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About Randall Bardwell
I was born on an Army base in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. By the age of sixteen, I had lived in two countries—France and Iran—and across eight U.S. states: Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia, California, Kansas, and Arkansas. When my father retired from the military, our family settled in Arkansas to be closer to relatives. Relocating during my junior year of high school was a significant cultural shift, but that experience fostered adaptability—a skill that has proven invaluable throughout my career.
A Career Rooted in Healthcare and Technology
My healthcare journey began unexpectedly in 1978 when my then-girlfriend (now wife) enrolled in an emergency medical technology course to learn CPR. Inspired by her, I took a night-shift job as a cardiopulmonary technician at a local hospital. On my very first night, I witnessed a respected neurologist suffer a cardiac arrest. Too new to assist, I observed as the medical team worked tirelessly but ultimately unsuccessfully to resuscitate him. That moment left a lasting impact on me, solidifying my commitment to the field of healthcare and technology.
For three years, I worked night shifts as a cardiopulmonary technician, specializing in arterial blood gas sampling, respiratory therapy treatments, and assisting Code Blue teams with Ambu-bag ventilation, ABGs, and EKGs. This hands-on clinical experience not only deepened my understanding of hospital workflows and critical care but also sparked my long-standing interest in medical technology and automation.
Early Innovations in Medical Technology
My first foray into embedded systems design was developing OxyKlok—an automated oxygen-tracking device based on the 68HC11 microcontroller. Designed to replace manual oxygen billing rounds for cardiopulmonary technicians, OxyKlok streamlined what had previously been a tedious and time-consuming process. However, with the introduction of Diagnostic-Related Groups (DRGs) in the U.S. healthcare system, incidental items like oxygen were bundled into standardized billing categories, ultimately eliminating the need to track oxygen usage separately.
Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Cardiology Data Management
I was later recruited from Marquette by a group of cardiologists to co-found a cardiology data management business. Our system collected trans-telephonic ECG data from 50 hospitals and clinics across a three-state area. Today, such a system would be considered “cloud-based,” but at the time, it was known as a “distributed computing system” and ran on a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) mainframe.
This platform received analog ECG transmissions via multiple telephone lines, digitized and interpreted them, and then transmitted the interpreted results back to the client. A first-pass ECG analysis was sent via a 300-baud teleprinter—cutting-edge at the time, though archaic by today’s standards.
Building on that success, I founded my first company, Compumedics, an OEM specializing in Holter analysis systems. By integrating aftermarket cassette decks and A/D cards, we transformed 386 tower computers into powerful Holter analysis systems, pushing the boundaries of what was possible in ambulatory ECG monitoring.
Below: Compumedics office with 386 tower based Holter system.
Marquette Electronics: Advancing Cardiology Technology
In 1992, I returned to Marquette Electronics, this time as the Product Manager for Exercise Testing (Stress Testing) Systems within the marketing department. Over the years, I expanded my role to include ECG management systems, working on innovative solutions that enhanced cardiology workflows.
One of my key contributions involved enabling clinical predictive analytics in stress testing. I collaborated with a software engineer to develop a method for capturing data from the CASE stress system via its ASCII port, initially to support research at Hartford Hospital. This early integration of automated data collection for clinical research was among the first stress testing systems used to facilitate predictive analytics.
Building on this foundation, I worked with the same engineer to transform our research tool into a fully integrated product. The result was MuseWord, a Microsoft Word formatting library designed for the Marquette MUSE cardiology management system. This tool became widely adopted as a clinical research parsing tool, streamlining the process of formatting and analyzing cardiology data for research and reporting purposes.
GE Healthcare: Enterprise Cardiology IT and High-Impact Sales
In 1998, following GE’s acquisition of Marquette Medical Systems, I transitioned to a new role as a Cardiovascular IT Consultant—essentially a sales engineer specializing in the digitization and storage of cardiology data within enterprise healthcare networks. This role allowed me to leverage both my technical expertise and industry experience to support hospitals and healthcare systems in modernizing their cardiology IT infrastructure.
