Decoding Delirium and Shaping Cognitive Longevity with Dr. Divya Chander, CEO of Lucidify

Delirium is a deadly, costly, and underdiagnosed syndrome affecting millions of elderly patients, but Dr. Divya Chander, co-founder of Lucidify, is determined to change that. Delirium affects 70-80% of ICU patients over 65, killing 3x as many and accelerating dementia by up to 20 years. 

 

With a background as a physician, neuroscientist, and futurist, Dr. Chander is tackling one of the most critical areas in neuroscience—continuous brain monitoring to detect delirium early and prevent the accelerated onset of dementia.

 

With her team at Lucidify, she’s on a mission to save lives, reduce healthcare costs, and prevent dementia from hitting patients 20 years too soon

 

In this episode, we dive into:

 

• How Lucidify is reducing ICU stays by 6 days using continuous brain monitoring.
• Why untreated delirium costs the U.S. healthcare system $245B annually.
• The key to getting AI-powered health tech through the FDA.

 

What we discussed 

 

(00:32) Who is Dr. Divya Chander?

(02:58) What is consciousness in neuroscience ?

(06:06) Can the ICU accelerate dementia?

(10:30) Why early detection changes everything

(13:54) Most precise delirium detection algorithm (clinical trial)

(14:58) Why they’re involving the FDA

(16:09) How they detect delirium 

(19:49) The future of brain longevity tech

(22:12) Lucidify’s competitive edge

(24:11) How a Stanford mentor changed the course of Dr. Chander's life. 

(28:18) Not selling data to big pharma, losing money (previous startup)

(29:42) Why you shouldn’t collect too much data

(31:34) Why being a generalist has made Lucidify what it is. 

(34:22) Connect with Divya Chandar

Divya Chander's Book recommendation: Goddesses in Every Woman by Jean Shinoda Bolen. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/divyachander

Website: https://www.divyachander.com/