Faces of Digital Health

Nine opinion leaders in digital health - John Nosta, Rafael Grossmann, Aline Noizet, Brian de Francesca, Irma Rastagayeva, Eugene Borukhovich, Maneesh Juneja and Nana bit Avragim and Levi Shapiro - answered a seemingly simple and open-ended question: What are your predictions about trends in digital health and healthcare in 2020? 1. Experience shift 2. Positive future for digital therapeutics 3. Tech giants moving forward, on-premise healthcare increasing in the US 4. Europe: retail health and new innovation efforts 5. Rethinking of knowledge transfer and fundraising models in digital health 6. Quantum computing and telecommunications regulators 7. 3D printing is on 8. Shifts in the mindset about innovation, knowledge transfer and financing Recap: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f60-2020-redefined-experience-further-progress-of-dtx-and-new-expectation-about-investments-quantum-computing Twitter: https://twitter.com/zajctjasa

South Africa is a restless country with Race and ethnicity still causing a lot of tension in the society. On the healthcare side, there are only 0.9 doctors per 1000 people in the country. Out of 59 million people, 9 million people access healthcare through private providers; the rest are in the public system. Soon, however, the system might change with the introduction of National Health Insurance, as you will hear from Sheraan Amod - CEO and founder of South Africa’s largest and fastest growing online healthcare booking platform. Over 100,000 patients and 1,500 providers connect with each other every month via RecoMed. In this discussion, Sheraan talks about his transition into healthcare, shares his views on the development of healthcare in the country and plans for RecoMed, which allows patients to leave positive recommendations about providers on the platform. Negative reviews are sent to providers privately. Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f056-f060-digital-health-in-africa-series-tanzania-nigeria-south-africa-rwanda Podcast website: www.facesofdigitalheath.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/zajctjasa RecoMed: https://www.recomed.co.za/ Sheraan Amod: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheraanamod/

In 2016, the UK based company Babylon Health, radically transforming access to primary care in the NHS in the UK, opened a subsidiary in Rwanda. The Rwandan version ob Babylon is called Babyl, and has by today attracted over 2 out of 12 million people in Rwanda. Out of 2 million people, 700.000 consulted Babyls healthcare workers, says Patrick Singa Muhoza, Medical Director at Babylon health Rwanda. Rwanda has 12 million people and a severely understaffed healthcare system with 0.1 doctors per 1000 people. According to some locals, the problem is not only a lack of doctors but also poor knowledge, which can cause extreme differences in second opinions, among other things. Recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f056-f060-digital-health-in-africa-series-tanzania-nigeria-south-africa-rwanda

As of 2016, Nigeria was Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation. By 2050, Nigeria is expected to be one of the ten largest economies in the world. Healthcare wise, the country is in dire need of reform and reinforcement in medical forces. According to the World bank, there are 0.4 doctors per 1000 people and 1.5 nurses and midwives per 1000 people. Ocoche Ubenyi is one of the country’s doctors eager to improve the situation in healthcare. He is the founder of Nimedix Ecosysyem - a blockchain project aiming to improve healthcare in Nigeria through technology and online solutions, enabling patients to own their healthcare data and share it to whom they wish in the healthcare sector. Written recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f056-f060-digital-health-in-africa-series-tanzania-nigeria-south-africa-rwanda

Africa has 54 countries, that differ a lot in terms of their quality of care, political situation, and innovation. This short series explores healthcare in 4 African countries: - the most populous African country Nigeria with 200 million people, presented by a medical doctor and entrepreneur Ocoche Ubenyi, CEO of Nimedix Ecosystem,- South Africa with 59 million people is presented by a serial entrepreneur Sheraan Amod, currently the CEO RecoMed - South Africa’s largest doctor’s appointment booking platform. - Rwanda - a country with 12,6 million people and less than 700 doctors is presented by Patrick Singa Muhosa, Chief Medical Officer of Babyl - the Rwandan version of the UK company Babylon, offering online or phone consultations with doctors. This first part explores Tanzania, with 58 million people. Mariatheresa Samson Kadushi is an ICT specialist and an entrepreneur, with rich experience running a tech company in Africa, while participating in country-level initiatives reforming communities; and also assisting small businesses, corporate companies and investors flourish. At the moment, Mariatheresa is fully engaged in building Mobile Afya (M-afya), a company trying to increase access to accurate medical information in Africa. She explains the current state of healthcare in Tanzania, and the challenges women face as entrepreneurs and seekers of medical information and help. More about Mobile Afya: https://www.mobileafya.com/

If you go to digital health conferences, you might have noticed people wearing pink socks. Or a guy with a long beard and a kilt caught your eye. That was Nick Adkins - the Co-Founder of Pinksocks Life, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting authentic human connection around the world. Pinksocks was founded five years after Nick attended Burning man in 2010. For those who don’t know it - Burning man is a special community, which gathers once a year in the Black Rock desert in Nevada. Where there is nothing most of time in the year, 70.000 people come each August to enjoy life according to ten principles - radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, participation, immediacy, and leave no trace. Many people that have been at Burning man say, it transformed them. They consequently take some of the lessons with them to the real-default world, Nick being one of them. Nick talks about the background behind the kilt, impact Pink Socks have had so far and the general encouragement to everyone to fear people less, and see the good in them. If you’re interested in seeing pink socks energy in action, go to Twitter and search for #pinksocks. Website: https://pinksocks.life/about-us/

Less than 600 people traveled to space by today. What do we know about space health so far, and why does it matter for the broader population? A discussion with Ilaria Cinelli - a biomedical engineer with a structured PhD in neural engineering. While she’s not an astronaut, she is very passionate about space and has completed the Space Studies Program of the International Space University at TU Delft (The Netherlands). She is an Associate Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, President-Elect of the Aerospace Human Factors Association, and Member-at-Large of the Life Sciences and Biomedical Engineering Branch.

