Meet the Team
Ashley Galanti: Founder/ CEO
Driven by a deeply personal connection to epilepsy, Ashley Galanti’s journey began in 2016 when she watched her brother struggle with unpredictable seizures. Determined to find a solution, she spent her junior year of high school interning at a seizure-alert dog organization—where she learned the science behind their prediction mechanism.
Ashley holds dual bachelor’s degrees—a BA in Journalism with a minor in Spanish and a BS in Electrical Engineering—which she’s woven together to both build the technology and tell its story. She also earned a graduate certificate in Entrepreneurship, equipping her to steer AMG Detection from lab bench to market.
As a Biomedical Engineering PhD candidate at the University of Georgia (expected graduation December 2025), she founded AMG Detection in November 2022. Balancing research and company, she designed and fabricated the first prototype of a wearable device that combines custom integrated sensors with on-board AI to predict seizures 10–45 minutes before they occur while forming strategic partnerships and business planning. Today, Ashley leads technical and business development—on a mission to give people with epilepsy the freedom and confidence they deserve.
Dr. Mark Haidekker: Technical Expert
Mark A. Haidekker, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia and director of the Biophotonics & Bioimaging Laboratory. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Bremen in 1998, an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hanover in 1990, and completed postdoctoral training in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California (1999–2000). Dr. Haidekker’s research centers on next-generation imaging and sensing technologies—spanning biosensing, bioimaging, and specialized instrumentation—and he holds multiple patents on advanced fluorometry and tomography methods.
As Ashley’s PhD Advisor, Dr. Haidekker has been crucial to the device’s development from the ground up: he implemented the custom source-measure unit used to power and characterize sensors during fabrication, guided the integration of physiological sensors, and spearheaded the AI implementation for real-time data analysis. His expertise in biomedical instrumentation and machine-learning-driven validation is key to advancing our seizure-prediction wearable toward clinical and commercial success.
Dr. donald bearden: clinical Expert
Donald J. Bearden, PhD, ABPP-CN, is Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Chief of Pediatric Psychology Behavioral Health at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, where he leads neuropsychological and behavioral evaluation for pediatric epilepsy and related disorders. He received his postgraduate education in Clinical Psychology, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neuroscience from Georgia State University, completed his predoctoral internship at UCLA’s Semel Institute, and his fellowship in Pediatric Neuropsychology at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Board-certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology and the American Board of Neuropsychology—and an active member of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, the American Epilepsy Society, and other professional bodies—Dr. Bearden brings deep expertise in pediatric epilepsy clinical care and research.
As Ashley’s PhD Advisory Member and AMG Detection’s key clinical partner, he will help with the design of our EMU human-validation protocols, overseeing patient recruitment and neuropsychological assessments to ensure rigorous data labeling and analysis and integration of real-time device alerts into clinical workflows—critical work that grounds our seizure-prediction wearable in real-world evidence and safety.