One of my most significant projects involved leading the implementation of a multi-state enterprise cardiology management system with seamless integration into VA VistA within VA VISN 11 in South Florida. This complex deployment required expertise in enterprise networking, cardiology data management, and federal healthcare IT compliance.
In 2005, my contributions to GE Healthcare resulted in record-setting revenue, earning me the prestigious GE “Masters Circle” award—an honor that came with an all-expenses-paid trip to Monaco in recognition of outstanding sales performance.
Mortara Instrument: Disrupting the Industry
In 2005, I was recruited from GE Healthcare to join Mortara Instrument, a rapidly growing medical device company. At Mortara, we were a small but agile team competing against industry giants like GE, which drove us to develop innovative and disruptive technologies.
One of our most notable achievements was the development of DICOM 12-lead ECG, a breakthrough in standardized cardiology data exchange. This innovation later earned the Frost & Sullivan Award for strategic marketing, recognizing its impact on the industry. Ultimately, Mortara Instrument’s success led to its acquisition by Hillrom.
Cerner: Integrating DICOM ECG into the World’s Largest EMR
During my time at Mortara Instrument, we pioneered the development of DICOM ECG technology, which was later licensed to Cerner, the world’s largest electronic medical record (EMR) system. This integration enabled Cerner Millennium to receive 12-lead ECGs in DICOM format, linking seamlessly with Cerner’s Modality Worklist server—a significant advancement in cardiology data interoperability.
However, the adoption of DICOM ECG came with limitations. The system required the use of Mortara Instrument electrocardiographs, and while DICOM provided only 11 metadata fields, traditional XML-based ECG storage contained over 44 metadata fields. This limitation affected the clinical analytics potential of ECG data, particularly in cases requiring waveform reprocessing using signed-integer data representations.
In 2020, I authored a LinkedIn article discussing why DICOM is an inadequate storage format for ECG data in clinical analytics, highlighting its shortcomings compared to more metadata-rich alternatives.
Lumedx: Leading Cardiology Data Management Innovation
At Lumedx, I served as the director of product management, overseeing a team of five clinical product managers across multiple modalities, including PACS, electrophysiology (EP), catheterization (cath), echocardiography (echo), and system interfaces.
My most significant contribution was leading the development of a cardiology data management system. Prior to this, Lumedx had to subcontract ECG management whenever bidding on enterprise cardiology systems. To make Lumedx competitive with industry leaders like GE MUSE and Epiphany, we needed to develop an in-house ECG management system.
To accelerate development, I traveled to Pune, India, where I led a team of five engineers to build a cardiology information system from the ground up. In just five weeks, we had a proof of concept (POC), which I then brought back to the United States for further refinement. After passing FDA 510(k) clearance, the system went live in Saudi Arabia within 1.5 years, marking a major milestone for Lumedx.
Excel Medical: Advancing Patient Data Integration
I joined Excel Medical, a company founded by Richard Crane, the inventor of the UDP network broadcast scheme that became the foundation of Marquette Electronics’ “Unity” network. His groundbreaking work in patient data transmission enabled the development of a device capable of listening to a patient monitoring network and extracting real-time data from the UDP data stream.
This innovation laid the groundwork for Excel Medical’s success in clinical data integration. Years later, the company was acquired by Hillrom, largely due to the value of its “WAVE” physiological edge server interface, which played a critical role in advancing real-time patient monitoring and data interoperability.
Dassault Systems
Dassault Systèmes: Bridging R&D and Life Sciences
Dassault Systèmes is a global leader in software solutions, comprising several acquisitions, including Medidata, Biovia, and Simulia, alongside its flagship Solidworks 3D CAD platform. I worked at the intersection of research and development (R&D) and life sciences, contributing to the integration of these advanced technologies.
Dassault Systèmes’ portfolio includes:
- Medidata – Clinical research tools for trial design and data management
- Biovia – Software solutions for biopharmaceutical development
- Simulia – Formerly Abaqus, specializing in computational fluid dynamics and simulation modeling
- CATIA – Electronics and mechanical design software for engineering applications
- Netvibes – Originally a web-based search tool, now evolved into a data intelligence and AI platform
My role involved navigating the convergence of these technologies to drive innovation in life sciences, clinical research, and engineering.
