Meet Cognimark: An AI-Powered Neurology Copilot for Early Detection of Dementia
StartUp Health community member Andrew Lu, CEO & Co-founder of Cognimark, is building an AI-powered neurology copilot to help physicians detect dementia earlier, ease documentation burdens, and give families the answers they need sooner.
The Challenge
Every year, millions of families face the devastating uncertainty of dementia. By the time symptoms are noticeable enough to raise concern, the disease is often well advanced. For most patients, the journey begins too late, only after family members flag memory lapses or confusion. Even then, primary care physicians (PCPs), the first line of defense, face enormous barriers. They lack the time, tools, and incentives to navigate the maze of testing, referrals, and documentation needed to identify cognitive decline early.
“Even in families like mine, with doctors at the table, we caught it late,” says StartUp Health community member Andrew Lu, CEO & Co-founder of Cognimark. His grandmother, now in hospice with late-stage Alzheimer’s, inspired him to tackle this critical gap. “The system isn’t built for proactive brain health. Physicians are overworked, patients are scared, and families are left searching for answers.”
Cognimark was founded to change that trajectory, giving patients, families, and clinicians a smarter, faster, and earlier path to detection and care.
Origin Story
Lu’s path to healthcare innovation began far from the clinic. After studying economics and computer science at MIT, he joined McKinsey & Company with a focus on ESG consulting. “I wanted to build a career around impact,” he recalls. “But I quickly realized that real-world change wasn’t happening through corporate ESG initiatives. It was happening in healthcare.”
Specializing in Medicare and Medicare Advantage, Lu saw firsthand the challenges of elder care, where delayed detection, fragmented systems, and overburdened clinicians too often collide. That experience, combined with his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, made the problem painfully personal.
“It’s a journey that shakes entire families,” Lu says. “When you experience that confusion and fear firsthand, you realize how desperately we need better tools for early intervention.”
At MIT Sloan, Lu met Vijaya Kolachalama, PhD, of Boston University, whose lab had developed groundbreaking AI capable of analyzing multiple medical data sources including EHRs, imaging, lab results, and cognitive tests to generate neurology reports rivaling those of expert clinicians. Together, they envisioned a company that could turn this research into a real-world solution. Over brainstorming sessions at a local Korean fried chicken shop, Cognimark was born.
Under the Hood
Cognimark is an AI-powered neurology copilot built to work where clinicians already are, inside the electronic health record (EHR). Once installed, it quietly scans data from a patient’s chart to identify subtle early indicators of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia.
Think of it as a super-smart helper for doctors. It reviews patient data such as blood tests, imaging, medical history, and cognitive results, and highlights early signs of concern. It then guides clinicians step-by-step, suggesting which tests to order, which specialists to refer, and how to document care plans and CPT codes automatically.
For example, in a Rhode Island pilot site, Cognimark combs through records for 35,000 patients, flagging those most at risk. When a flagged patient visits, the doctor opens the embedded Cognimark app in the EHR and sees a clear, structured report showing probability scores for MCI or dementia, with supporting data. The app suggests next steps from cognitive testing to blood biomarkers to clinical trials and drafts documentation for the physician to review and approve.
The result is earlier detection, less administrative burden, and more time for doctors to focus on patients rather than paperwork.
Cognimark’s proprietary machine learning model, developed over years of research and millions of dollars in funding at BU and MIT, delivers neurologist-level insights in seconds. Its integration-first approach means clinicians can adopt it without disrupting workflows.
What’s Next
Cognimark is already live across multiple sites and EHR platforms, including Athena and eClinicalWorks, supporting both primary care practices and clinical trial recruitment. The company is now preparing to launch large-scale pilots with major health systems and payors to validate how its platform can improve early dementia detection, streamline workflows, and generate measurable cost savings.
“Our next milestone is to prove, at scale, that proactive brain health can be built into every primary care visit,” Lu says. “We want to make early detection standard, not exceptional.”
In the coming year, Cognimark plans to expand its clinical partnerships, grow its dataset beyond 100,000 patients, and publish early results demonstrating improved outcomes and physician efficiency. Within three years, Lu envisions Cognimark as a trusted neurology co-pilot embedded across health systems nationwide, supporting millions of patients and clinicians.
For Lu, success isn’t just about software; it’s about hope. “When we succeed, families won’t live in fear of the unknown. Doctors will have the tools they need to act early. And dementia will no longer mean months of confusion, but years of guided care, connection, and dignity.”
We’re thrilled to welcome Andrew Lu, Vijaya Kolachalama, PhD, and the Cognimark team to the StartUp Health community as they advance their mission to make proactive brain health a standard part of care.
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Published: Dec 2, 2025
Produced by Nicole Kinsey
