Faces Of Digital Health

If social media and smartphones are the root cause of the new mental health epidemic in younger generations, how successful can digital interventions be in addressing mental health issues? In this discussion, recorded at Digital Health and AI Innovation Summit in Boston in October, Katherine Wolfe-Lyga, Mental health professional and former college administrator, Vice President at BetterMynd, discussed: Digital Mental Health Interventions: Digital health solutions, especially telehealth, have improved access to mental health care, particularly for students in rural areas and those reluctant to seek help in person. The stigma around seeking mental health care is still significant but decreasing. Equity and Access: Colleges have become more inclusive, admitting students from underprivileged backgrounds who often face challenges that current campus support systems are not fully equipped to address. Digital interventions are helping bridge these gaps. Impact of Smartphones and Social Media: The pervasive use of

In this episode of Faces of Digital Health, Michael, an experienced innovator with over 80 patents and a professor in multiple countries, joins to discuss the future of digital health. The conversation dives deep into the concepts of innovation, patent strategies, and the challenges in digital health funding. Michael shares his insights on current investment trends, the future of healthcare, and the potential of technologies like AI and digital tools to redefine medicine. Website: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/ Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Key Points: The Role of Patents in Innovation: Michael holds 80 patents, but only a few have translated into successful innovations. Patents serve as a starting point for innovation, not necessarily as a direct path to commercialization. Challenges in Patent Development: The difficulty in checking if something has already been patented due to the 18-month confidentiality period. Patenting as a strategy to establish a foundation for future projects and sta

Better is a healthcare IT provider of a healthcare data platform, low-code tools that help healthcare organisations to rapidly build applications that suit their specific need and hospital medication management software, working across 20 markets. In this episode, based on 30+ years of experience, Tomaz Gornik, CEO of Better explained: - what is a data platform in healthcare, - what motivates vendors to NOT lock customers in their systems - EHDS implementation from the healthcare IT perspective, - the power of legislation and tender processes in shaping the future of digital health, - how do digital health vendors get the first customer in healthcare, - How do companies survive the long sales cycles - 3 or more years in public systems, and how is this impacting their business models, - the role of design in health, - and more. Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/

There are over 200 hospital trusts in the UK, encompassing more than 1,200 hospitals. With those numbers and a population of 67 million, the United Kingdom represents quite a large market. However, selling to the NHS is anything but easy. Mindy Simon is Co-Director at the NHS Innovation Accelerator. She is responsible for the program's execution and provides guidance to innovators and startups that already have customers. In this episode, Mindy talked about the importance of gaining visibility within the NHS, which she says is the biggest struggle for startups. We also discussed tender processes that contribute to innovation procurement and the challenges related to the requirements in tenders. For example, startups need to be mindful of their carbon emissions—how much space software uses in the cloud or how equipment is disposed of, if you're a provider of hardware. Apply for the accelerator by 14 October 2024: https://nhsaccelerator.com/apply/apply-nia-2025-intake/ Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Daniel Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard trained physician-scientist, inventor and entrepreneur focused on accelerating much improved future of health and biomedicine at the convergence of accelerating technologies and human innovation. He is the founder of NextMed Health & Digital.Health, Chairs the XPRIZE Health Alliance, and is a sought after speaker on the future of medicine, with 6 TED & TEDMED Talks.   Join NextMed Health in December 2024 in San Diego: https://www.nextmed.health/ In this discussion, Daniel talks about:  - Basic Health Practices: The importance of sleep, diverse food, exercise, and social connections as foundational health practices, alongside high-tech tools. - Longevity vs. Healthspan: The discussion shifts from living longer (longevity) to improving the quality of life in later years (healthspan), through proactive health measures. - Behavior Change is Key: Digital health innovations, while advanced, still face challenges in encouraging sustained behavior change, which is crucial for

This episode features Dr. Chelsea Sumner discussing NVIDIA's significant role in healthcare, particularly in its work with AI startups. Key areas of focus include NVIDIA’s contributions to medical imaging, genomics, and drug discovery, and its innovative tools like Clara and NIMs. The conversation highlights how NVIDIA collaborates with startups, its global footprint, and insights into AI’s transformative potential in healthcare. Key Points: NVIDIA’s Role in Healthcare: GPUs in Healthcare: NVIDIA's graphics processing units (GPUs) power AI and are pivotal in medical imaging, genomics, and drug discovery. Clara Platform: A suite of healthcare-focused AI tools supporting genomics (Parabricks), medical imaging (Moni), robotics (Isaac), and drug discovery (BioNemo). Collaboration with Startups: Inception Program: NVIDIA supports over 3,000 healthcare startups globally, offering them tools, resources, and access to venture capital (VCA). Diverse Startup Sizes: Startups range from small two-person teams t

