Inside Xuron’s AI-Powered Simulations That Train Doctors For Complex Patient Interactions

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Tech Topics In This Article: Nashville startups, AI, healthcare startups

Can AI help create more empathetic doctors? 

That’s what the team behind Nashville-based Xuron believes is possible with its startup platform filled with virtual humans. 

CEO Ian Nott describes Xuron as a “behavioral change suite” where healthcare professionals can go through curated, high-fidelity, AI-powered patient simulations. Practitioners use the platform to work through simulations and get direct feedback on how their responses would go over in a real-life clinical setting.

The platform does more than just introduce healthcare professionals to patient simulations. It allows healthcare providers to work on empathy, bedside manner, communication, and difficult conversations. 

Traditionally, academic medical centers use paid patient actors, known as standardized patients, that require more space and take valuable time away from supervising doctors who could be with real patients on the hospital floor. 

“For Xuron, we can take the same case and the same information they would train that actor on and build a digital version of it. We can take the same rubric that the professor would be grading this off of, and digitize that,” Nott told Hypepotamus. “The student who formerly was freaking out because they were only getting this very limited window for these hands-on training sessions…that student can now go through this as many times as they like and get that instant feedback and improve on their performance.”

Nott likens the experience to a flight simulator, since healthcare professionals can try out different “challenging, nuanced conversation” in many different ways and get additional feedback and practice. 

This is particularly impactful in the continuing education space, where practicing clinicians and healthcare providers have to earn credits each year. 

“For us, it’s about offering a more impactful training, increasing the level of patient experience, increasing the level of empathy, and ultimately, just trying to make a better life for all of us through the focus in our training scenarios.” 

The platform currently includes a variety of courses, including conversations around diabetes management, obesity management, and navigating difficult patient conversations. Xuron is available in iOS, Android, and web applications. There is a web-based version of Xuron Insights dashboard available for educators, where they can view detailed analysis and insights into their cohorts.

Inside Xuron 

In discussing the role of AI in healthcare, Nott emphasized the need for a a structured and reliable approach rather than an all-encompassing, general-purpose use of the technology. 

“The way we’re using AI is a very regimented, focused application,” he added, highlighting the repeatable nature of their virtual human technology. 

Unlike many other common AI systems designed as all-knowing expert oracles making broad recommendations, their platform operates “on rails”, meaning it is a controlled, predictable environment where AI enhances user experience in a meaningful way. Each ten-to-fifteen-minute simulation is backed by extensive data, ensuring that the experience is contextualized and consistent.

“It is a lot of fun to be able to use AI in such a human way,” Nott added. 

Building Tech For Healthcare Pros 

Nott, a Nashville native, studied industrial and product design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) before moving into the entrepreneurial space and building in the extended reality collaboration space. In 2014 he started building Aetho, a Nashville-based 3D collaboration platform. While they worked with clients across multiple industries, they kept getting new projects related to the healthcare space. 

What was missing, particularly in the continuing medical education space, was “high fidelity training scenarios” for healthcare practitioners that were cost effective at scale. 

Xuron, which launched last summer, brought on Boris Rozenfeld MD as the team’s Director of Medical Education. Rozenfeld brings a decade of experience in the continuing medical education space, and was drawn to Xuron because of the potential he saw in the technology.

Xuron’s core team has been working together for 11 years and all engineering is done in-house.

Bringing on Funding  

Last month, Xuron announced local Nashville investor 3LS Ventures joined its cap table. 

The fund, which invests in behavioral health solutions, says an investment in Xuron is about “ensuring better outcomes for patients nationwide,” according to a press release. 

“Xuron represents the type of company we look to support—innovative, impactful, and aligned with our mission to advance healthcare. This investment not only enhances our portfolio but also reinforces our commitment to partnering with companies that deliver real solutions for improving lives.” – Eric Strickland, CEO of 3LS

Nott added that the goal is to build Xuron into a “fully self service SaaS platform.” 

With a fresh round of funding, Nott, Rozenfeld, and the Xuron team are focused on building something that is not just a training platform, but ultimately something that fundamentally improves patient care.

Nott compares building startups to a form of alchemy, where mixing the right ingredients with a bit of magic can create something valuable. 

“If you get it right, you’re not just building a product…you’re improving lives at scale. And that’s one of the hardest but most rewarding things you can do,” he added.