
Faces of Digital Health
387 episodes — Page 8 of 8
Ep 60F013 What to expect from artificial intelligence in healthcare in the next 10 years? (Sally Daub, Enlitic)
AI is the buzzword startups are very keen on using when describing their products. For decades, movies are full of ideas on what artificial intelligence could do in a positive and negative way. What is AI, deep learning or a simple algorithm? What is the dream and what current reality around AI? How does AI look in practice? In this episode, you will hear from Sally Daub - the CEO of Enlitic talk about the market potential of AI, the current state of the market and more. Enlitic is a San Francisco based startup using deep learning to distill actionable insights from billions of clinical cases and help doctors leverage the collective intelligence of the medical community. At the moment, the use of AI is highest in the field of medical imaging and diagnostics, drug discovery and therapy planning, but Accenture predicts that by 2026 150 billion US dollars could be saved annually due to applications to robot-assisted surgery, virtual nursing assistants, followed by administrative workflow assistance, fraud detection and dosage error reduction, to name the first few areas with most significant savings.
Ep 59F012 How advanced is China in digital health? (Bay McLaughlin & Miranda Gottlieb)
In this episode, two Americans share their insight in the healthcare development of the land with 1,4 billion people. Bay McLaughlin, Forbes contributor on tech in China and the co-founder of Brinc.io, part incubator, part accelerator, part investment fund with headquarters located in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou and satellite offices in mainland China, also London, Berlin, Helsinki, Amsterdam & soon in the USA. Miranda Gottlieb, Master’s student from Beijing, pursuing a career in global health policy and health security in the Asia-Pacific region.
Ep 58F011 Will VR decrease drug expenditure? (Walter Greenleaf, Stanford)
According to dr. Walter Greenleaf, behavioral neuroscientist and a medical technology developer working at Stanford University, interactive virtual environments significantly reduce pain from as much as 44% during the most painful procedures (ex: burn wound treatment), diverts patient attention away from perceiving and feeling pain, decreases pain-related brain-activity, reduces need for anesthesia, opioid medication. With the decrease in price, VR is getting mainstream. The technology giants such as Facebook and Samsung are making huge investments, according to Statista, 12.4 million units will be shipped worldwide in 2018, more than 5 times as much in 4 years in 2022. Listen to a conversation with dr. Walter Greenleaf, Medical Director for AppliedVR at Stanford University. He is considered a leading authority in the medical VR field with over three decades of research and development experience in the field of digital medicine and medical virtual reality technology.
Ep 57F010 Can VR help treat addiction, PTSD, ADHD and other mental health issues? (Skip Rizzo, Institute for Creative Technologies at University of Southern California)
Virtual reality has a long history. Its applications precede pure fun, by today, many therapies for medical purposes have been designed. Virtual reality has many medical applications, which you can learn about from two experts featured in Facs of digital health podcast. In episode 10 listen to dr. Albert “Skip” Rizzo, the Director of Medical Virtual Reality at the Institute for Creative Technologies at University of Southern California, and episode 12 features dr. Walter Greenleaf, the Medical Director for AppliedVR at Stanford University. Topics: addressed: How does VR differ from exposure therapy, is it more effective? What are the dangers of VR use on perception? How do you treat ADHD or PTSD with VR? Will FDA regulate VR treatments? What danger do consumers currently face?
Ep 56F009: How actionable is precision medicine data today? (Subha Madhavan, Innovation Center for Biomedical Informatics)
The two largest determinants of health are the zip code and credit scores. What does that have to do with precision medicine and genetics? Big data combined with AI hold a lot of hope on prevention and more effective disease treatments. The current reality though is that large a lot of gathered data is not actionable yet. How far is precision medicine then, today? How does precision medicine based medical care look like? Tune in episode 9 of Faces of digital health with dr. Subha Madhavan. Dr. Madhavan is the Director of the Innovation Center for Biomedical Informatics (ICBI) at the Georgetown University Medical Center in the States. She is active in several national and international research projects, and one of her latest projects is a partnership with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to develop evidence bases for pharmacogenomics and vaccine safety.
