Affidea’s neuraCare Centre of Excellence in Athens is a new model for integrated neurology care, offering advanced diagnostics, world-class physicians, targeted therapies, digital monitoring, and embedded clinical trials in one coordinated pathway. The centre aims to cut time to diagnosis, improve consistency, and widen access to innovation. Affidea plans to scale this model across Europe through replicable pathways, interoperable data, and ready-to-activate research capability.
Integrated Neurology Care Model
The pathway integrates prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up, with advanced imaging including 3T MRI, PET/CT, and SPECT/CT on one site. Subspecialist clinics use unified protocols with multidisciplinary team review. Clinical trials are embedded, with real-world data captured, and governance supports a scalable European model with outcome metrics.
Addressing the Rise of Neurological Conditions
Neurological conditions are rising across Europe, placing strain on people and systems alike. Patients often face long waits, fragmented pathways, and the stress of handling multiple providers. Affidea’s new neuraCare Centre of Excellence offers a different route, with one place where advanced diagnostics, specialist clinics, targeted therapies, digital follow-up, and access to clinical research come together in a single, coordinated journey.
The aim is straightforward – quicker answers, more consistent care, and a better experience for patients and families, with clearer lines of sight for referrers and payers. Many neurology services still work in silos, with patients seeing several teams in different locations, repeating tests, and waiting months for definitive imaging or a subspecialist opinion.
Affidea’s neuraCare model is designed to address this issue, with a network of Centres of Excellence that bring subspecialist expertise, advanced diagnostics, and research into a single, well-governed pathway. The standards are shared across sites, so care feels consistent, but services remain close to home.
The Athens Centre: A Flagship for NeuraCare
The Athens centre sets the pattern for what follows, with a purpose-designed facility providing the full arc of care – from prevention and screening through diagnosis, treatment, digital monitoring, and research participation. The service spans neurological consultations, digital cognitive assessments, and a complete laboratory, supported by an imaging suite that includes a range of diagnostic tools.
The centre also serves as a research hub, so eligible patients can be offered appropriate trials within the same pathway. Telehealth follow-ups and structured remote monitoring help teams keep in touch between appointments, bringing people back in promptly when needed.
The pathway begins before symptoms peak, with awareness, prevention, and risk assessment sitting alongside genetics and lifestyle counselling where appropriate. Neurocognitive and neuropsychological testing builds a baseline, and sensible sequencing across neurophysiology and cardiac testing helps clinicians reach a diagnosis earlier and with more confidence.
Technology supports clinical judgement rather than replacing it, with high-performance imaging run under standardised protocols and data governance built in. The priority is to turn information into timely decisions – faster detection, better selection of therapy, and well-timed adjustments over the long term.
Clinical research is embedded, not bolted on, with the Centre of Excellence set up to run regulated trials with dedicated staff and clear processes for consent, safety, and data quality. This makes study start-up faster and patient experience simpler, allowing more people to access innovation early.
Scaling Across Europe
As the neuraCare model expands across Europe, it will be interesting to compare it to other integrated care models, such as those used in accountable care organizations in the United States. The key will be to balance access, quality, and value, while also ensuring that the model is scalable and sustainable in the long term.
Governance, standards, and measurement are critical to the success of the neuraCare model, with a shared governance framework keeping the model coherent as it grows. Subspecialty leaders oversee imaging, neurology, and nuclear medicine, and complex cases are discussed in multidisciplinary teams. Peer review supports consistency, and pathway design, imaging protocols, reporting, and therapy choices are standardised and auditable.
The Athens centre has already started to see patients, with a focus on providing a smooth and coordinated journey for those with neurological conditions. Education, counselling, and support groups are part of the offer, and digital tools provide a safety net between visits.
As the neuraCare model continues to expand, it will be important to monitor its progress and evaluate its effectiveness in improving patient outcomes and reducing the burden on healthcare systems. With its focus on integrated care, advanced diagnostics, and clinical research, the neuraCare model has the potential to make a significant impact on the lives of people with neurological conditions across Europe.
Expansion and Replication Plans
The plan is to expand neuraCare to major European cities, keeping the same standards while adapting to local referral patterns, funding, and workforce reality. Regional satellites and digital clinics can extend reach without losing pathway fidelity, and the architecture is built for replication, with shared governance, reusable training, interoperable data, and consistent measurement.
Early success will be visible in the rhythm of the pathway, with faster triage, shorter time to diagnosis, and treatments started at the right moment for the right patient. Patient-reported experience should reflect a smoother journey and better clinical outcomes, and safety signals must stay strong and prompt quick review when needed.
The research portfolio should deepen as more eligible patients are offered trials, with lessons applied back into everyday care. There are also qualitative markers, such as active multidisciplinary teams, confident referrers, families who feel informed and supported, and stable teams as the model grows.
As more centres open, the real test will be consistency across sites while allowing for local nuance. That is where shared governance and steady measurement make the difference, enabling Affidea to deliver earlier diagnosis, more consistent treatment, and well-coordinated follow-up at scale. The Athens centre has already started to see the benefits of this approach, with patients receiving more coordinated care and clinicians working in a more supportive environment.
It is clear that the neuraCare model is well-positioned to address the rising demand for neurological care in Europe. Affidea’s commitment to integrated care, advanced diagnostics, and clinical research will likely have a significant impact on patient outcomes and healthcare systems.
