New Healthcare Researcher Uses 'Virtual Patients'

New Jersey-based life science analytics and advisory firm KMK Consulting, Inc. has launched an independent subsidiary company, InTask, which will provide simulation platforms for use in healthcare market research. The first such tool, InTaskT, is available now and is targeted at healthcare professionals.

Greg Chu, former head of KMK Market Research, led development of the new technology and becomes COO of the new company. Chu has more than 20 years' experience in market research and business analytics, from both client and agency sides, including heading up market research and analytics departments at Merck & Co., Forest Labs, Novartis, Synovate Healthcare and Ipsos Healthcare.

Chu's previous role will be filled by Subhra Ghosh, who joins the company as Head of Market Research with more than 25 years' healthcare MR experience. She spent seventeen of these at Synovate / Ipsos, rising to the role of Chief Client Director by January 2012, and leaving two years later to work at Jannsen Pharmaceuticals and then Nielsen.

The new platform provides physicians with a virtual patient and researchers then observe how they are diagnosed and treated, giving a full picture of the decision-making process - the firm says this overcomes some of the problems associated with more traditional approaches where physicians are asked directly what they do.

KMK President Michael Karbachinskiy says InTask is 'a unique simulation software platform that promises better insights into physician decision-making in many market research applications - both quantitative and qualitative'. He adds: 'By making the InTask simulation platform available to all healthcare market research agencies through a software as a service business model, we hope to speed its adoption as a preferred survey technology in healthcare market research and beyond'.

Web sites: www.kmkconsultinginc.com and www.intask.com .