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 to large-scale companies with 800+ employees. Examples of Partnerships: Mendel AI: Improved deployment efficiency by 75% using NVIDIA’s Inference Microservices (NIMs). Hippocratic AI: Developing empathetic AI avatars for patient interactions. Abridge: AI-powered clinical conversations that can generate clinical notes, saving clinicians time. What Are NIMs? NIMs (NVIDIA Inference Microservices): These microservices streamline AI model deployment, enabling faster and easier integration of AI models into applications. Key Healthcare Innovations: Genome Sequencing: NVIDIA set a world record for genome sequencing in under 6 hours, highlighting advancements in personalized medicine. GI Genius with Medtronic: AI-assisted colonoscopy tool leveraging NVIDIA’s technology to detect polyps, aiding in colorectal cancer prevention. J&J MedTech Collaboration: Connecting digital ecosystems for surgery to provide real-time insights to medical professionals. Global Healthcare Impact: NVIDIA operates in healthcare ecosystems worldwide, collaborating with startups and partners in North and Latin America, Europe, China, and APAC regions. Their technologies are integrated with global academic medical centers, research institutions, and conferences like RSNA and Health U.S. Future of AI in Healthcare: Digital Biology, Surgery, and Health: Key areas where generative AI will impact healthcare, from diagnostics to personalized treatment. Model Transparency (Model Cards): NVIDIA’s trustworthy AI initiatives include model cards, which offer transparency into AI models' development and data, aiding in mitigating bias. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

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 Health at EU: A foundational initiative that enables cross-border exchange of health data like patient summaries and e-prescriptions between EU countries. Patient Data: Catia emphasized the importance of patients controlling their health data and being able to share it across healthcare providers. This includes e-prescriptions, laboratory results, and, eventually, medical images. Portugal's National Electronic Health Record: A key project for the country is the creation of a unified electronic health record system, allowing citizens to access all of their health data, both public and private, from a single source. Use of EU Funding: Portugal has allocated €300 million from the EU's recovery funds for digital health transformation, focusing on infrastructure, citizen-centric services, and reducing the burden on healthcare professionals. Challenges and Future Outlook: The integration of digital health into national governance and improving interoperability between systems remain ongoing challenges. Katia stressed the importance of moving towards real-time, structured health data to improve future healthcare outcomes. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Show notes: [00:02:00] - Overview of Digital Health in Portugal [00:06:00] - National-Level Initiatives and Successes [00:10:00] - European Health Data Space (EHDS) and My Health at EU [00:16:00] - Cross-Border Care and Digital Infrastructure [00:20:00] - The Role of SPMS in Portugal’s Digital Health Journey [00:30:00] - Challenges and Workforce Management in Digital Health [00:34:00] - Benefits of Centralization in Small Countries [00:38:00] - Electronic Health Records and Expanding Digital Services, Secondary use of data [00:42:00] - Portugal’s National Electronic Health Record [00:46:00] - Future Vision for Health Data Integration

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, Director of Clinical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic in London, who shared her advice for clinical engineers, Diana van Stijn, Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Lapsi Health and resident of Pediatrics at UMC Amsterdam, who talked about the doctor’s perspective on the use of tech and upskilling,  Luke Evason, Consultant and Monica Kleiijn Evason, Leadership Coach and Book Author, who both talked about the patient perspective on gaps in healthcare, particulary at the transfer of children going from pediatric to adult care.  Data quality is key for quality AI, another big topic globally, with regulation outlined in Europe with the EU AI Act. Where are discussions in healthcare? The EU AI Act is here, and discussions now resolve around implementation and technical questions.  The potential of data is huge… if the data is of good quality. This doesn’t only refer to clinical notes doctors input in electronic health records, but also how other data from devices, laboratories and more flows into EHR. Oftentimes, hospitals still battle with lack of interoperability and manual transcriptions between systems or from devices for vital signs, infusions pumps, etc. to clinical systems. This creates opportunities for errors. Hospitals that have all the systems connected, need to be mindful of other challenges. Cybersecurity went well beyond teaching employees to spot phishing email. Now, third party devices can pose a cybersecurity risk, creating a whole new set of challenges and requirements. Care delivery is there for patients. Various topics were addressed at HIMSS about patients - from digital health literacy, concerns and hopes around the European health data space, there was an interoperability showcase on the showfloor which demonstrated the benefits of the European Patient Summary when patients travel abroad, of the impact of cross-border health that gives clinicians in regions outside patient’s residence valuable information about their health state. Many things are still missing though. One of them being improved patient journey, especially at the transit from pediatric to adult care. Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