What are the basics of sleep hygiene, the importance of sleep and harm lack of sleep causes to our health? Richard Jacobs is the host of Future Tech Podcast and Future Tech Health Podcast. By now, he has interviewed 1800+ companies in artificial intelligence, stem cells, 3D printing, gene editing, bitcoin, blockchain, the microbiome, quantum computing, virtual reality and space exploration and more. He conducted over a hundred interviews about sleep with various sleep experts, which he did due to his personal problems with sleep. He later turned his knowledge in The Good Night’s Sleep Project, making custom-tailored-pillows based on an individual’s 14 personal characteristics. The Good Night Sleep Project: https://www.goodnightssleepproject.com/ The Future Tech Health Podcast: https://www.futuretechhealth.com/

The sixth and final episode of a short series about AI in healthcare features Bart de Witte and a discussion about data privacy, the future of AI models in healthcare and the issue of a potentially dystopian future if we decide to let monetization of healthcare data get out of control. Bart is a digital health tech expert who worked as an executive director for the world largest technology vendors such as IBM and SAP. He has been intimately involved as a mentor in the formation and growth of a dozen digital health startups, and lectures at different universities in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. Lately, he has been on a mission to harness the power of artificial intelligence to help to solve current and future inequalities in healthcare. Other episodes in the series: 1- The potential benefits for the patients in the first episode:https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f047-ai-in-healthcare-giving-patients-their-lives-back 2- AI development in radiology with Chief Medical Information Officer at Nuance Woojin Kim: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f048-ai-in-healthcare-part-25-radiology-disrupted 3- prof. Dr. Tadej Battelino, world renowned diabetologies and endocrinologist and Chief Clinical at DreaMed Diabetes about AI in diabetes: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f049-ai-in-healthcare-35-impacts-in-diabetes-tadej-battelino 4- CEO of Orbita - BIll Rogers about the development of voice technologies thanks to AI: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f050-ai-in-healthcare-46-the-power-of-voice-bill-rogers 5- stroke research in AI with Vince Madai PhD in Neuroscience, and Michelle Livne, PhD in Machine LEarning from Charite University Hospital in Berlin:https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/ai-in-healthcare-56-decision-support-for-stroke-therapy-michelle-livne-vince-madai

AI models in the field of stroke with Vince Madai and Michelle Livne from Charite hospital in Berlin, who work on predictive models for decision support systems for the treatment of strokes. Vince is a senior medical AI researcher at Charité with an M.D., a Ph.D. in Medical Neuroscience and an M.A. in Medical Ethics, and Michelle is a PhD machine learning engineer with extensive experience in applying predictive algorithms in healthcare. After obtaining a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering in 2012 at the Technion Technological Institute of Israel, Haifa she concluded her Master degree in Neuroscience at Charité University Medicine in 2014. Apart from the current state of stroke treatment research and development, we talked about the state of digital health in Germany compared to Israel and ethical issues surrounding AI, such as data bias and data privacy. In healthcare challenges in data acquisition are reducing the opportunity to save lives and are opening many ethical dilemmas. Some questions addressed: Signs of strokes are well known: numbness in the arms, problems with speaking fluently. The brain is not getting enough blood. Someone calls an ambulance. What happens when a patient reaches the hospital? How many types of strokes are there? Time is crucial in stroke treatment - what are the current support systems available to doctors when a patient hit by stroke is brought to them? What kind of systems are in development? Even if you are having a stroke, it might not be seen on a CT scan. A lot of AI at the moment is based on pattern recognition. If there is nothing visible on a CT - what does this mean for the development of AI supported decision support systems? One of the discussion topics in AI is interpretability. Complex models are harder to understand and the more accurate an AI model is, the less interpretable it is. For example, a decision tree is easily interpretable, but has lower accuracy, compared to deep neural networks, that have higher accuracy and lower interpretability. Why is that important? Opinions are divided between Yes, interpretability is needed and No, interpretability is not needed if the network proved to be effective. Where do you stand on that? A lot of companies are working on AI, but most of the development and testing ATM happens with retrospective studies. How big of an issue is in your view lack of clinical studies done on patients? What does this mean in terms of time needed for AI support systems to come to regular clinical practice if everything needs to be validated through clinical studies which take years to finalize? If you wanted to apply your knowledge on another field in healthcare - what could be the next frontier you could focus on that is closest to stroke research?

Voice applications in healthcare are used in telemedicine, for remote patient monitoring, clinical trials, and more. Bill Rogers, CEO of Orbita - a leading provider of conversational AI for healthcare - explains the current state of voice assistants in healthcare. Orbita helps healthcare organizations tap the power of voice assistants, chatbots, and other conversational AI technologies to engage patients, improve care, and reduce costs.

In 2016 FDA approved the so-called artificial pancreas - Medtronic’s MiniMed 670G system (Medtronic) a hybrid closed-looped system for glucose measurement and insulin delivery. A lot of companies are developing AI supported decision support systems for doctors and patients. This episode dives in the complexity of diabetes, how it is treated, what role does glucose have on health and how is technology improving the lives of patients with diabetes. Speaker: prof. Dr. Tadej Battelino, the head of Department of Pediatric endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the UMC - University Children’s Hospital Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prof. Battelino is among other things co-organizer of Advanced Technologies and Treatment of Diabetes Conference - that provides a world-class platform for clinicians and scientists to present, discuss and exchange insights on the most rapidly evolving area of diabetes technology and treatments. He is also Chiel Clinical at Dreamed Diabetes - Israeli based developer of personalized diabetes management solutions. DreamedDiabetes Advisor Pro decision support system received an FDA approval in 2018.

