Cytovale Names Rhonda Collins Chief Nursing Officer

Seasoned nurse executive and health IT leader to drive expansion of nurse-driven sepsis protocol leveraging IntelliSep^® rapid detection solution

SAN FRANCISCO, March 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Cytovale^®, a commercial-stage medical diagnostics company, today announced the appointment of Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN, FAAN, as the company's first chief nursing officer (CNO). A former nurse, seasoned hospital executive and leader in healthcare IT, Collins will oversee Cytovale's clinical consultant team as they engage with hospital executives around the country to implement nurse-driven sepsis protocols with the company's rapid sepsis detection solution, IntelliSep^®.

"We've seen strong clinical improvements – including a 30% reduction in risk-adjusted mortality – when hospitals use IntelliSep as part of a nurse-driven sepsis protocol in their emergency departments. We're now looking to bring that same protocol to hospitals across the U.S.," said Ajay Shah, Cytovale co-founder and CEO. "Rhonda, with her deep understanding of nursing workflows and implementing new technologies, will be instrumental in helping more hospitals develop effective sepsis protocols that empower the nursing staff and benefit their patients."

A registered nurse for over three decades, Dr. Collins was a hospital executive before continuing her evolution to become a leader in healthcare IT. She comes to Cytovale from Kontakt.io, where she served as CNO. She also served in the same role at Vocera Communications, where she made it her mission to ensure technology conformed to the real-world needs of hospitals. Throughout her career – including executive roles at Artisight, Fresenius-Kabi, Masimo Corporation, CareFusion and Baylor University Medical Center – Dr. Collins established herself as a leader in nurse innovation, redesigning clinical workflows and advocating for policy that puts patient safety and quality first. In 2019, Dr. Collins was named a fellow by the American Academy of Nursing, which recognized her extraordinary contributions to nursing and healthcare throughout her career. She was named one of Becker's Hospital Review's Women to Watch in Health IT for four consecutive years and received the Outstanding Contribution of the Year award from Women in IT in 2021.

"Cytovale is solving one of the most difficult conditions nurses face. Sepsis is a deadly reaction to infection with unclear symptoms that can be a challenge to diagnose. The stakes are incredibly high – with the risk of death skyrocketing as much as 8% every hour sepsis goes untreated. Having a rapid, accurate test to diagnose or rule out sepsis is critical," Dr. Collins said. "Other emergent conditions, like STEMI and stroke, have nurse-driven protocols and there has been a real need for a solution that can quickly determine sepsis risk and put patients on the right treatment path. I'm excited to work with nursing leadership around the country as they adopt IntelliSep technology and improve patient care in their hospitals."

Dr. Collins joins Cytovale's executive team, alongside recently named Chief Commercial Officer Dave Vort, to help give more hospital emergency departments across the U.S. access to the life-saving IntelliSep technology.

About Cytovale^®
Cytovale is committed to improving patient care by pioneering early detection technologies that assess immune activation to accelerate the time it takes to get from triage to life-saving therapies. Cytovale's U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared rapid sepsis diagnostic, IntelliSep^®, leverages machine learning and advanced microfluidics to provide Emergency Department clinicians with an objective and highly sensitive early detection tool for sepsis. IntelliSep measures the dysregulated immune system response to infection that would indicate sepsis and generates results in about eight minutes using a standard blood draw. Cytovale is based in San Francisco and venture-backed by Norwest Venture Partners, Sands Capital and Global Health Investment Corporation (GHIC). For more information, visit www.cytovale.com and follow Cytovale on LinkedIn and X.

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SOURCE Cytovale