Mohamed Sheta
Cofounder & CEO, AiZtech
Dr. Allan Slomovic
Chair of Cornea Research, University of Toronto
A Canadian-led platform is exploring how facial biosignals and AI could support early detection for consumers and healthcare systems.
Canada’s healthcare system continues to face deepening pressure, with wait times, staffing shortages, and rising chronic-disease risk shaping the daily experience of patients and clinicians alike. These realities have accelerated interest in preventative tools that help individuals understand potential health concerns earlier and more easily. One of the emerging technologies gaining traction is iSelfie, a Canadian-developed platform that analyzes facial biosignals through a smartphone scan to provide early indicators related to heart health, stress, energy and respiratory illness.
For founder and CEO Mohamed Sheta, the origins of the technology trace back to the early pandemic. “Almost every family had lost someone,” he says. “We wanted to understand whether the devices we all carry — our phones — could help identify risks earlier.” Early on, the idea of detecting physiological patterns through a selfi e was unconventional, and Sheta recalls fielding skepticism from colleagues and researchers. “Any breakthrough technology looks impossible until the data proves otherwise,” he says.
The team moved ahead with clinical validation in late 2021 through a study at the University of Toronto, conducted at Kensington Eye Institute on more than 500 participants. The research compared iSelfie’s readings with FDA-approved antigen and PCR tests. “When I was involved in this work during COVID, the phone-based screening performed as accurately — and in some cases more accurately — than the rapid antigen test,” says Dr. Allan Slomovic, one of the study’s clinical leads. “It makes the technology readily accessible. You can check your blood pressure, your pulse, your oxygen saturation. It really sits at the junction of AI and healthcare.”
While the platform first gained attention for respiratory illness detection, Sheta notes that the same underlying approach revealed much broader potential – especially in cardiovascular monitoring. “The eyes and the area around the eyes are incredibly rich in microvascular information,” he explains. “Changes in the tiny vessels, colour distribution, and subtle pulsation patterns can help us infer things about oxygenation, stress load, and heart function. When we talk about ‘heart age,’ it’s really about analyzing signals your face has been giving off all along.”
Subsequent studies at the University of Miami and 14 U.S. research sites validated the technology across Delta, Omicron and additional subvariants. A two-year study with the KSA’s National Heart Centre and SEHA Virtual Hospital further reinforced its applicability in broader health screening. “The results were announced by the Ministry of Health,” Sheta notes. “iSelfie delivered similar accuracy to standard-ofcare medical devices.”
These findings have real implications for consumers, particularly those living with chronic conditions or at risk of hypertension — an issue Sheta calls “the world’s secret killer.” He points out that three billion people globally live with high blood pressure, half of them unaware. “People can see signs of aging on their faces,” he says. “What they can’t see is accelerated aging of the heart.”
A consumer-facing version, iSelfie, will soon allow users to track indicators such as “heart age,” stress, oxygenation, and blood pressure from a simple smartphone scan. “All you need is your device and 30 seconds,” Sheta says. “Your eyes tell a story — our job is to decode it responsibly.”
At the healthcare-systems level, iSelfie’s performance during large-scale deployments has been closely watched. During the Hajj pilgrimage, three million visitors were monitored with support from iSelfi e’s digital nurse-intake solution.
At Saudi hospitals and clinics, nurse intake times dropped from seven minutes to two, with annualized savings estimated at $5.5 million in one cluster. “It’s one example of how AI can relieve pressure on frontline staff ,” Sheta says. Looking ahead, Sheta believes Canada has the capacity to lead globally in AI-enabled health innovation — if it chooses to. “Technology alone won’t transform healthcare,” he says. “What will transform it is the courage to use it.”
Visit iSelfie.ai to sign up and see how early insights can support your long-term health journey.