The idea that AI will replace radiologists comes from the fact that today’s AI models models are very good at pattern recognition. But in reality, the “rich data” coming from radiologists is in the radiology reports, which are to a large extent unstructured. As elsewhere, the 80:20 rule applies here, says Woojin Kim. So the interesting thing are the NLP models mining radiology reports, he said in this interview. So what do radiologists actually do, are they going to start talking to the patients more, why they will not be obsolete anytime soon and more. Woojin Kim is the Chief Medical Information Officer at Nuance, former Chief of Radiography Modality, Director of Center for Translational Imaging Informatics, Associate Director of Imaging Informatics, and Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Short series about AI in healthcare: 1 - the potential impact of AI on patients When reading about how digital health and AI are improving disease management, waiting times in decision making healthcare, we don't only read about cost savings. These novelties show how patients are becoming more and more equal to healthy people and how diseases are affecting the quality of lives less and less due to less time spent in the healthcare systems, faster diagnosis, faster treatment and recovery. Of course, this is not going to happen tomorrow, but when has any progress ever happened fast, especially in healthcare? Yes, AI applications are still in the early stages of this, algorithms and studies currently based on retrospective studies. But the trend is what it's crucial - the hype is annoying, but it attracts talent. And more people means more knowledge and faster advancements. Other upcoming episodes in the series: 2- the current state of AI in radiology as explained by Woojin Kim3- the complexity of diabetes and development of algorithms as explained by prof. dr. Tadej Battelino,4- AI in stroke management.

No matter which country you go, the predictions about the healthcare workforce estimate that we will encounter significant shortages of doctors in the future. It’s less often heard that the prediction for shortages of nurses is much higher compared to doctors. So today, the spotlight is on them. Shawna is an entrepreNURSE with a wide range of experiences in emergency medicine, cardiac, critical care, international medical flight transport, and workplace wellness. Shawna is an important member of the Exponential Medicine Team. With her curiosity and drive towards a better health she has shaped and launched various initiatives: the EntrepreNURSE-in-Residence role in the Netherlands, an enterprise-wide digital radiology solution, an international emergency medicine training rotation between a US medical school and a New Zealand hospital system, and the Cancer XPRIZE focused on early detection. She explains what are challenges nurses are faced with in terms of working conditions and paving the way to acknowledge their important role in healthcare. F016 with Rebecca Love: iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/si/podcast/f016-why-arent-nurses-included-in-innovation-processes/id1194284040?i=1000416488011 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-h2mjf-95cfb0 https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/2018/08/07/f016-f017-why-arent-nurses-included-in-innovation-process-more-rebecca-love-shawna-butler

South Korea is famous for many things - worldwide, the Republic of Korea has by far the highest robot density in the manufacturing industry, the third-largest market for virtual currency, behind the United States and Japan. South Korea is called the plastic surgery capital, because of the cultural beauty obsession. According to a recent Gallup poll, one in three South Korean women has undergone cosmetic surgery between the ages of 19 and 29. South Korea’s government is even trying to limit the stars’ presence. South Korea also managed to pull off what many other countries crave for: a substantial healthcare reform in early 2000s. Health care is financed through National Health Insurance covering the entire population. To establish big data in the medical field, the nation is currently gathering the medical records of about 50 million people from 39 hospitals nationwide by 2020. Alongside all the technological progress, telemedicine is illegal in South Korea. You will hear why from today’s speaker Ogan Gurel, a doctor, professor, entrepreneur, who has been living in South Korea for the last nine years. His teaching experience includes cellular & molecular biology, neuroanatomy, bioinformatics, mathematical modeling, and technology marketing at Columbia, Roosevelt, Harvard, SAIHST and DGIST. He has also served as an independent consultant to several medical device firms in which he was specifically involved with both European and FDA clinical trial development and oversight. Enjoy the discussion, and research more at www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Blog post with key points from all episodes about Asia: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f041045-digital-health-in-asia-china-india-south-korea-and-singapore

Singapore, also known as Asia for beginners, is a 5.6 million people country, offering an encouraging environment to tech companies and expats. The government in Singapore is promoting IT adoption and innovation in healthcare. National Electronic Health Record system was rolled out in 2011. Combine that with countrywide connectivity, mobile-first population, and a lot of openness for collaboration with the private sector, and you get a healthtech epicenter in Asia. Excluding China and India, Singapore took the lead by deal volume share in Asia in 2018 with 30%, followed by Japan with 27% and South Korea with 13%, according to Galen Growth. Tony Estrella is a startup founder, investor, corporate innovation leader, and strategic advisor, with work experiences in the US, Europe and Asia. He is partnering with Asia-focused companies who are developing solutions to change the face of cancer and human longevity with core IP stemming from AI, Genomics, Blockchain, and smart devices. He recently published a fiction novel Comatose, which opens many ethical dilemmas regarding the future of healthcare technology development. Some questions addressed: Given that you lived all around the world, what are your observations of Asia? Singapore offers universal healthcare coverage through a mixed financing system. How does the government support digital health development? What drives innovation in Singapore? The Accenture digital health in Singapore 2016 survey found that two-thirds (66%) of consumers who believe they should have EHR access want to see exactly what the doctor sees — not a summary. Opinion? Your novel Comatose book opens up several ethical questions concerning patient data privacy, clinical trials and involuntary inclusion in medical research, hacking, medical ethics etc. How do you see the future of these issues and the actual fear from unintended consequences? What has the process of writing a book taught you about business? (perseverance, dedicated time, did you ever get stuck. How did you design the outline of the story etc.) **Annual End of Childhood report published by non-governmental organisation Save The Children, ranking Singapore and Slovenia as top countries for children: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-ranked-best-country-for-children-to-grow-up-in

If anyone, India is in dire need to increase access to quality care. According to WHO, the density of doctors of all types (allopathic, ayurvedic, unani and homeopathic) in 2001 was 8 doctors per 10,000 people, and the density of nurses was 6 nurses per 10.000 people. Project ECHO® is one of the players with an important role in bringing patients quality care with the help of a revolutionary medical education project. The ambition of Project ECHO is to touch the lives of 1 billion people by 2025. The project works by connecting doctors on the local level, allowing them to share and discuss their clinical cases through the lens of the latest clinical guidelines. In this podcast episode, the executive director of Project ECHO India — Sunil Anand and Kartik Dhar, Leading the ECHO Digital technical solutions development and India based product teams, talk about the current state of healthcare in India, government’s plans for “Modicare” - insurance coverage of ₹500,000 (7200$) per year per family, for 500 million people, Digitization progress and governmental plans for an integrated approach to electronic health records. Observations regarding mobile health: many startups are trying, penetration is not visible yet. More and more startups are shifting towards solutions in local language and there is a visible focus on mental health.