Ep 55F008: How do sex, blockchain and medical anthropology go together? (Samson Williams, Axes & Eggs)
A sex hunting anthropologist walks into a mortgage finance institution and out into the world to lead health initiatives globally; this is the fascinating tale of Samson Williams’ health career journey. Samson Williams is an entrepreneur and fintech guru. He has been an epidemiologist for the State of Florida, an Anthrax and WMD expert for DC Dept of Health and currently splits his time between serving on the DC Dept of Health’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), and as the Irish Ambassador for Crowdfunding to the EU and partner at Axes and Eggs, a blockchain and cryptocurrency consultancy based in Washington, DC. Topics addresses: How does one go from medical anthropology to a cryptocurrency mining company? How can digital health solutions help in disaster situations? Potential of blockchain in healthcare?
Ep 54F007 The hype and the hope: blockchain in healthcare? (Michael Dillhyon - Healthbank; Samson Williams - Axes & Eggs; Eugene Borukhovich - Bayer)
This is a recording of a panel discussion on blockchain in healthcare, which took place at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, during the Future for health conference at SXSW. You will hear about some interesting ongoing blockchain projects such as the CDC attempts to use blockchain in epidemiology or the Austin program using blockchain to track medical records of chronically ill homeless people. Panelists: Michael Dillhyon, Founder of Healthbank Samson Williams, Partner at Axes & Eggs, Board Member at DC Department of Health Eugene Borukhovich, Global Head of Digital Health Incubation & Innovation at Bayer
Ep 53F006* Rasu Shrestha at SXSW: “Healthcare shouldn’t be about survival but about thrival”
“Most startups are in a hurry, most of healthcare not so much. How do we deal with that?” was one of the first questions with which Rasu Shrestha, CIO at UPMC addressed his audience during the Future for health at SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. With the keynote titled “Everybody wants to innovate, nobody wants to change,” Rasu Shrestha offered his reflection on the barriers to innovation implementation. The organizer of the conference was Future for health (FTR4H), a global organization trying to bridge the robust established Medtech world with young startups. To understand FTR4H a little bit better, a short talk with the co-founder of Future for health Tom Mitchell, president of Messe Dusseldorf North America is included in the podcast. Tom talked on stage at the Future for health conference at SXSW, right before Rasu’s keynote.
Ep 52F005 How to make employees value health? (Kathleen Harris, Time Warner)
In this episode, you will hear how Time Warner, a global leader in media and entertainment with businesses in television networks and film and TV entertainment, is approaching employee health. Time Warner has more than 25.000 employees around the globe, meaning that the company faces many different country-specific regulations when it comes to the health of employees, what programmes they can offer them and what kind of analysis they can do with the data of the employees. his year's big question in healthcare is - can big corporations be the disruptors of the rigid and risk-averse industry as healthcare is? Amazon partnered with JPMorgan Chase and Warren Buffett, Apple is designing medical clinics, and Uber wants to disrupt ambulances. The healthcare industry is worth close to 9 trillion dollars globally by 2020, and some say tech giants most of all wish to get a piece of this pie. However, the critical potential for the US is a decrease in cost with new solutions and the different approach companies can have towards their employees' health. In this episode: Kathleen Harris, Vice President of Benefits at Time Warner.
Ep 51F004 Tackling mental health with digital health? (Dean Ornish - UCSF; Ritvik Singh - Psyinnovations; Richard Lee - Bravely)
According to WHO mental health disorders are generally characterized by some combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, behaviour and relationships with others. Examples are schizophrenia, depression, intellectual disabilities and disorders due to drug abuse. Most of these disorders can be successfully treated. This episode explores the characteristics of mental health disorders and why it is so hard to treat them. Hear from three speakers: Dean Ornish, Clinical Professor in Medicine, President and Director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute at University of California Sans Francisco talks about the critical aspect of depression, which is the changes in perception that prevent a depressed person to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Co-founder and CEO of Psyinnovations Ritvik Singh talks about the broadness of mental health challenges and to which extent digital solutions can help address them. Richard Lee, the CEO of a startup called Bravely, believes regular 5-minute power calls with peers can have a significant positive effect on individuals wellbeing. This is what Bravely does: short, peer to peer phone support as a replacement traditional psychotherapeutic counselling.
