Faces of Digital Health
F029/Xpomet ep.1: How should medical education be reinvented? (Nana Bit-Avragim, Digital Health Transformer)
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the same time, the next generations of doctors, who are supposed to embrace and use these inventions, are trained in an outdated model with little room for creative engagement.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.
F028 Anaesthesiology and the challenge of change management in hospitals (Chris Johnson, anaesthetist)
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?
F027 Can Malta be a gateway to the European market? (Stefan Buttigieg, Health 2.0 Malta)
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?
F026 Cancer and the healing power of storytelling (Martin Inderbitzin, My Survival Story)
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.
F025 How to raise money in the digital health space? (Jack van Lint, NLC Healthtech Ventures)
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.
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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
F024 Gene editing, gene therapies, and genome sequencing on blockchain (Natalie Pankova, Shivom)
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.
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