# Dirk Soenksen

> Dirk Soenksen is the co-founder and CEO of Ceresti Health, a Carlsbad, California digital-health company that treats the family caregiver as the unit of care for people living with dementia. An engineer by training, he first reshaped a corner of medicine by founding Aperio, the company that turned the glass microscope slide into a digital image and became the global leader in digital pathology before Danaher's Leica Biosystems acquired it in 2012. A coffee on his last day at Leica sent him into a second act: instead of imaging the brain, he set out to support the overwhelmed spouses and adult children caring for it.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Ceresti Health
- **Organizations:** Ceresti Health, Aperio Technologies, Digital Pathology Association
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** A.B. in Chemistry, Bowdoin College, M.S. in Electrical Engineering (MSEE), University of Pennsylvania, MBA, Pepperdine University
- **Known for:** Founded Aperio and established it as the recognized global leader in digital pathology before its 2012 acquisition by Danaher/Leica Biosystems., Built Aperio to ~200 employees, a deep patent portfolio, multiple FDA clearances, and 1,000+ installed systems in 35 countries., Founded the non-profit Digital Pathology Association in 2016 to advance the field he helped create.

## Career timeline

- **late 1990s** — Spends roughly 18 months, beginning in a garage, developing high-speed slide-scanning technology and founds Aperio (Latin for 'to reveal').
- **1999-2012** — Serves as President, CEO and Chairman of Aperio, building it into the global leader in digital pathology - ~200 staff, multiple FDA clearances, 1,000+ installed systems across 35 countries.
- **2012** — Aperio is acquired by Danaher / Leica Biosystems.
- **2013** — Co-founds Ceresti Health with neuroscientist Kevin Liang and fellow Aperio veteran Mark Wrenn; raises ~$4M from friends and family.
- **2016** — Founds the non-profit Digital Pathology Association.
- **2018** — Ceresti named to Inc.'s Best Industries / startup spotlight for caregiver-focused dementia care.
- **2025** — Ceresti raises $11.7M (part of a planned $15M round) to scale its GUIDE-powered dementia caregiver support platform.

## Achievements

- Founded Aperio and established it as the recognized global leader in digital pathology before its 2012 acquisition by Danaher/Leica Biosystems.
- Built Aperio to ~200 employees, a deep patent portfolio, multiple FDA clearances, and 1,000+ installed systems in 35 countries.
- Founded the non-profit Digital Pathology Association in 2016 to advance the field he helped create.
- Co-founded Ceresti Health and pioneered a caregiver-activation model aligned to the CMS GUIDE payment model.
- Raised roughly $23M in total funding for Ceresti, including an $11.7M round in 2025.
- Ran clinical studies demonstrating that more confident family caregivers can reduce avoidable hospitalizations and healthcare costs.

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Ceresti Health raised $11.7M (part of a planned $15M offering) to scale its GUIDE-powered dementia caregiver support platform.

## Links

- Website: https://ceresti.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirksoenksen
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/DGSoenksen
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/cerestihealth/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dirk-soenksen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-24