Our History

Our History

Back in 2008, our Founder and CEO, Dr. Chris Hermann, was in his dual degree graduate program, working on both a PhD in Bioengineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Medical Degree from Emory Medical School. Chris learned about the problem of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and how hand hygiene was a major contributor. A physician asked Chris if he could help develop a solution to the problem. Chris’ reply was, “Sure – that seems simple enough.” Needless to say, the issue of hand hygiene is surprisingly complex – there’s nothing simple about it.

Over the next seven years, Chris formed and led a multi-institution research consortium that developed the core technology utilized in the Clean Hands – Safe Hands System. The research team included investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

The research team secured and executed more than eight state and federal research grants totaling over $3.2M. Unlike most clinical research grants, these projects were heavily focused on rapid iteration engineering development and completely driven by the real world needs of clinicians.

The company has continued to innovate as it has grown, developing cutting edge technology and analytics platforms while simultaneously reducing costs and making the system more streamlined and efficient.