UAlbany Startup Aims to Improve Neurosurgery Safety

Peak Neurophysiology Group, LLC is a Neuromonitoring Service Provider Based in Troy, N.Y.

Michael Riley is the founder and CEO of Peak Neuro Group.

ALBANY, N.Y. (August 14, 2018) – Peak Neurophysiology Group, LLC, a startup based in Troy, N.Y., will offer hospitals in the Capital Region what it says is a safer way to perform neurosurgical procedures.
The company provides high-caliber clinicians usinge intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) equipment to assess a patient’s nervous system during high-risk procedures and to provide guidance to the surgical team.

Having an experienced clinician in the operating room could be the difference between a successful surgical outcome and permanent neurological injury to the patient, according to Michael Riley, founder and CEO of Peak Neuro Group.

“When you speak with surgeons who are doing these advanced cases, most prefer expert clinicians in their operating room that can reduce the occurrence of false-positive and false-negative results,” said Riley, who grew up in Schenectady, N.Y. “Unfortunately, a lot of surgeons have only ever had access to a technologist to operate the IONM machine and not a fellowship-trained, professional-level clinician.”

Peak Neuro Group requires its clinicians to hold advanced degrees in neuroscience or in a related field, as well as successful completion of a one-year fellowship in clinical neurophysiology. The demanding fellowship program is designed and administered by Peak’s senior neurophysiologists, said Riley, who earned a master’s in neurobiology and behavior from Cornell University.

The startup is a partner of Innovate 518 and is a UAlbany Innovation Center company.

Riley said the resources that he and Chief Operating Officer Elizabeth Meliski received from UAlbany were instrumental in getting their business off the ground.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of resources available through UAlbany for a young company like ours,” said Riley, who founded Peak Neuro Group in January 2018. “It was impressive to see the numerous efforts and initiatives that have been implemented to help startups in the Capital Region thrive.”

Long-term goals for Peak Neuro Group are to influence state and federal policy to require stricter education and training requirements, including licensure for IONM clinicians, Riley said, and to collaborate with area colleges and universities to offer graduate-level programs in IONM.

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