This is a short documentary about medication-related patient safety. The documentary explores and offers an overview of the current challenges and technical solutions related to medication safety to raise awareness about the need to further improve medication-related patient safety. Unsafe medication practices and medication errors are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm in health care systems across the world. Globally, the cost associated with medication errors has been estimated at $42 billion USD annually. Errors can occur at different stages of the medication use process. More than 237 million medication errors are made every year in England, the avoidable consequences of which cost the NHS upwards of £98 million and more than 1700 lives every year, indicate national estimates, published online in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety. The documentary premiered on 29 June 2021. Watch the documentary and full interviews with the speakers: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/overdose-documentary Learn more about Better Meds: https://meds.better.care/ Speakers in the movie and this episode: David W. Bates, Medical Director of Clinical and Quality Analysis, Information Systems, Patient Safety Expert and Harvard MD (Clinical & Research Perspective) Professor John Horn, PharmD, University of Washington School of Pharmacy, coauthor of “The Top 100 Drug Interactions”; A Guide to Patient Management” Martina Viduka, Practicing Nurse, Co-Founder of Advosense David Kliff, author and publisher of the Diabetic Investor eNewsletter, former investment advisor, and as a person living with diabetes (Patient Perspective) Duncan Cripps, Electronic Prescribing and Medication Management Lead at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (Pharmacist Perspective) Roni Shiloh, CEO of Seegnal, MD degree, specialized in Psychiatry (CDS provider and doctor perspective) Hicham Naim, Global Head Integrated & Personalized Patient Care Program, Digital Advisory Board at Takeda (Pharma Perspective) Marinka Žitnik, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School (Research perspective Lea Dias, Clinical Pharmacist, Founder and CEO of Quaefacta Abdulelah Alhawsawi, Ex - founding Director-General of the Saudi Patient Safety Center (SPSC) Roi Shternin, Founder of the patient-led Israeli society for Dysautonomia (Patient perspective).

Brazil had over 200 million people; how many of them sleep well? I hope you’re enjoying summer and resting enough. Many people have issues with sleeping: either not sleeping enough or sleeping poorly. Oftentimes, due to poor sleep hygiene, such as drinking coffee too late in the day, being exposed to blue light from phones, tablets, or computers right before getting to bed, etc. As listed by the Cleveland clinic, poor sleep results in a lack of alertness during the day, excessive daytime sleepiness, impaired memory, poor quality of life, and relationship stress. And more serious problems ​​associated with chronic sleep deprivation are high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Other potential problems include obesity, depression, reduced immune system function, and lower sex drive. The Brazilian startup Sleepup is trying to help people with sleep issues with an over-the-counter digital therapeutic. The DTx works on a behavioral change approach determined for each user. The first step is an individual assessment of the causes of poor sleep.  You will hear from Renata Redondo Bonaldi, Co-Founder and CEO of Sleepup. We talked about various aspects of sleep issues and the role of wearables and digital health in improving sleep. If Renata had one piece of advice for sleep improvement, this is what she’d say to you: More at: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

How many times in the last year or two have you heard that patients should own their data or have control over their data? These statements sound simple but are much more complex once you start to look at the implications they might have in practice. In June,  the European Patients’ Forum Congress took place in Brussels. The topic was the digital transformation of healthcare, data sharing, and the role of patient organizations in this story.  This episode recaps some of the patient opinions at the EPF Congress. Watch the panel sessions: epfcongress.eu Read the recap: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/what-do-patients-really-think-about-data-recap-of-the-epf-congress