This episode gives an in-depth insight into healthcare digitalization in Portugal. Cátia Sousa Pinto, Head of Global Digital Health and International Affairs at SPMS - shared services of ministry of health of Portugal talked about healthcare digitalization in Portugal, European Health Data Space (EHDS), patient data and more. Key Points Summary Portugal's Digital Health System Design: To accelerate digital health development, Portugal created a national eHealth agency (SPMS) over a decade ago. SPMS Role: SPMS plays a dual role, not only regulating but also developing and maintaining ICT solutions for Portugal's healthcare system. This centralization helps prevent fragmentation and ensures interoperability. European Health Data Space (EHDS): EHDS is the EU's regulatory framework for cross-border health data sharing, building on initiatives like MyHealth@EU. The goal is to allow seamless healthcare across Europe, where any EU citizen can access healthcare in other countries as if they were at home. My

In this episode Anne Forsyth, Director of Clinical Applications and Support at Women’s College Hospital in Canada, discusses the challenges and opportunities in optimizing healthcare IT systems, particularly in data management and digital literacy. She shares her experiences transitioning from a policy role to a hospital setting and emphasizes the importance of data governance, workflow design, and continuous improvement in digital health projects. Key Takeaways: Community and Collaboration: Canada’s digital health community is a significant asset in advancing healthcare IT. AI and Data Standards: The adoption of AI in healthcare is promising but requires robust data governance and standards. Importance of Fundamentals: Good governance, workflow optimization, and training are crucial in creating sustainable healthcare IT systems. Digital Health Literacy: Clinicians need focused training on using digital tools correctly rather than deep technical knowledge. Cybersecurity Preparedness: Hospitals must p

In healthcare, consultants are present more often than we might realise: they work with healthcare providers to improve clinical efficiency, manage costs, implement new technologies, or streamline administrative processes. They can help with regulatory compliance, help insurance companies design new poducts, governments hire them to help with policy development, program evaluation, and implementation of new regulations.  In this episode we take a look under the hood of consultancy work, where governments make biggest mistakes and how consultants approach problem-solving. Mehdi Khaled is Internal Medicine Doctor and Fortune 50 Health Tech Executive, with over 25 years of international experience. He has helped shaping many large-scale, transformative digital health projects across four continents and within 40 health systems. As a Managing Partner at Seha, he specializes in developing and executing cutting-edge health and digital health strategies, with a strong emphasis on the meaningful use of data to drive

Catalonia published a new digitalization strategy in 2017. It set a new path of the healthcare IT infrastructure, based on open-platform approach, focusing on data persistence with the use of openEHR data specification. In this discussion, you will hear from Jordi Piera Jiménez, Director of the Digital Health Strategy Office at the Catalan Health Service and Director at openEHR International, representing organisational members. He discussed specifics of the Spanish healthcare market, how far Catalonia came since 2017, how is Catalonia building, using and updating a multi-morbidity scoring system for patients which enables easier clinical decision making, cybersecurity attacks and ultimate improvement in information security measures, and more. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Artur Olesch is Berlin-based journalist specializing in digital health, the founder of aboutDigitalHealth.com, and the editor-in-chief of ICT&Health International. In this discussion, he shares his thoughts on the European legislation of healthtech, his thoughts on most intriguing books in tech and AI, and more.  His 3 book picks:  Ray Kurzweil - Singularity is nearer  Ethan Mollick - Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI Philip E. Tetlock, Dan Gardner - Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction Show notes: 03:00 About Ray Kurzweil - Singularity is nearer  10:00 Ethical use of healthcare data - how sharing is connected to democratic values  14:00 Data analytics and data use examples and inspiration 17:00 DiGA in the field: do doctors know it  18:45 Approach to behavioral health improvement and the role of digital 20:00 Book 2: Ethan Mollick - Intelligence  22:58 Predicting disease - yes or no?  26:00 Best insights from conference, top topic: ambient intelligence systems  35:00 Hopes and fear

John Halamka is the President of the Mayo Clinic Platform and a leading expert in digital health and AI. He has traveled to 21 countries, helping to scale digital health solutions and address regulatory and ethical challenges in the reuse of healthcare data. Addressed topics in this discussion: 1. Differences in regulatory frameworks and cultural expectations across countries. 2. Comparison of the U.S. and European approaches to AI and data exchange. 3. Risks associated with generative AI and the need for a credibility scores. 4. Observations from various countries on AI adoption. Importance of local tuning for algorithm validation. 5. Data Standards and Future Trends. 6. Advice for Governments and Healthcare Institutions: Encouraging a proactive approach to AI adoption -Starting with low-risk projects and building trust and reliability. Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH9qYpFW-W8

You may not have heard about Prenuvo, but you probably know Kim Kardashian. Or perhaps you know about Prenuvo because of Kim Kardashian. Prenuvo offers whole-body MRI scans for $2500. About 3-4% of people get something discovered, 10% have detected changes that require follow-ups. Opinions about the usefulness of these scans are diverse, with some hesitation on the clinical side. At HLTH Europe, the CEO Andrew Lacy explained:

If you ever want to go to a healthcare innovation conference that doesn’t shy away from potentially controversive topics, HLTH is your place to go. In June 2024, the conference, which attracts 12,000 people in the US, came to Europe. At the center of the exhibition hall stood the Heart Stage focused on topics related to women’s health. Around it were the exhibitor booth and other stages, each designed with a different theme, each like a theatre setup that made speakers feel like stars. Why do people love going to HLTH? Because it’s focused on the experience of the attendees in “a little extra” way. The ticket includes meals, music, there were massage and hair salon in the middle of the exhibition floor, lots of evening networking events, from more formal but still unusual ones, such as the Phillips reception in a museum, to the closing evening with a concert by The Libertines. When the experience is good, and festival-live, it attracts people. When people come, you very quicky attract VIPs of the industry, wh

Debates around equity and equality, especially concerning men and women and female representation, can become heated and divisive quickly. For a long time, female bodies have been perceived merely as male bodies with different reproductive organs. However, the differences go beyond that: 80% of people with autoimmune conditions are women, 66% of Alzheimer's disease patients are women, and symptoms of cardiovascular diseases present differently in women and men, among other disparities. These health issues significantly impact women's productivity. In today's episode, you will hear a recording from the Healthcare Business Women Ljubljana meetup focused on women's health. Joy Rios, founder of HIT Like a Girl Media joined the discussion on women's health and how the unique aspects of women's health are impacting digital health companies and businesses. While less than a quarter of CEOs in digital health companies are women, in femtech companies, 76% of founders, co-founders, and CEOs are women. Website: www.

Rome was buzzing with digital health at the end of May as the HIMSS Europe conference took place at La Nuova Congress Center. Delegates from 80 countries and representatives of health ministries of 20 countries marked the event with discussions about the implementation of EHDS, the EU AI Act, and more.  In this episode, a few participants share their impressions from the discussions at the conference and the current state of healthcare digitalization in Europe. You will hear from:  Jordi Piera-Jiménez. Director of the Digital Health Strategy Office, Catalan Health Service, who shared his view and experience on data management and data standards,  Rachel Dunscombe , CEO of openEHR foundation and former the UK AI council member leading on AI in digital health and care, who presented the discussions on AI, Svava María Atladóttir, Executive Director of Development, Landspítali National University Hospital Iceland, about what it takes to build a new hospital which is what she needs to do by 2030,  Nana Odom, D

According to WHO, the global cost associated with medication errors is 42 billion US dollars. Errors can happen at the point of prescribing, transcribing from one system to the other, or administration, when the wrong patient is given either the wrong drug or the wrong dose. Medication administration errors can be prevented with the introduction of closed-loop medication management, where all points of medication handling are connected and done electronically; even medication administration is done with the help of barcode scanning of the patient barcode and medication barcode. Three European specialists from the Netherlands, UK, and Belgium recently started a European project, Asclepius, which advocated for the introduction of closed-loop medication management systems in the hospitals. They connected with colleagues from UK, France, Iceland, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden to strive for alignment on the European level. So in today’s discussion, you will hear from Patrick van Oirschot, Patrick Koch and F

The European Health Data Space is around the corner. The legislation is confirmed. How do we get to the next steps? Today you will hear a discussion with Eric Sutherland, Senior Health Economist and Digital Health Lead at OECD, who worked on the pan-Canadian health data strategy before his current role. We discussed the upcoming implementation of the European Health Data Space, what needs to happen next, how do we involve the public, encourage trust in data sharing, and also build capacity for digital health implementation. We are moving into the era of new required data professionals, not just data analysts, but also data controllers, data stewards and more.  www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Show notes: [00:02:00] - Eric Sutherland's background and transition from Canada to OECD [00:04:00] - Challenges and solutions in Canadian health data strategy, emphasizing the need for data stewardship and public engagement [00:06:00] - Importance of data interoperability and policy

AI and predictive modeling to understand an individual’s immune system function and predict treatment response are still in very early stages. We dream about precision medicine and getting every answer we can for ourselves when we get sick. However, if we look at genomics, only about 20 percent of human coding genes are well-studied. The remaining 80 percent (about 16,000 genes, along with the proteins they make) are largely a mystery.  In this episode, you will hear more about the field of immuno-oncology, understand the correlation between tumor development and immune system response, and trends in cancer detection and prevention, especially liquid biopsies - tests for detecting tumors in blood samples.  Speaker: Brian Hashemi - Executive Chairman and CEO of Novigenix - a Swiss-based biotech company using AI and RNA sequence analysis to capture the cancer immunity cycle during the multi-stage disease progression and response to therapy. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com https://fodh.substack.com/ Show notes: [0

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) brings together six Arab countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates  When one reads about the GCC countries, there’s nothing but the impression of prosperity: high investments, determination, and enthusiasm in tech-supported healthcare.  The spending on healthcare by the GCC governments is on an astronomical rise. From a regionwide US$2.4 billion in 2016, it rose to more than US$30 billion in 2021 and is projected to surpass US$104 billion this year, according to a report from the UAE Ministry of Economy.  In this episode, Pilar Fernandez Hermida International Go-to-Market expert with 20+ years of experience launching sales & partner ecosystem strategies, talks about the potential of the Middle East and MENA region for healthtech companies, the culture in the Middle East, how to interpret different style of communication here, what are the common entrepreneurial misconceptions, and where to find opportunities. Pilar says that the ent