China’s population is larger than the population of the US and Europe combined. The country is becoming the leader in AI development. The enabling factor for China’s rapid advancement in AI is that Chinese Tech giants and government agencies are investing heavily the most important fuel for AI development - data infrastructures. In healthcare, for example, the company Yitu has a team of about 400 doctors, most of whom work part-time for about 10 hours a week to help label data. One-fifth of the healthcare team’s full-time employees have a medical background. Asian countries were lagging behind in digitization in the past, which enabled them to leapfrog development with mobile phones. The consumers here use Tencent’s WeChat for shopping, paying bills and more. Understandably, Tencent’s new strides into healthcare are highly anticipated. According to Technode, Tencent is testing real-time clinic services in its WeChat wallet, and as reported by mobihealthnews, Tencent Trusted Doctor is among a number of technology-driven firms looking to shake up China’s overburdened public healthcare market. According to Phillips Future Health Index 2019 China is an outlier in terms of healthcare professionals encouraging their patients to track healthcare data. Julie Wang talks about Chinese culture, entrepreneurship, and values driving digital health in China. Also listen to: How advanced is China in digital health?

Asia is the second-largest digital health ecosystem in the world. 2018 ended with a record-breaking 6.8 billion US dollars invested. According to IBC Asia, the digital health market is expected to reach $379 billion by 2024. Asian countries are leapfrogging the west in tech adoption. Many countries are turning into cashless societies where all transactions are done through mobile phones. At the same time, the culture in Asia is very different compared to the West. For a light start, this first episode will give you a broad overview of the region, with Julien de Salaberry, CEO and Founder of Galen Growth Asia. But before that, a few interesting thoughts about China, India, Singapore, and South Korea, from speakers in the upcoming episodes. The latest Gale Growth report about H1 of 2019 in Asia: https://bit.ly/2ZbgeKf

This episode is the first part of a two-part series about healthcare in Slovenia. Given that drug prices are a consistently controversial topic in the US healthcare system, the first part of the series explains European regulation. Why are drug prices in Europe more affordable? How does drug pricing and medication management work in Europe and Slovenia? Why is it hard to imagine that an opioid crisis or widespread use of ADHD drugs would happen in this part of Europe? The speaker explaining the topics is the Head of the medication management department at the Healthcare Insurance Institute of Slovenia Jurij Fürst.

This is the second part of a two-part series about healthcare in Slovenia. Slovenia is a country of 2 million people, with a universal healthcare system, where electronic medical cards have been in place since the nineties. The interoperable backbone for main patient documents such as discharge letters has been in place since 2012. On the index of the digital economy and society 2018 prepared by the European Commission, Slovenia was ranked 6th according to the use of eHealth solutions. Tina Vavpotič, healthcare business strategist and consultant, with rich experience in healthcare policy design, healthcare IT product design and implementation, shares her thoughts about eHealth and digital health.

Patients are getting increasingly engaged in their treatments, becoming the decisionmakers not just recipients of care. But to design a successful solution for patient support with high user retention is, to put it mildly, an art. Every patient lives in a different home environment, has different personal goal and challenges, therefore a good disease management solution for patients needs to be highly personalized. The discussion you will hear today is focused on exactly that: what aspects to take into account when we’re addressing patient behavior and patient empowerment, to which extent can technology decrease the need for real-life human coaches, since last years have shown that apps work best in combination with coaches. I spoke to Claire Kamoun - executive director of patient innovation at the French company MedClinik. Claire also shared her thoughts on technology adoption in France.

Asia is the 2nd largest digital health ecosystem in the world. Investments in the sector totaled 6.3 billion in 2018. 5 Faces of digital health episodes are going to be published in July, offering an overview of the region, and some insights provided by speakers from China, Singapore, South Korea and India.

Developing countries are often seen as ideal test hubs for innovation: there's no existing infrastructure to disrupt, the regulation permits a faster speed of adoption. However, like any market, African countries have their own specifics. How can you scale in Africa? Can you reduce the price of your consumer solution to the affordability of African consumers? Moka Lantum, based in Kenya, is an expert on the African healthcare market. He obtained his Doctor of Medicine training at Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon; a Diploma in Nutrition and International Child Health, from Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; a Doctorate in Pharmacology, from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. He is a graduate of the Masters in Health Care Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has rich entrepreneurship history of developing solutions for the African market.

G4A, formerly known as Grants4Apps is probably the most famous digital health accelerator inside a Pharma conglomerate. For a few years, the program was designed to support a handful of startups by offering them office space, various entrepreneurship skills training and network expansion. As the digital health market evolved, so has the program, with Eugene Barukhovich taking over the global head of G4A digital health development at Bayer in 2016. At the moment, G4A is present in some form or another in 35 countries. 8 accelerators/incubators run around the globe. This discussion explains how a global pharmaceutical corporation with almost 120.000 employees launched a digital health accelerator, what are the specifics of this year's application process, how are business scandals of digital health and biotech startups from the Silicon Valley affecting the ecosystem, Eugene briefly comments the Dutch and German digital health system. To learn more about this year's G4A program and application, see this link: http://bit.ly/2JL1gWo You have until May 31st to apply!