Ep 50F003 What is the state of digital health adoption in Africa? (Moka Lantum, MicroClinic)
Moka Lantum is an expert on the African healthcare market. We discussed healthcare IT and digital health adoption in Africa. He was nominated as 2016 Top 100 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine for his work as founder of the non-profit, 2020 MicroClinic Initiative, that recycles t-shirts into baby clothes and donates them to low-income mothers to promote safe delivery and quality post-natal care in rural Kenya. 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, among other things.
Ep 49F002 Is it possible to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone in the world? (Esther Dyson - Way to Wellville; Steven Krein, Unity Stoakes - Startup Health)
The legendary investor Esther Dyson is not a big fan of technology. She is a proponent of big ideas, demanding projects with a long-term positive influence on society. Founders of StartupHealth Unity Stoakes and Steven Krein are serial entrepreneurs, driving positive change with innovators working on technological and other innovations in healthcare and medicine. At its inception, the idea behind StartupHealth was simple and very, very, very optimistic: to improve health and well-being of every person in the world. If that seemed like a fantasy seven years ago, the organisation came a long way by now. StartupHealth connects 200 companies, so-called transformers, listed in 10 categories or as they call them - moonshots. In this episode, Esther Dyson explains why she invested in the company in its very early days. She shares her thoughts on how she sees problems society faces when it comes to health and wellbeing. Steven and Unity talk about the past, the future and the positive attitude one needs to keep trying even when things in business get tough.
Ep 48F001 How long can you live with the help of digital health? (Bertalan Mesko, The Medical Futurist)
Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD is The Medical Futurist and Director of The Medical Futurist Institute analyzing how science fiction technologies can become reality in medicine and healthcare. As a geek physician with a PhD in genomics, he is also an Amazon Top 100 author. He was featured by dozens of top publications, including CNN, the World Health Organization, National Geographic, Forbes, TIME magazine, BBC, and the New York Times. He has more than 100 GB of data about his health and fitness and made different lifestyle changes based on the analysis of the data. Wondering how long he predicts he will live? You can find, listen and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or Podbean, or use the RSS feed.
Ep 47024 Japan: where robots are friends of the elderly (Kyoko Watanabe - Defta Partners; Yuuri Ueda - Health 2.0 Asia)
Japan. The land of anime - hand-drawn or computer animations, a technological superpower with a staggering gross government debt. It accounted for 219% of GDP in 2016. The long-lasting trend of worsening fiscal situation in Japan continues alongside the increases in health and pension spending linked to population ageing which puts the upward pressure on government debt. If this is not very inspiring a lot of others specifics in the Japanese society are admired by western countries. For example unbeatable longevity. Japan is no. 1 in the world when it comes to life expectancy at birth: the average life expectancy is 83.9 years, 87.1 for women, 80.8 for men. The ageing population requires new policies and political measurements to prevent economic collapse. According to the OECD Health Statistics 2016, Japan’s total health spending accounted for 11.2 percent of its GDP in 2015, ranking third out of 35 OECD members. Only the U.S. and Switzerland spend more. Two speakers share their views in this podcast - Kyoko Watanabe - a digital health investor from Defta Partners - a leading venture capital firm focusing on innovative technologies in IT and healthcare and Yuuri Ueda, MD and Director of Health 2.0 Asia - Japan.
