HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall University says it believes it can address the challenges of limited access to specialized health care and shortages of health care professionals in the Mountain State with a new agreement.

Marshall has announced the company Synthesis Health will take up residence in the university’s IDEA District.

“This is exactly the kind of opportunity the Idea District was created to attract — companies that are solving important problems while creating a platform for even greater innovation,” Marshall President Brad Smith said in a Friday news release. “Synthesis Health brings expertise, technology and entrepreneurial energy to Huntington, with a particular opportunity to strengthen rural healthcare. Just as importantly, we expect its presence to serve as a springboard for additional companies that can build on the work being done here and create new solutions of their own.”

Synthesis Health is a global, radiology-focused company. The coal is improve diagnostic care in rural and underserved communities by combining AI, medical imaging and radiology technologies.

“Radiology plays a central role in clinical decision-making, but access to advanced imaging expertise and technology can be particularly challenging in rural communities,” Synthesis Health CEO Dr. Murray Reicher said. “Our goal is to develop practical technologies that help close those gaps while creating tools that can benefit radiology practices and health systems of all sizes.”

Synthesis will hire a staff in Huntington and locate in the IDEA District’s Med-Tech building that’s expected to be under construction by next summer.

House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw said the the decision by Synthesis Health is a step in the right direction for the state’s economy.

“For 200 years, the history, the economy of West Virginia was built on mining and when you said that word it meant coal. We want our future to also be based on mining, but we know it won’t just be on natural resources, it will be mining data, mining information and mining the knowledge economy that lets us transform the economy of West Virginia and the economy of the United States of America.”
Hanshaw said.

Huntington Mayor Patrick Farrell called Friday’s announcement a great day for Huntington.

“If we are doing anything in Huntington, we are working as a team. We are working as a partnership across the entire region trying to find all the people who want to make a difference, bringing them here, and actually doing it,” Farrell said.