After several discussions about digital health in the APAC region, we are finishing the exploration in the region with a debate about healthcare digitalization in Pakistan. Pakistan has 242 million people. It’s the 5th largest population in the world. If you look at the website of the US state department, you will see advice to reconsider traveling to Pakistan. Life expectancy is low; the country attributes only 1.1 % of its GDP to healthcare. Yet, as mentioned by Zahid Ali, HIMSS Future50 Health IT Leader 2021, A digital health and innovation thought-leader and Consultant, the strategy Pakistan took in the fight against COVID was recognized by WHO as exemplary. So what is the state of healthcare digitalization in the country, and what can other countries learn from Pakistan? That’s the topic of today’s discussion. Do check out other episodes about the APAC region: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/digital-health-in-apac-an-overview-keren-priyadashini-microsoft-asia facesofdigitalhealth.com 

Dr. Keren Priyadashini is Regional Business Lead of Worldwide Health for Microsoft Asia. She leads the company’s healthcare business segment across 17 markets in Asia Pacific. Looking at digital health investments in the APAC region, according to Galen Growth Asia, last year China took the highest amount of funding (58.6%) for digital health, followed by India (22.3%), Australia (5.6%), Soth Korea (4.3%), and Singapore (3.8%). Healthcare expenditure differs a lot among countries: According to the World Bank, China attributed 5,3% of its GDP to healthcare, India 3%, Australia 9.91 %, Singapore 4%. How do these healthcare systems differ and does healthcare expenditure relate to investment in digitalization? More content at: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth.com

Many cancer survivors in long-term remission are faced with restricted access to financial services because of their medical history. Some EU countries have already implemented the right to be forgotten - a right for patients to not disclose their medical history. In most countries, the requirement is for the patient to be cancer-free for 10 years, France has changed this time limit to 5 years. Changes across Europe are happening very slowly. The understanding of the problem is poor and needs a lot more awareness. The incidence of cancer is increasing, however, at the same time, treatments are becoming more successful, returning long-lasting health to patients. Due to this scientific advancement, social care and policies should be changed as well.  Dr. Françoise Meunier is Member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine, she was Director General of European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer for 24 years from 1991 to 2015. She is also a Scientific Member of the European Cancer Patient Coalition. She has been advocating for the right to be forgotten for almost 10 years. This is just an excerpt of a broader episode published in autumn 2022.

In the previous episode we explored healthcare and the position of doctors in Malaysia. Today and in the next few episodes, we will stay in the Asia Pacific region, by peeking into Australia, Pakistan Singapore, and more. My guest today is Peter Birch, creator, and host of Talking HealthTech; an Australian podcast and membership community about technology in healthcare. In the past, Pete has been running clinics, and software companies, he is still company Director at MetaOptima, creating intelligent technology to help doctors detect and treat skin cancer. He is also the company Director of the Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA), representing the software vendors of the healthcare industry in Australia. Clearly, Pete has a good understanding of tech challenges in healthcare which he shared in this discussion. We talked about the current state of My Health Record, why is Australia not a leader in exemplary telehealth solutions, what it means that the government plans to dedicate 107 million Australian dollars to invest in digital healthcare infrastructure, and more. Other episodes about Australia: Australia, AI and co-design of digital health solutions (Marie Johnson): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/australia-ai-and-co-creation-of-digital-health-solutions-marie-johnson?rq=australia F105 The state of healthcare digitalization in Australia (Louise Schaper, AIDH): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f105-the-state-of-healthcare-digitalization-in-australia-louise-schaper-aidh?rq=australia F115 Primary healthcare digitalisation in New Zealand, Australia, UK and US (Dimitri Varsamis): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/us-new-zealand-australia-uk-primary-care-digitisation?rq=australia REFLECTIONS: A transocean podcast session (Joy Rios, Bianca Rose Phillips, Tjasa Zajc): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/reflections-a-transocean-podcast-session-joy-rios-bianca-rose-phillips-tjasa-zajc?rq=australia