Longevity, eternal youth or even immortality have been an aspiration in religion and culture throughout history. Today, people adopt all sorts of approaches to increase their wellbeing, delay aging and avoid diseases. Efforts are increasingly quantified with sensors, wearables, or even biohacking - interventions to influence body biology. The new hope for advancements in longevity is seen in artificial intelligence, which is becoming increasingly powerful. Alex Zhavoronkov has been researching the use of AI in aging for years. He is the CEO of Insilico Medicine, a Baltimore-based leader in the next-generation artificial intelligence technologies for drug discovery and aging biomarkers discovery. He truly is a well of knowledge - since 2012 he published over 130 peer-reviewed research papers and 2 books including "The Ageless Generation: How Biomedical Advances Will Transform the Global Economy" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). In this episode, he talks about the complexity of aging as a biological process, types of artificial intelligence and the role of AI in research advancements. Some of his latest research articles include: Blood Biochemistry Analysis to Detect Smoking Status and Quantify Accelerated Aging in Smokers - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35704-w#author-information Artificial intelligence for aging and longevity research: Recent advances and perspectives - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S156816371830240X?via%3Dihub Artificial Intelligence for Drug Discovery, Biomarker Development, and Generation of Novel Chemistry - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.8b00930 Listen also: F013 What to expect from artificial intelligence in healthcare in the next 10 years? (Sally Daub, Enlitic) https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/f013-what-to-expect-from-artificial-intelligence-in-healthcare-in-the-next-10-years-fdaf2edf32f8

Estonia has only 1,3 million people but is famous worldwide for its digital governance. If you want, you can even become an Estonian electronic resident and run your business from Estonia, regardless of your country of residence. Healthcare wise, 95% of healthcare data is in digital form, some of it supported with blockchain technology. What does all this mean - is data structured or is information stored in pdf? How supportive is the system for digital health startups? And how did the country, where only 6.5% of the GDP is spent on healthcare, achieve the level of digitization many countries are only dreaming of? Hannalore Taal - digital health specialist and the Chief e-Health Specialist at the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs explains.

This short recording offers a snippet of thoughts about healthcare China, Japan, Germany, Dubai, Israel, Japan, and Bolivia.

ClinicalTrials.gov currently lists 302,091 clinical studies in the US. It is impossible for patients and their doctors to be aware of all clinical trials an individual might be eligible for. While one would expect the trials to be run and supported by sophisticated software, the reality is often far from that expectation. Patients often come to doctors inquiring about trials doctors might not even have been aware of. Trials data is managed manually, in old fashion way — clinical trials are written in a word format, transmitted to sites in pdf files, later on along the process, the data are often manually abstracted from clinical trials to homegrown solutions for analysis in each institution. Data is collected in tailor-made 3rd party systems for different pharma companies and then re-converted to another format for FDA submissions. There is no doubt: there are plenty of opportunities to improve clinical trials with new technologies. Samuel L. Volchenboum, MD, PhD, MS, is an expert in pediatric cancers and blood disorders, and studies ways to harness computers to enable research and foster innovation using large data sets. He talks about potentials of digital health in clinical trials improvement.

Anyone who wishes to learn about blockchain in general or specifically in healthcare can get overwhelmed by the number of results offered by a Google search. Awareness of the difficulty of finding credible, helpful and nuanced information around blockchain, was among the triggers to create the book Blockchain in Healthcare Innovations that Empower Patients, Connect Professionals and Improve Care. In this episode David Metcalf and Alex Cahana share their view on the current blockchain in the healthcare landscape, accompanied by a comment on industry discussions seen at HIMSS 2019 Global conference, where the book was presented to the public from the first time. Other episodes on blockchain in healthcare: F021 What is the CDC doing with blockchain? (Jay Jemal, IT specialist) https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/f021-what-is-the-cdc-doing-with-blockchain-36c15dac3603 F020 Blockchain, value of data, and the role of legislation with adoption (Ray Dogum, Health Unchained) - https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/f020-blockchain-value-of-data-and-the-role-of-legislation-with-adoption-ray-dogum-health-80919d909e97 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/si/podcast/f020-blockchain-value-data-role-legislation-adoption/id1194284040?i=1000421920886&mt=2&ls=1 Podbean: https://tjasazajc.podbean.com/e/f020-blockchain-value-of-data-and-the-role-of-legislation-with-adoption-ray-dogum-healthcare-unchained/ Episode 14 of Medicine today on digital health - What is blockchain and how fast could it be applied in healthcare: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/014-blockchain-in-healthcare-how-how-fast-could-it/id1194284040?i=1000389721696&mt=2&ls=1 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-na6nf-7e3965 Episode 23 of Medicine today on digital health - Misconceptions about blockchain: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/023-misconceptions-around-blockchain-what-it-will-not/id1194284040?i=1000397151361&mt=2&ls=1 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-3s9bh-7efd59 F007 The hype and the hope around blockchain (SXSW panel discussion): iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f007-hype-hope-blockchain-in-healthcare-michael-dillhyon/id1194284040?i=1000407073820&mt=2&ls=1 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vimnn-8db4e0 F008 How do sex, blockchain and medical anthropology go together: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f008-how-do-sex-blockchain-medical-anthropology-go/id1194284040?i=1000408108683&mt=2&ls=1 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ew3f9-8e8f7a

Every person is unique and we all differ in our looks, but have you ever wondered, how much do people differ on the inside? This is something surgeons are most familiar with. Rafael Grossmann is known in the digital health community as the VR surgeon. Originally from Venezuela, Rafael has been practicing medicine for a few decades in the US by now. In this episode he talks about technological advancements in surgery - from minimally invasive surgery to robotic-assisted surgery -, followed by his passion towards digital technologies, telemedicine, and VR and in the end comments the national crisis currently happening in Venezuela, and its effects on healthcare.

