardelli: One of the unique things about Prenuvo is that we are set up to ensure consistency and high-quality, and that starts with the fact that we own and operate all of our clinics. The technologists who are doing the scans are doing whole body MRI scans all day, every day, and they’re trained on how to get these images so that the quality is consistent and excellent every time. With our radiologists, we have our own team of exclusively-affiliated radiologists who are reading these scans and go through rigorous training and quality assurance processes to make sure that the report that you're getting is as accurate as possible. So, from owning and operating our own clinics to having technologists who do this all day, every day, to our own exclusively-affiliated radiologists, and the consult experience at the very end.
Prenuvo: What do you hope clinicians understand about our approach as it [the Prenuvo care model] evolves?
Dr. Zaccardelli: One of the things that most drew me to Prenuvo was how focused we are on clinical excellence and clinical quality, and I want other providers to experience that and understand that for themselves.
To learn more about Prenuvo or any of our services, book a call with a member of our Patient Services Team.