Ep 46023 Misconceptions Around Blockchain And What It Will NOT Solve In Healthcare? (Helen Disney - Unblocked; Navin Ramachandran - University College London)
Blockchain is a new technology, still very complicated to understand, leaving a lot of space for misinterpretations and confusion in the public. This is one of the things the 23rd episode of Medicine Today on Digital Health addresses: what blockchain can solve and what the most common misconceptions are. Questions addressed in the podcast:What are the biggest misconceptions you’ve heard around blockchain so far?What are the best implications for blockchain use in healthcare?Why is blockchain not solving interoperability?Will the patient experience in a system with a blockchain solution be different from the experience in the current system? How much should patients know?How to look at ICO projects in healthcare and what to keep an eye on? Speakers: Helen Disney, the CEO and Founder of Unblocked, a hub for Blockchain events, education and information and Dr. Navin Ramachandran, a blockchain expert from the medical world, who understands the technology, its capabilities and follows the development closely. He is a practicing radiology consultant at University College London Hospital (UCLH) and a healthcare data researcher at University College London Centre for Health Informatics & Multiprofessional Education (UCL CHIME). Read more: https://medium.com/medicine-today-on-digital-health/ep-23-misconceptions-around-blockchain-and-what-it-will-not-solve-in-healthcare-346ff6563dd2
Ep 24022 What Can We Learn About Technology Adoption from Patients with Diabetes? (David Kliff, Diabetic Investor )
If there is someone you want to ask for an opinion on diabetes management challenges it’s David Kliff, editor of Diabetic Investor — THE source of information when it comes to business aspects of diabetes. He’s been following the field closely ever since he was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 20 years ago. The problem in diabetes is not the know-how, it’s the “want to” desire that is hard to deliver to patients, he says.
Ep 25021 Is Dubai Going To Become The Global Capital of Digital Health? (Michael Stroud - Dubai Healthcare City; Brian de Francesca - VER2; Mazin A. Gadir & Osama Elhassan - Dubai Health Authority)
Dubai is one of the seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the most populous city and Emirate in the country with a GDP of 82 billion USD. It is a global business hub that keeps transforming rapidly. In October 2016, Dubai launched a citywide blockchain strategy with the objective of becoming the first blockchain powered city, driving the future economy by 2020. In this episode, you can hear: What are the strong and the weak points of healthcare innovation here? How the use of social media became a quality indicator in healthcare? Why is Dubai striving to become the global center of digital health and how is the way forward being designed? How far is the blockchain strategy in practice? Speakers: Michael Stroud — International healthcare executive from the UK, who is currently Director at Dubai Healthcare City, Brian de Francesca — CEO of a telemedicine company Ver2, based in Dubai, Mazin A. Gadir — Senior Specialist at The Executive Office for Organisational Transformation at Dubai Health Authority, Osama Elhassan — Head of e-Health Section at Dubai Health Authority. Read more: https://medium.com/faces-of-digital-health/ep-21-is-dubai-going-to-become-the-global-capital-of-digital-health-173006ac929
Ep 26020 USA Healthcare Leaders - How Far From Collaboration First, Competition Later Relationship...? (Rasu Shrestha - UPMC; Mitesh Rao - Stanford; Ashish Atreja - Mount Sinai)
IT in healthcare is at the moment usually an added layer to existing ways of working, consequently too often a source of frustration and anguish instead of aid for medical professionals. According to CB Insight, US represents 75% of the global digital health market. Hunger for better solutions is being addressed from many sides. How far are big medical institutions in the USA from being collaboration first, competition later relationship? In the 20th episode, you will get a glimpse into the attitude toward digital health solutions in three eminent US healthcare institutions - Stanford Healthcare, Mount Sinai Health System, and UPMC. Speakers: Rasu Shrestha, the Chief Innovation Officer from UPMC, Mitesh Rao, Chief Patient Safety Officer and Director of the Center for Advancing Patient Safety at Stanford Healthcare, Ashish Atreja, Chief Innovation and Engagement Officer at Mount Sinai.
