April 2, 2020

Dr. George Astrakianakis, international pandemic infectious disease policy expert, co-chair of a national pandemic infectious disease policy plan, and former Director of Disease Prevention of the Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare, has joined CastleBranch to help in the fight against COVID-19.

Dr. Astrakianakis is one of the world’s leading experts in occupational health and infectious disease control. With a PhD in Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, he has been (or has worked as) an Affiliated Investigator with the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, the Fraser Health Authority—Evaluation and Research organization, and an Associate Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. He currently serves as a committee member on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Infections in Health Care Guideline Revision Working Group for the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Provincial Infection Control Network on their Member Guidelines Steering Committee.

Dr. Astrakianakis will be working hand-in-hand with CastleBranch on the company’s infectious disease screening application, CB COVID-19 Compliance, which is being offered at no cost to healthcare education programs, students, and associated healthcare programs to help them slow the spread of COVID-19. It will also be offered to businesses, municipalities and other employers to ensure their staff can get back to work safely, and get ready for the next wave of COVID-19.

“Dr. Astrakianakis has been a central figure in pandemic planning and preparedness for government and healthcare organizations,” said Brett Martin, CEO of CastleBranch. “He will play a vital role in helping us strengthen our CB COVID-19 Compliance application for millions of students, schools, hospitals and businesses. His expertise in the field of infectious disease control is unparalleled, and his voice is crucial as we look for ways to help flatten the curve and mitigate risk.”

CB COVID-19 Compliance enables organizations to screen for common COVID-19 symptoms, including a fever. Participants are asked to provide twice-daily temperature readouts for 14 days prior to returning to a hospital, school or work. It also gathers information on an individual’s travel and exposure to COVID-19, as well as provides educational training on preventing the spread of infectious diseases. All in, this creates a technological airlock around an individual to ensure they’re healthy and safe before they return.

CB COVID-19 Compliance is built upon CastleBranch’s existing enterprise-level solution, CB Bridges™, which spent six years in development, four years in the market, and has the proven ability to support millions of users. The platform is designed to remain compliant with all relevant regulations governing the collection and usage of private data, including FERPA, FCRA, CCPA and more.

“COVID-19 has closed our schools, or businesses and our cities, but it won’t keep us closed for long. After the storm has passed, we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to help people get back to work, back to school, and prepared for a second season,” said Martin.