Hackathons have by today become a popular approach for bringing people with various backgrounds in the same room, offering them a concentrated time, usually during a weekend, to come up with innovative approached for various challenges. The speaker of episode 31 is Annie Lamontagne - Special Projects Advisor and former Head of Global Growth at Hacking health - a global digital health organisation, currently active in 17 countries. Annie talks about how are hackathons evolving through the years, what kind of experiences can Hacking health chapters share among each other, since each chapter is active in a different country with a different culture. Annie also mentioned a few inspiring examples of solutions that were a product of hackathons organised inside the hospitals.

Hal Wolf III became the CEO of HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the largest global organisation connecting healthcare IT providers) in 2017. While having rich experiences in the healthcare industry, he started his career in a very different sector — the entertainment business. Hal first workes in Sales and Marketing for MTV Networks in the 80s, later as VP of Content at Time Warner. Then, after 20 years, did his professional development shifted to healthcare when he became the Chief Information Officer for Kaiser Permanente in Colorado. Some questions addressed in the podcast: What can healthcare learn from the entertainment industry? What is the price of interoperability, what can we learn from Keiser Permanente, where $6 billion USD was spent to implement a unified system in 10 years time? What is the role of HIMSS in the interoperability story? How has HIMSS changed since the acquisition of Health 2.0 in 2017? How to stay informed as a health executive in the era of overwhelming amounts of new information about new technologies? What are the global healthcare challenges?

Investments in digital health have been rising for the last few years, encouraging innovation in applications of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, analytics, and other latest technologies in healthcare. At the same time, the next generations of doctors, who are supposed to embrace and use these inventions, are trained in an outdated model with little room for creative engagement. One of the people passionate about the re-invention of medical education is Dr. Nana Bit-Avragim, a digital health transformer and medical sciences expert. Nana is an MD/PhD, who formerly worked as Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Charité Foundation and was the Head of Digital Health and Life Sciences program at the German hub of Singularity University. In the 29th episode of Faces of digital health, Nana discusses how new cross-disciplinary models within academia in collaboration with industry and startups should be established to upgrade and rethink medical education.

Chris Johnson is a Children’s Anaesthetist with 30 years of experience in clinical practice. Chris was the medical lead for the healthcare IT transformation of the Perth Children’s Hospital in Australia, which was planned after the institution relocated into a new building, approximately 10 years ago. In the end, the robotics system was bought, but the EHR project had been stopped, leaving the hospital medical records management right where it was — on paper. Several reasons contributed to the outcome in the huge process of change management. After all, the IT support projects presented only 25% of the budget for transformation. Some questions addressed: What do anaesthetists do in practice? What are the digital trends in anesthesiology? Will doctors be replaced by automation and precision dosing algorithms? How does a tender for digital transformation of a hospital look like? Who has to be included? How long does it take? How can hospitals be more pleasant for patients? What is the role of architecture and design in the hospital?

The first episode of Faces of digital health offers a reflection on digital health in 2018, followed by a discussion on digital health in Malta. Because the country is small, the adoption of new solutions could be faster compared to bigger countries. Stefan Buttigieg, Specialist Trainee in Public Health Medicine with a special interest in Clinical Informatics, Social Media and Digital Health, and the co-chair of Health 2.0 Malta believes in the bright future ahead, driven by AI, blockchain, and younger generations. Some questions addressed: What is the state of healthcare and healthcare IT in Malta? How big is the digital health community in Malta? What is the funding situation like for digital health in Malta? Is the national optimism and plans for digitilization driven by understanding or general hype of technologies such as artificial intelligence or blockchain?

In 2012, right after finishing his PhD in neurobiology, Martin Inderbitzin got a rare type of pancreatic cancer. He found his strength in another patient's story. Martin's doctor told him about another young man, who survived and was now skiing in the mountains. For the doctor that was an anecdote, for Martin a mantra that kept his spirits up, every time he received a piece of bad news. He started thinking how impactful stories of others with similar struggles to our own can be. To help other patients like him, he started a media project My Survival Story. In the 25th episode of Faces of digital health Martin shares his knowledge regarding how to be a good presenter, and what is the role of digital health in mental health.

What mistakes are entrepreneurs making? Why does the US seem like a better starting point compared to Europe in the early stages? How to look for support in the most initial stages of a company? In this episode: digital health investments and opportunities for startups. The speaker in this episode Jack van Lint. He is the Corporate Finance Director at NLC The Healthtech Venture Builder - a healthcare accelerator and incubator from the Netherlands supporting early-stage startups. *** Additional episodes on financing: Ep. 18:What Forces Are Reshaping Early Stage Digital Health Funding? Recap: http://bit.ly/2Lblw1S iTunes: https://apple.co/2rHsumF Podbean: http://bit.ly/2C9dqEf Ep. 12: Rethinking the Patient as Customer, Payment Models & Funding OptionsRecap: http://bit.ly/2zYLOjD Podbean: http://bit.ly/2QStm5O iTunes: https://apple.co/2UF4YUk Ep. 10 and 11: Tackling the German Healthcare System Recap: http://bit.ly/2rx11E3 iTunes: Ep. 10: https://apple.co/2Py87l7 Ep. 11: https://apple.co/2RTK6H7 Podbean: Ep. 10: http://bit.ly/2C8maKU Ep.11: http://bit.ly/2rwsaqB

In November 2018, Associated Press shocked the global medical community with a news from China: A Chinese researcher claimed that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies. He edited the genes of twins with CRISPR/Cas9 technology, with the aim to make the babies resistant to possible future infection with HIV, the AIDS virus. The medical community was more or less unanimous in condemnation of the act because CRISPR technology is so new. This was not the only news that resonated in global news in December: the startup Nebula Genomics announced it is offering free genome sequencing, in which the ownership and control of the data would be in individual's hands. Furthermore, patients could make money with their data, as the company predicts that companies and research organizations would be willing to pay for the cost of sequencing if in exchange they also get some key medical information about the person involved. The expert in this episode is Natalie Pankova. Natalie has a medical background but currently work as a COO of SHIVOM - a global genomics blockchain company, targeting developing countries first, to discover the genetic specifics of various ethnicities, which could improve drug development and help uncover, why certain ethnicities don’t respond to specific drugs.