Ep 27019 Is The Digital Health Revolution Just Starting? (Indu Subaiya, Health 2.0)
From todays perspective, when we already talk about practical uses of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robots in elderly care, Internet of Things, implantable, digestable and other sensor, the world 11 years ago seems unrecognisable. After all, the first iPhone and Kindle were released hardly in 2007, a year later. Then, three years later, the first iPad was on the market. But for the digital health world, 2006 was an important year. It marked the birth of Health 2.0, a global movement for use, promotion and research of digital technology for wellness, health, medicine and healthcare. Questions in the podcast: - How are new technologies changing medical practice and medical education? - How big are the differences in digital health across the globe? - How much savings can we expect in healthcare with new innovations, since the so called waste is someones revenue, consequenlty meaning that someone needs to be pushed out of the market? - What is the state of healthcare data interoperability in the USA and can it ever be tackled? - If we were listening about “unmentionables” for the last couple of years, it is now time for the so called “unacceptables”. What are they and how are they going to be hacked? More: https://medium.com/p/4021b111939b/edit
Ep 28018 What Forces Are Reshaping Early Stage Digital Health Funding? (Christian Seale; Matt Storeygard; Kyoko Watanabe; Alexander Hoffman; Clara Leonard)
How are VCs looking at the changing landscape of investment opportunities? This was the topic at the Early Stage investments panel at mHealth Israel Conference, held in Jerusalem in September 2017. The included speakers were: Christian Seale, Partner, StartupBootcamp, USA Matt Storeygard, Investor, Connecticut Innovations, USA Kyoko Watanabe, Managing Partner, Defta Partners, USA Alexander Hoffman, Merck Ventures, Germany Clara Leonard, Partner, Digital Health Ventures, Germany. The discussed topics in this podcast, are: - Is digital health really that much different from other industries when it comes to investment? - How long do investors stay with digital health companies? - What are VCs looking at in early-stage companies, since investments in the riskiest? - Which funding models are becoming obsolete? - According to Coinschedule 2,1 bn USD have been raised this year alone with ICOs by September, the biggest ones worth 265, 230, 185 million USD. What are new forms of funding such as crowdfunding and ICOs bringing to the market?
Ep 29017 Why Is Israel Called the Second Silicon Valley? (Levi Shapiro - mHealth Israel; Eyal Zimlichan - Sheba Medical; Ronny Shapiro, Shira LevAmi - Ministry of Health)
Israel is a country of 8.5 million people, attributing around 7.5 % of the GDP to healthcare. Serial entrepreneurship is the norm here, fueled by military service discipline, high population education and good ties with the best education institutions and big industry players from the USA. Digital Health is taken seriously on the national level in Israel. There is even a special Department for Digital Health inside the Ministry of Health. In this episode Levi Shapiro, entrepreneur, investor and the organizer of the mHealth Israel conference, Eyal Zimlichan, Deputy General Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Sheba Medical Center, Director of Digital Health Department at Israeli Ministry of Health Ronny Shapiro and Head of the same department Shira LevAmi talk about how the ecosystem looks like, where does the success come from and where is digital health in the country headed.
Ep 30016 How Is Digital Health Industry Reshaping Clinical Trials? (Guido Axman - Medicinisto; Alexander Puschilov - Viomedo)
Clinical trials are essential from many aspects. They are needed for assessment of safety, efficacy, and superiority of existing drugs, therapies, equipment. They are essential to an assessment of new scientific findings. However, many challenges surround them. Medicinisto is a young German startup connecting medical experts to the industry. In this episode, its CEO Guido Axman explains how the company is trying to prevent only established researchers participating in clinical trials. Researchers and clinical trial setting are the essential two components of each new project. The next challenge is finding participants. For some patients participation in a clinical trial can be a shortcut to a new therapy or a last resort for their health improvement. The industry is looking for participants through doctors, internet, patient groups, advertisement. There are many means. One option is a special agency, and this is Viomedo found an opportunity. Viomedo is a platform with a database of clinical trials in Germany, making it easier for patients from Germany to find an appropriate trial for themselves. Alexander Puschilov, the Managing Director of Viomedo, talks about how the company is connected to the industry, what challenges patients are facing when trying to get into clinical trials and how the company is solving this issue.
