Michael Golinko, MD, FACS, FAAP is a leader in pediatric plastic surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Originally from Brooklyn, he joined VUMC in 2018 to direct the Cleft & Craniofacial Program; and he founded the Vanderbilt Adult and Pediatric Craniofacial Fellowship, advancing the education of upcoming surgeons in the field.
Recently, Golinko was recognized as Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation’s 2025 Innovator of the Year, where he shared how ImageAssist, Inc. came to life.
"This well‑deserved honor reflects Dr. Golinko’s visionary leadership, hard work, and dedication to advancing innovation,” says Ken Holroyd, director of the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation. “He’s an energetic and determined entrepreneur who's passionate about the work he does.”
Founding ImageAssist
Dr. Golinko’s early journey in medicine began with his involvement in a transformative cleft lip operation. This experience sparked his fascination with plastic surgery and its powerful impact, which he views as a mindset shift beyond mere clinical practice.
Driven by his innovative spirit, Golinko founded ImageAssist at VUMC to tackle clinical workflow challenges in managing medical images. More than half a billion clinical photos are taken per year worldwide, however, numerous pain points exist, from consistent angles and lighting, to HIPAA security, and seamless management of patient photos to examine anything from surgery outcomes, to the effect of a medicine on the skin in a clinical trial.
Further lack of an elegant solution to capture, manage and secure clinical photos with ease inspired the creation of a mobile photography application, ImageAssist. Patent pending ‘ AI SmartGuides’ were developed based on Plastic surgery society guidelines and turn red to green when the proper body alignment is met ensuring consistency; the background is then subtracted further standardizing the photo. Clinical photos can be captured from any iOS device and viewed and managed either from device or a intuitive web application.
“As you can imagine, a plastic surgeon takes a lot of before and after photos, whether it's for surgery or any type of procedure that they’re doing,” says Golinko. "Anytime you're comparing the same patient over time, you want standardization—standard views, background, distance, and lighting conditions to be able to make accurate clinical decisions. There's still a long way to go, but I'm trying to bring this standard to life and make it globally ubiquitous.”
Navigating Growth: From Concept to Market
In 2021, Golinko began developing ImageAssist’s product and smart guides, focusing early on customer discovery while balancing the business processes with support from the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation and the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC). The minimum viable product( MVP) was incubated at Vanderbilt moving from beta to alpha and now is used with a deep link into EPIC by multiple specialties.
At the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) innovation competition, Golinko secured $10,000 in seed funding. This allowed him to validate the business concept, with Jonathan Sadlowe, Entrepreneur in Residence at Vanderbilt, joining as a co-founder and COO.
With guidance from internal advisors and CTTC, and additional financial support from Vanderbilt’s Innovation Catalyst Fund, Golinko navigated the complex legal and compliance landscapes, securing an NDA and patent rights to protect the company’s intellectual property.
“It is powerful to be surrounded by an innovative ecosystem,” said Golinko during his 2025 Innovator of the Year lecture. “The network the Brock Center and Vanderbilt opened up for me—through Ken Holroyd, Russelle Bradbury, and Dan Fabbri, my co-innovator of the year—has introduced me to Nashville’s expanding & vibrant startup scene.”
Throughout 2024–2025, the ImageAssist team honed its software development processes to emphasize core value offerings and improve profitability. Customer feedback and iterative improvements facilitated the transition of ImageAssist from a simple app to a comprehensive platform. Under strategic mentorship and partnerships, ImageAssist has now established a strong market foothold with over 200 users, with significant partnerships and direct integration with 4D EMR, Symplast, Mindbody, Jane, and Epic. Signaling maturity for the startup, as of this February, Sadlowe moved into the role of full-time CEO and Golinko in the Chief Medical Officer role, serving a wide range of healthcare professionals, including those in plastic surgery, dermatology, and med spas.
Vision for the Future
Golinko’s story exemplifies how driven medical professionals paired with a nurturing innovation ecosystem can propel ideas from conception to commercialization. Collaborations with Vanderbilt and industry partners, coupled with successful fundraising initiatives, have positioned ImageAssist for further growth and scalability. The team is also planning to expand to Android, integrate with five EMRs, and continue to nurture enterprise‑level contracts.
“ImageAssist’s mission is to become the best‑in‑class operating system for clinical photography,” says Golinko. “Our 2026 roadmap includes the Southeast Venture Showcase, Becker’s, and the American Society of Plastic Surgery meetings, while we continue developing the product and bringing MyImageAssist forward to enable patients to send standardized photos to clinical teams.” He continues: “Delivering the highest quality standardized clinical photo to any clinician worldwide is also part of our mission and we plan to roll out an Android version of light-weight version of ImageAssist for adoption in LMIC and for use on humanitarian efforts.”