In the broadest possible sense, patient centricity is a mental shift from WHAT is done for the patient in the healthcare system, to HOW things are done. The HOW may include the used technology but also includes the environment. Walter Werzowa - Austrian composer, producer, and owner of LA-based music production studio Musikvergnuegen, and prof. dr. Klaus Laczika - An Austrian specialist in Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics and Pediatrics, have been researching the effect of music on patients in the ICU for the last decade. They share their insight into the meaning of the environment in the care setting. The next indispensable piece of equipment will have to be earphones. Denise Silber, on the other hand, has been working for more than 20 years in the area of patient centricity and how to raise the patient-includedness in the healthcare system. She and Raquel Correia, a Paris based GP and an advisor to digital health startups share their views on what needs to be changed to prevent doctor burn-outs and enable them the basic conditions to offer their patients time and empathy in treatment.

This episode is a recap of a few talks at 2018 Exponential Medicine. You will hear thoughts on interoperability, practical use of AI in enterprises, some bold ideas about the future medicine thanks to digital innovation by Vinod Khosla, and lucid thoughts regarding the affordability of novel digital health solutions and how we should reframe our thinking about management and leadership to improve global health. Speakers in episode 22: Shannon Sartin, Executive Director of the US Department of Digital Service at Health and Human Services, Lonnie Rae, the founder of a healthcare startup MEDAL, which is working on gathering patient data from various sources such as faxes, paper, and EHR system, Rajeev Ronanki, SVP & Chief Digital Officer, Anthem, Vinod Khosla, Founder of Khosla Ventures, Dr. David Bray, Executive Director for the People Centered Internet coalition. Other speakers from Exponential Medicine, featured in other episodes of this podcast: Shafi Ahmed - F018 Can Bolivia become the global digital health role model? https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ei4fi-9a22c0 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/si/podcast/f018-can-bolivia-become-global-digital-health-role/id1194284040?i=1000420000966&mt=2 Shawna Butler - How are nurses shaping healthcare? https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-fzgvh-96c074 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/si/podcast/f017-how-are-nurses-shaping-healthcare-shawna-butler/id1194284040?i=1000417338206&mt=2 Walter Greenleaf - F011 Will VR decrease drug expenditure? https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-jexte-9151db iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/si/podcast/f011-will-vr-decrease-drug-expenditure-walter-greenleaf/id1194284040?i=1000411634982&mt=2 Rasu Shrestha - F006* Rasu Shrestha at SXSW: “Healthcare shouldn’t be about survival but about thrival” https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-i7hfx-8d4b05 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/si/podcast/f006-rasu-shrestha-at-sxsw-healthcare-shouldnt-be-about/id1194284040?i=1000406445223&mt=2 Ashish Atreja - 020 USA Healthcare Leaders - How Far From Collaboration First, Competition Later Relationship…? (Rasu Shrestha - UPMC; Mitesh Rao - Stanford; Ashish Atreja - Mount Sinai) https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-z627w-7e395f iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/si/podcast/020-usa-healthcare-leaders-how-far-from-collaboration/id1194284040?i=1000394079542&mt=2 Recap of all the episodes: https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health

In 2017 media started reporting on promising blockchain projects inside the US Center for Disease Control (CDC). The hopes are that blockchain could help decrease the burden of reporting of epidemics, antibiotic prescriptions and the opioid crisis in the USA. In this episode, health IT specialist Jay Jemal talks about what potentials of blockchain were recognized by the Center for disease control in the USA. Jay Jemal is a solutions architect with the CDC, who is exploring how emerging technologies for data collection and analysis could benefit public agencies. In the past few years, he helped design collection systems for outbreaks such as Ebola, anthrax, E.coli. Recap of this episode: https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/f021-what-is-the-cdc-doing-with-blockchain-36c15dac3603 More on blockchain in healthcare: F020 Blockchain, value of data, and the role of legislation with adoption (Ray Dogum, Health Unchained) - https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/f020-blockchain-value-of-data-and-the-role-of-legislation-with-adoption-ray-dogum-health-80919d909e97 iTunes: https://lnkd.in/g9sbdnp Podbean: https://tjasazajc.podbean.com/e/f020-blockchain-value-of-data-and-the-role-of-legislation-with-adoption-ray-dogum-healthcare-unchained/ More on blockchain in healthcare: If you’re a regular listener of this show, you’ve heard quite a few episodes on blockchain in healthcare by now - The basics of what blockchain technology is and how it could be used in healthcare, misconceptions around blockchain, and it’s actual potential around interoperability, I recorded a panel at SXSW where various speakers talked about blockchain in pharma, personal health records and identity management with blockchain. Here are the direct links to the episodes: Episode 14 of Medicine today on digital health - What is blockchain and how fast could it be applied in healthcare: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/014-blockchain-in-healthcare-how-how-fast-could-it/id1194284040?i=1000389721696&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-na6nf-7e3965 Episode 23 of Medicine today on digital health - Misconceptions about blockchain: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/023-misconceptions-around-blockchain-what-it-will-not/id1194284040?i=1000397151361&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-3s9bh-7efd59 F007 The hype and the hope around blockchain (SXSW panel discussion): iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f007-hype-hope-blockchain-in-healthcare-michael-dillhyon/id1194284040?i=1000407073820&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vimnn-8db4e0 F008 How do sex, blockchain and medical anthropology go together: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f008-how-do-sex-blockchain-medical-anthropology-go/id1194284040?i=1000408108683&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ew3f9-8e8f7a