Ep 31015 Healthcare IT System Beyond Imagination: The Russian Way (Anna Dubovik, Government of Moscow)
In this episode Anna Dubovik, a data analyst working for the government of Moscow talks about IMIAS - Integrated Medical Information and Analytical System. It connects more than 660 clinics and over 23.6 thousand medical practitioners in Moscow. The system offers pretty much everything and more you could imagine and expect from a high-tech clinical IT system: electronic health records are stored in the cloud, managers can see real-time analysis of patient flow, online appointments, electronic prescriptions and more. How does the system work? What information are stored in it? How can an IT system be implemented across 600+ facilities? What anomalies have been detected in healthcare management? ...and more! Comments/suggestions welcome at - @zajctjasa
Ep 32014 Blockchain in Healthcare: How and How Fast Could It Be Applied? (Nadia Thibault Diakun, Chrissa McFarlane)
In this podcast, two brilliant women explain applications of blockchain in healthcare. The first expert you are about to hear from is Nadia Thibault Diakun. She was in the team of researches that wrote a whitepaper titled Blockchain and Health IT: Algorithms, Privacy, and Data. The second part of the podcast is an interview with Chrissa McFarlane, CEO and Founder of Patientory. The young startup raised 7,2 million dollars through a so-called ICO — Initial Coin Offering. What’s next? The questions addressed in the podcast are: What and where are are the biggest possible potentials for blockchain and where could it bring most benefit? What is the difference between a blockchain and already existing platforms aimed at connecting different healthcare providers? How does the idea of blockchain technology in healthcare differ from the idea of a uniform EHR system that would solve the problem of interoperability? What are the downsides/dangers of blockchain in healthcare? Who decides, who can get included in a blockchain? In May, the Wannacry virus, which compromised many IT systems around the globe, also hit many hospitals in the UK; apart from the confusion, procedures were canceled, work impossible for a while. How would this scenario be different if the hospitals were using a blockchain solution for data storage? … and more!
Ep 33013 Consumer Trackers, Sensors, Health Monitors - How Useful for How Long? (Manesh Juneja)
Do you, or have you, ever owned or tries a wearable sensor? Wearable devices for healthcare are estimated at 870 million USD today. The market is supposed to grow to 4,4 billion USD by 2019, when the digital health market is estimated to be worth 172 billion USD. In this episode Manesh Juneja talks about his experience with trackers and the issue of data accuracy in wellness and healthcare. He has worked with data to improve decision-making across a number of industries. Suggestion/comment: [email protected] or on Twitter: @zajctjasa
Ep 34012 Rethinking Business Models in Healthcare. Patients as Consumers? (Jesus del Valle, Axel Polack, Klaus Stöckemann, Dorjan Marušič, Stanislav Sirakov, Alex Farcet)
According to some estimates, it takes 17 years from a medical innovation to become a part of the standard practice in medicine. Adoption of technologies in healthcare is slow. Investments in digital health are rising - 8 billion USD was invested last year. But what does that even mean? What works, what not? What have we learned in the past years about business models in digital health? This was the topic of a Panel at INFUSE Digital Health Networking Event, organized in Ljubljana in May 2017. Top KOLs talked about why patients are different consumers than payers in other industries, what challenges are specific for digital health startups, and which mistakes are the same here as with the other startups. Speakers: Dr. Jesus del Valle, Head of Bayer’s Grants4Apps Accelerator Dr. Axel Polack, General Partner at the Joint Polish Investment fund Dr. Klaus Stöckemann, the Managing Partner at Peppermint Venture Partners Dorjan Marušič, Practicing Cardiologist, Former Health Minister of Slovenia Stanislav Sirakov, Partner at LAUNCHub Alex Farcet, Co-founder of Startupbootcamp Info/comments welcome at: @zajctjasa or [email protected]
Ep 35011 Tackling the German Healthcare System (Klaus Stöckemann, Peppermint Venture Partners, part 2)
When it comes to digitalization on a national level, German eHealth is lagging heavily behind other European countries. Fax machines still have an important place in healthcare, says Dr. Klaus Stöckemann. After obtaining his PhD in biology and pharmacology, dr. Stöckemann held several leading positions in research and development and business development. He then co-founded Peppermint VenturePartners (PVP) in 2009.
