Gainesville, FL is not where most people expect a serious fight over the future of neurological diagnostics to break out. It’s quiet, academic, humid. Which makes it the perfect place for Neuropacs...
Gainesville, FL is not where most people expect a serious fight over the future of neurological diagnostics to break out. It’s quiet, academic, humid. Which makes it the perfect place for Neuropacs to do something loud. On Jan 20, 2026, the AI-driven neuro diagnostics company closed a seed round exceeding $1M, led by Neuro Investment Group, LLC, chaired by Richard A. Staab. Not a splashy Silicon Valley spectacle. More like a pressure door sealing shut before a deep dive.
Neuropacs was founded in 2021, born from Univ of Florida research that didn’t stay politely in the lab. David Vaillancourt, PhD, Founder & CSO, has been continuously funded by NIH since 1999. Angelos Barmpoutis, PhD, Founder, CTO & CISO, has spent years turning medical imaging into something machines can actually read with nuance. Together they built a system trained on 15+ years of data, 1,000+ unique datasets, and thousands of MRI scans that refuse to lie.
The problem they went after is uncomfortable. Up to 45% of patients clinically diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease are later found to have something else entirely. That’s not a rounding error. That’s lives pointed down the wrong road. Neuropacs built AI-powered, imaging-enabled software to differentiate Parkinson’s disease, multiple system atrophy, and progressive supranuclear palsy using a single non-invasive diffusion MRI scan. No radiotracers. No new hardware. Just clarity where there was fog.
The receipts showed up in March 2025 in JAMA Neurology. A prospective multicenter study across 21 movement-disorder centers evaluated 249 patients. The tech delivered 96% accuracy differentiating Parkinson’s from atypical parkinsonism, 98% accuracy separating MSA and PSP, and a 93.9% autopsy confirmation rate. That’s not marketing. That’s hallway-argument data.
Martin Handfield, PhD, President & CEO since Nov 2023, knows how rare that is. After decades in biotech, including 14 years as CSO at Oragenics, he stepped in with the discipline of someone who’s seen good science fail without execution. Dwight L. Hulse, MBA, MPA, CPA, joined as CFO to keep the math honest as the company prepares for commercialization and FDA De Novo clearance.
Staab didn’t back this because it sounds futuristic. He backed it because misdiagnosis is personal, accuracy changes outcomes, and this platform already works inside existing clinical infrastructure. One MRI. 6–12 minutes. Cloud-delivered. Built for neurologists and for trials tired of enrolling the wrong patients.
Neuropacs is still small, under 25 people, operating from one address in Gainesville. But the signal is clear. When AI stops guessing and starts measuring, the standard of care shifts quietly, then all at once.