Dr. Bart Demaerschalk

He is Atria’s Chief Digital Health Officer and Director of Vascular Brain Health and previously spent 25 years at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Demaerschalk joined the Mayo Clinic staff in 2001, serving as a Professor in the Department of Neurology, Associate Chair of the Neurology Department, Chair of the Cerebrovascular Diseases Division, Founding Director of Telestroke, and Medical Director of Video Telemedicine, Digital Health Research, and of Mayo Clinic’s Enterprise Telestroke Network, which delivers stroke care to medically underserved and rural communities.

Dr. Demaerschalk first discovered a love for medicine studying cell and molecular biology as an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia, where he also earned his MD. During medical school, he was drawn to neuroscience because the department allowed him to work simultaneously with research scientists and clinical neurologists from early in his training. “One of my end goals was to have a deeper understanding of what it means to be a human being,” Dr. Demaerschalk recalls, “and what better organ to study for that than the brain?”

He then completed his residency in neurology and a vascular neurology fellowship at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Demaerschalk also received a degree in clinical epidemiology, biostatistics, and health research methodology from McMaster University and received postgraduate instruction in health professional education at University of Toronto.

In addition to his dedication to advancing the treatment of neurological diseases, Dr. Demaerschalk loves to teach. Originally inspired by watching his father, a university professor, interact with students, Dr. Demaerschalk has carried this desire to help others understand complex material through all parts of his career—teaching medical trainees, patients, and now peers as a leader in health care.

“To be an effective clinician and an effective clinical leader you must be a good teacher,” Dr. Demaerschalk says. He believes education is bidirectional, and that learning from other clinicians and listening to patients are just as important skills as instructing. “If a doctor is an excellent communicator and sets up a calm learning environment, then patients are much more likely to understand information being shared with them and to follow the treatment recommendations,” he says.

This emphasis on communication helped Dr. Demaerschalk as he scaled telemedicine programs around the country. He conducted early clinical trials that demonstrated the safety, efficacy, and reliability of using telemedicine to treat patients with stroke. He also conducted the first cost-effectiveness analysis of telehealth for stroke in the United States, leading to the adoption of these methods as a global standard of care. Once that was validated, he helped develop telemedicine for other acute care specialties, including critical care, emergency medicine, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and neonatology. By the time the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, Dr. Demaerschalk was directing all video telemedicine services across all medical and surgical disciplines for the whole Mayo Clinic system.

Now at Atria, Dr. Demaerschalk is bringing the lessons he learned throughout his career to focus on preventive medicine and the ways in which digital tools can enhance this care. “I have spent my career assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients with quite advanced vascular disease of the brain,” he says. “There is so much evidence to be translated into clinical practice that can prevent or reduce cerebrovascular disease and its affliction on people. This is a unique time and opportunity.”

With digital health, virtual care, remote monitoring, advanced care at home, wearables and nearables, and artificial intelligence in telemedicine, Dr. Demaerschalk believes digital data can be transformed into decisive action plans that positively impact patient health outcomes.

Dr. Demaerschalk continues to conduct research and is co-Principal Investigator of the NIH-NICHD funded TELENEO Trial, which will evaluate the effect of telemedicine on preventing neonatal mortality and morbidity. He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Distinguished Mayo Educator, the Distinguished Mayo Clinician, and the Mayo Clinic Investigator of the Year awards.

Outside of work, Dr. Demaerschalk is an endurance runner, and enjoys trail running, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, drawing comic book art, reading science fiction, and spending time with his wife, Yvette, and their children.