Ep 36010 Tackling the German Healthcare System (Klaus Stöckemann, Peppermint Venture Partners, part 1)
Which funding models can digital health and biotech companies count on? This was one of the main topics at the last Charite Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Berlin at the beginning of May. In this episode dr. Klaus Stöckemann, co-founder of Peppermint VenturePartners (PVP), talks about digital health and healthcare digitalization in Germany and challenges startups face when evaluating and proving the usability and value of their solutions. PVP looked at approximately 500 solutions last year. Comments, suggestions welcome on @zajctjasa or [email protected]
Ep 37009 What Do Your Genes Say About You?
In 2004, after 14 years of research, The Human Genome Project was concluded. 99,9% of the human genome was sequenced and we learned that people have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes. Genes are seen as a map to people’s health and diseases; the ultimate source of our health problems and wellbeing. Expectations of what could be explained with genetic testing are high, however, genes are a universe of the unknown. Even if a person has a predisposition for something, it is very often the environment which will or will not trigger it. Many diseases are polymorphous — more genes are included in their expression and severity. We are far from knowing all the correlations. So where are we? Sooraj Ratnakumar is a scientist with a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge. He is also the CEO of Swagene — an Indian company for medical genetics. Wondering what he thinks? Listen to the 9th episode of Medicine Today on Digital Health. Comments, suggestions welcome at [email protected] or Twitter @zajctjasa
Ep 38008 Cybersecurity in Healthcare (Sachin Gaur, InnovatioCuris)
In this episode, Sachin Gaur, a researcher, and entrepreneur in space of mobile and Internet solutions talks about cybersecurity and innovation in healthcare in India. After working and studying in Finland and Estonia, he returned to India and co-founded InnovatioCuris, a company focusing on connecting healthcare experts and looking at global innovation models and lean management processes to deliver healthcare at an optimum cost. If you just want to know more about cybersecurity, skip the first 20 minutes! Reviews, comments, and suggestions welcome at [email protected], on Twitter you can find me under @zajctjasa
Ep 39007 Is India the mHealth Paradise and How Much Improvement Can Digital Health Bring To The Country? (Prabhu Guptara, William Carey University)
It is hard to imagine the size of the country with 1.3 billion people. That is the approximate population of India. In healthcare, the country faces many challenges: a big shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas, big differences in access to healthcare, the influence of pollution and environment on population health. The healthcare system is private, the majority of expenses - 60 to 70 percent - are out of pocket. But when it comes to digital health, India looks like a promise land for developers. According to GSMA, India is now the world’s second-largest smartphone market, overtaking the US in the first half of 2016. By 2019, a third of that population - which amounts to 430 million people - is supposed to own a smartphone. Estimates of the number of mobile internet users by 2019 vary from 500 to 600 million people. In this episode, Prabhu Guptara - a Distinguished Professor of Global Business, Management & Public Policy at William Carey University, India, a Member of Boards of different companies in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland - talks about societal, political and technological challenges in terms of digital health influence on population health. Suggestions, feedback & comments welcome at: [email protected] finance.si or TW: @zajctjasa
Ep 40006 Biosensors, Not Simple Wearables Are The Way Forward In Digital Health (Anthony Turner, Linköping University Sweden)
Wearables and measurements. Which Point of Care devices are just gadgets and which ones bring actual better outcomes for patients? British researcher prof. dr. Anthony Turner, Head of The Biosensors and Bioelectronics Centre at Linköping University Sweden: “we haven’t yet made the sensors we really need, we are using the sensors that we happen to have.” That is why in recent years investors have been more interested in other sensors: ingestibles, implantables, etc. Feedback welcome on Twitter @zajctjasa
