About Us
Our Mission
At Avident Health, we seek to remove communication barriers, reduce complexity, and collapse specialty silos in cancer care. We believe that in order to succeed, patients and their support team — family, friends, and caregivers — play a pivotal role in treatment and must remain engaged and educated throughout the process.
Our Leadership Team
The Avident Health Leadership Team Bringing various competencies from diverse fields together to create successful solutions is unique for successful organizations. Avident’s team includes experience in oncology, nursing and navigation, software technology, project management and business. Our research partners include expertise in psychology, oncology, usability, and quality management.
Dr. Maen Farha
Founder and CEO
MD, FACS — Board-Certified Breast Surgeon
Dr. Maen Farha is the medical director of the MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital Breast Center and a faculty member in the Department of Surgery. Board certified in surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Farha has been diagnosing and managing malignant and benign breast disease for more than 20 years.
Patrick Farha
Chief Operating Officer
Patrick Farha is a seasoned professional in strategic planning, project management, business systems analysis, and IT implementation in health care. He has led implementations of clinical tools across health systems of all sizes and is experienced in working with stakeholders to define and develop new products.
Tan Lu
Chief Product Officer
Tan Lu has spent more than 20 years building enterprise-grade IT solutions with a focus on security and mobile technologies. As Chief Product Officer, he is responsible for the continued architecture and enhancement of the Avident Health platform.
Linda Wieczynski
Clinical Coordinator
Linda Wieczynski brings 30+ years of RN experience, primarily in women’s health, cancer navigation, and cancer screening. She is an experienced business development lead with 20+ years in grant writing, grant management, quality improvement, and performance optimization.
Boz Borowiecki
Management Analyst
Boz Borowiecki brings 25+ years of for-profit and non-profit health care leadership, with deep expertise in operations and project management. He has led major organ and tissue donation information system implementations and has supported organizations including Baxter, Becton Dickinson, and the Transplant Resource Center of Maryland.
Achievements
Avident Health's work is built on a foundation of rigorous research, meaningful collaborations, and recognized outcomes across the oncology and digital health communities.
Awarded NIH NCI SBIR Phase I contract (75N91020C00033) funding human-centered oncology navigation research
Research supported by a Genentech grant for human factors needs assessment in breast cancer care
Research outcomes presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, HFES International Symposium 2022, and AONN Annual Conference 2022
Peer-reviewed publication in PEC Innovation (Elsevier, 2023) on patient navigator barriers and mHealth design
96% patient adoption rate in a pilot study of breast cancer patients from a medically underserved population (MedStar, 2023)
Research collaborators include Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, MedStar Health Research Institute, and the University of Illinois at Chicago
Research
NIH NCI SBIR Phase I funded research (contract 75N91020C00033): human-centered design and needs assessment for oncology patient navigation
Peer-reviewed publication: "An exploration of facilitators and barriers to patient navigator core functions with breast cancer patients" — PEC Innovation, Elsevier (2023)
ASCO 2023 Annual Meeting abstract: "Implementation of a secure mobile application to improve care of patients with breast cancer" — 96% adoption rate among elderly, largely Black patients from a medically underserved area
Usability study of MyNavigator with clinical patient navigators: above-average System Usability Scale score (mean 73.21 out of 100)
Avident Health’s MyNavigator Platform is grounded in rigorous, human-centered research conducted with leading academic medical centers. The program began with a comprehensive needs assessment of real-world barriers faced by patient navigators, oncology providers, and breast cancer patients, directly informing the platform’s design.
This foundational work, supported by an NIH NCI SBIR Phase I contract, was carried out in collaboration with Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, MedStar Health Research Institute, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Findings were published in PEC Innovation (Elsevier, 2023), representing one of the first applications of human-centered design and sociotechnical systems frameworks to patient navigation in breast cancer care.
A subsequent pilot study at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital demonstrated strong real-world feasibility and adoption: 25 of 26 consecutive newly diagnosed breast cancer patients consented to use the app, and 96% reported it was easy to download and use. This is particularly notable given the largely elderly, predominantly Black, medically underserved population. Results were presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (J Clin Oncol 41, 2023; abstr e18701).
Usability testing with clinical patient navigators yielded a System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 73.21, exceeding the industry benchmark of 68 and confirming that MyNavigator effectively supports the practical needs of frontline healthcare workers.
Patents
Utility Patent 1
US Patent No. 11,302,449 B2 — Method and System for Patient Treatment Management Using Interactive Digital Best Practice Treatment Guidelines (Issued April 12, 2022; Inventors: Maen J. Farha & Kamel Jabbour)
Utility Patent 2
Utility patent allowance covering algorithmic decision-making for individualized patient adherence management
Utility Patent 3
Utility patent allowance covering the use of blockchain technology for data integrity in clinical research
Avident Health’s intellectual property portfolio underpins the innovative technology behind the MyNavigator Platform, protecting novel, data-driven approaches to personalized patient treatment management.
US Patent No. 11,302,449 B2 — Method and System for Patient Treatment Management Using Interactive Digital Best Practice Treatment Guidelines — issued April 12, 2022 to inventors Maen J. Farha and Kamel Jabbour, covers a comprehensive process for patient treatment management. The patented system:
- Enables adherence to clinical guidelines and best practices
- Automatically recommends individualized treatment plans
- Monitors patients in real time across all stages of care
- Consolidates and displays financial, user, and administrative information
This patent forms the technical backbone of the MyNavigator Platform, supporting end-to-end, guideline-driven care management.
In addition, Avident Health holds patent allowances for two utility patents that extend the platform’s capabilities:
- Algorithmic decision-making for individualized patient adherence management – powering intelligent, personalized interventions that improve how patients follow prescribed care plans.
- Use of blockchain technology to ensure data integrity in clinical research environments – providing a secure, tamper-evident framework for managing and validating clinical data.
Together, these granted and allowed patents enable Avident Health to deliver personalized, secure, and evidence-based care at scale, while safeguarding the core innovations that differentiate the MyNavigator Platform.