An update on the current landscape of healthcare blockchain projects, when can we expect practical implications, what the role of legislation will be, and how genomics research, AI and blockchain make a good combination. Intrigued? Listen to Ray Dogum - the host of Health Unchained - podcast focused on blockchain projects and implementation in healthcare. His background is in Health Sector Management and currently is a project manager at American Well, a telehealth company in Boston. More on blockchain in healthcare: If you’re a regular listener of this show, you’ve heard quite a few episodes on blockchain in healthcare by now - The basics of what blockchain technology is and how it could be used in healthcare, misconceptions around blockchain, and it’s actual potential around interoperability, I recorded a panel at SXSW where various speakers talked about blockchain in pharma, personal health records and identity management with blockchain. Here are the direct links to the episodes: Episode 14 of Medicine today on digital health - What is blockchain and how fast could it be applied in healthcare: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/014-blockchain-in-healthcare-how-how-fast-could-it/id1194284040?i=1000389721696&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-na6nf-7e3965 Episode 23 of Medicine today on digital health - Misconceptions about blockchain: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/023-misconceptions-around-blockchain-what-it-will-not/id1194284040?i=1000397151361&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-3s9bh-7efd59 F007 The hype and the hope around blockchain (SXSW panel discussion): iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f007-hype-hope-blockchain-in-healthcare-michael-dillhyon/id1194284040?i=1000407073820&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vimnn-8db4e0 F008 How do sex, blockchain and medical anthropology go together: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f008-how-do-sex-blockchain-medical-anthropology-go/id1194284040?i=1000408108683&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ew3f9-8e8f7a Unity Stoakes interviews: From the StartupHealth Festival, with Esther Dyson and Steven Krein: https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/f-002-is-it-possible-to-to-improve-the-health-and-wellbeing-of-everyone-in-the-world-9f37553371d5 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/f002-is-it-possible-to-to-improve-health-wellbeing/id1194284040?i=1000400746280&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ghm4h-853c2e Episode 003 of Medicine today on digital health - How did a digital health vision end up in the oval office iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/003-how-did-digital-health-vision-end-up-in-oval-office/id1194284040?i=1000380325225&mt=2 Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-xp5r5-7e3972

The key topic of today’s episode is pharmacy related robots, which will be presented by Lea Dias - a pharmacist by profession, who now works predominately as an advisor for international hospitals looking to implement robotic hardware and EHR software solutions to improve patient care. She comes from Australia, so we also touched upon the latest big digital health project in Australia - the digitization of medical records of all Australians.

In 2014, Shafi Ahmed removed a tumor from the liver and bowel of a patient in what was the first operation streamed live online using Google Glass. The procedure to remove was watched live via computer or mobile phone by 13,000 surgical students, healthcare professionals and members of the public in more than 100 countries. Two years later Shafi performed an operation on a British cancer patient using virtual reality technology, again with a large global online audience. He is undoubtedly a driver of change in healthcare with his next big project of leading the First-Ever Fully Digital Hospital in Bolivia. You heard it right, Bolivia - the South American country with 12 million people, where only 6.3% of the GDP goes to healthcare. Can a country like this become the global digital health leader?

Shawna Butler in an entrepreNURSE. She had a wide range of experiences in emergency medicine, cardiac, critical care, international medical flight transport, and workplace wellness. She is part of the Exponential Medicine where the focus is on the opportunities presented by robotics, AI, VR, machine learning, supercomputing, genetic sequencing, blockchain, 3D printing, drones. With her curiosity and drive towards a better health she has shaped and launched various initiatives: the EntrepreNURSE-in-Residence role in the Netherlands, an enterprise-wide digital radiology solution, an international emergency medicine training rotation between a US medical school and a New Zealand hospital system, and the Cancer XPRIZE focused on early detection. Listen also to episode 16 with Rebecca Love, the co-founder of hirenurses.com. Recap of the topic: https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/f016-why-arent-nurses-included-in-innovation-process-more-2a24ffc94e68

Nurses and midwives account for nearly 50% of the health workforce. While being an important group of healthcare stakeholders, they are often overlooked, especially when talking about innovation. However, they are very innovative and creative. According to Rebecca Love, an experienced Nurse Entrepreneur, nurses do around 27 workarounds per shift. This means 27 times per day they use technology or care differently from the innovator's expectation. But to be efficient and deliver the best care possible this is a must. Questions addressed: What are the difference between doctors and nurses regarding salary and liability?How can entrepreneurship be encouraged among nurses?Where can nurses be most entrepreneurial?If nurses get a seat at the table, what power shift could that bring?Hirenurses.com is a mother-daughter company. How does that collaboration look like?

Esther Wojcicki is an accomplished journalist and a teacher with a very successful family. Her husband Stanley is Stanford University professor of physics and together three daughters: Susan (CEO of YouTube), Janet, a Fulbright-winning anthropologist, epidemiologist and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and researcher, and Anne (co-founder of 23andMe). In the short discussion during the Webit festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, Esther talked about how we learn, changes in the way we interact due to technology, the role of parents in education and of course 23andme, a little bit of politics and how the US healthcare system affects society. Esther holds an honorary doctorate from Palo Alto University (2013) and from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) 2016. Among many many other things she is the founder of the Moonshots in Education Movement (MiE). Learn more: http://www.moonshotsedu.com

John Nosta has been holding a strong position as the number one influencer in the digital health space for quite a few years. His career started in a research lab at Harvard Medical School, until he redirected his creative energy into marketing. About six years ago John founder of NostaLab — a think tank helping life sciences companies navigate change by addressing their problems through unconventional thinking and leveraging creativity. Before that he worked for MedTech and Pharma companies to help them communicate the right idea to the right audience. Some questions addressed: Are we losing control over the data?What’s the potential of voice recognition software? Can we avoid data gathering today? What are companies doing wrong when communicating their vision? Can innovation be born in large clinical institutions or do they mostly work as echo chambers?