Ep 41005 Online Health Communities: A Secret Treasury of Information on Patients (Gregor Petric, Faculty of Social Sciences Ljubljana)
Internet forums have been here before smartphones and somehow, despite all the apps, they are still very much alive, especially for health information. They give patients information, support, psychological empowerment, and self-confidence. They offer doctors and developers an insight into behavior and thinking of patients. One big advantage of online forums is anonymity which gives users a certain level of confidence about the safety of their shared information. The perception, retention, and dynamics of interaction in online health communities differ from health apps and other digital health solutions. Do you know what useful data can be extracted from conversations on forums? Comments and suggestions: [email protected], Twitter: @zajctjasa
Ep 42004 Where and How Can Doctors Prescribe Apps? (Ashish Atreja, Mount Sinai)
In 2012 Cleveland Clinic experts designed the Medical Innovation Playbook – a detailed report on the diverse and rapidly evolving technology commercialization programs of the USA’s top medical centers. It includes an overview of nearly 10,000 invention disclosures, 6,400 patent applications and almost 2,000 issued patents. Many saw the opportunity in this technological revolution, by establishing incubators and accelerators inside institutions, to give their doctors a supportive environment for innovation. Not only did they get new reliable solutions, they also generated a new revenue stream. In this episode, Ashish Atreja, the Director of Sinai AppLab - a sort of incubator/accelerator inside Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York explains how they are designing and testing apps. Through clinical trials and thorough evaluation. Your feedback is valuable. Questions, comments, suggestions can be sent to [email protected] or on Twitter @zajctjasa
Ep 43003 How Did a Digital Health Vision End Up in The Oval Office? (Unity Stoakes, Startup Health)
In 2010 an idea was born: to build an army of entrepreneurs to improve health care worldwide. Only a year later the founders of StartUp Health pitched their vision to former U.S. president Barack Obama. On their January festival this year, former vice president in the Obama administration Joe Biden was one of their main speakers. According to their data, in five years, StartUp Health grew to an allegiance of more than 30.000 investors, entrepreneurs, customers from all over the globe. They are backed by Google, Amazon, Keiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic, Allianz, SAP and other prominent institutions. 4000 startups tried to get in Startup Health so far, only 180 made it. Are you curious about their mindset and interests? Co-founder Unity Stoakes explains. Your feedback is valuable. Send questions, comments, suggestions to [email protected] or on Twitter @zajctjasa
Ep 44002 Why Is It So Hard To Integrate IT Into Healthcare? (Tomaz Gornik, Marand)
Remember how if you go from central Europe to the UK or US, you can’t plug your charger into a socket, because they are different? They are not compatible. This is how a lot of medical data looks like. Data from devices in hospitals or from sensors and trackers cannot be transferred to your medical record automatically unless they are in a proper format. This can be done if systems are interoperable or compatible. In this episode, Tomaž Gornik, the CEO of an IT company Marand explains, how they managed to make the Slovenian University Children's Hospital the first paperless hospital in the country and why digitisation of healthcare is happening so slowly. Your feedback is valuable. Send questions, comments, suggestions to: [email protected] or on Twitter @zajctjasa
Ep 45001 How Useful Are Digital Health Solutions in Reality?
Healthcare and medicine are overwhelmed by innovation. There is a lot of excitement around digitization: convenience of telemedicine, electronic health records, apps, new devices. However, don't be overly excited. As Esther Dyson, a U.S. investor and opinion leader says, doctors, have values. Nurses have values. Digital solutions will not solve all the problems. But a lot of potential is there. A good example is Babylon - one of the top digital health startups enabling reliable medical advice with the help of artificial intelligence. Your feedback is valuable. Send questions, comments, suggestions to [email protected] or on Twitter @zajctjasa