In the previous episode, you could listen to Dr. Abeyna Bubbers-Jones - Founder & CEO - of Medic Footprints. Medic Footprints is a UK-based company, with a mission to bring various career opportunities to doctors. The projections of clinical workforce shortages are grim. WHO estimates a projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030, mostly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. The previous and this episode explore the doctor’s perspective on career development and opportunities in and outside of healthcare. In the UK in the previous episode and in Malaysia in this one. You will hear from Selina Chew - the founder of Medic Footprints Malaysia, which is a franchise of the UK organization. Its mission is the same: to empower doctors to look value their skills and look for new career opportunities if they feel stranded in their current situation. Selina talked about her own experience as a doctor, and the rigidity of hierarchy in healthcare which makes it very difficult for doctors to have autonomy in their work, and have a say in how healthcare should be run. We also briefly discussed the state of healthcare in Malaysia. With this episode, we are diving into conversations about healthcare and digital health in the APAC region. We will start with Malaysia, and continue with Australia and a few other countries as well. Recap of the two episodes: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/what-do-doctors-want-abeyna-bubbers-jones-medic-footprints https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/ Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

WHO estimates a projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030, mostly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. However, countries at all levels of socioeconomic development face, to varying degrees, difficulties in the education, employment, deployment, retention, and performance of their workforce.  In a recent survey of 20.000 doctors from 124 institutions in the US 1 in 5 said they plan to exit healthcare in the next 5 years. The pandemic hasn’t only brought different strains to healthcare workers, It has also radically redefined ways in which work can be done. Generations today have different expectations of their working conditions and career development. In this episode, you’re going to hear a bit more about what do doctors want? Speaker: Dr. Abeyna Bubbers-Jones - Founder & CEO - of Medic Footprints. Medic Footprints is a UK-based company, with a mission to bring various career opportunities to doctors. May it be inside or outside healthcare. In the episode, she talks about what options doctors have and also how to find the right medical professional for your company if you’re hiring someone with a medical background. Visit the website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Is it time to stop talking about digital health and just focus on health? Where, in which department, do digital health innovations fit within Pharma? Do we expect too much in terms of the speed of digital health innovation in Pharma? These were just some of the questions discussed at SPELLED OUT: Digital Health and Pharma event. SPELLED OUT is a group name of a series of events organised by Curated Health and Faces of digital health, with which we wish to bring clarity to specific digital health-related topics. The debate was moderated by Tjaša Zajc, host of Faces of digital health and Hicham Naim, the founder of Curated Health, also working at Takeda as Head of Strategy, Transformation & Innovation, Data Digitam & Technology. Speakers: Paul Simms, CEO of Impatient Health, Jennifer Butler, Chief Marketing Officer at Medisafe  Jessica Shull, Director of Digital Therapeutics at Vicore Pharma AB Christophe Jauquet, International keynote Speaker on making customers healthy & happy. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth.com

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 Francine de Stoppelaar talk about the need for improved medication safety. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Show notes: Main Discussion: [00:01:00] Medication administration errors can be prevented with the introduction of closed-loop medication management, where all points of medication handling are connected electronically. Guest Introductions: [00:04:00] Patrick van Oswalt ("Pat"), a veteran in hospital pharmacy with a focus on digitalization and closed-loop medication management strategies. [00:05:00] Francine de Stoppelaer, a clinical pharmacist with a 25-year career in healthcare leadership, notably involved in building and operating the Cleveland Clinic London. [00:06:00] Patrick, with a background in medical imaging and pharmacy automation, emphasizes the need for digital transformation in hospital pharmacies. Challenges and Solutions: [00:08:00] Discussion on medication safety across Europe, highlighting the significant number of medication errors and associated costs. Specific examples include 19,000 deaths per year in Germany due to medication errors. [00:10:00] Explanation of closed-loop medication management and barcode scanning at the bedside to ensure the right medication reaches the right patient. [00:14:00] Different approaches to medication management in various countries, focusing on the importance of digital and automated processes. Implementation Strategies: [00:16:00] Discussion on where hospitals should start when considering digital transformation for medication safety, highlighting the importance of electronic prescribing and bedside scanning. [00:18:00] The experience of implementing a fully digital hospital at Cleveland Clinic London, including workforce planning and gaining buy-in from healthcare professionals. Project Overview: [00:20:00] Introduction to the Asclepius project and its goals to harmonize medication management workflows across Europe. [00:22:00] Highlighting the need for standardization in medication databases and the varying approaches to medication management across different countries. Impact and Future Directions: [00:24:00] The potential impact of digital and automated medication management on patient safety, efficiency, and sustainability. [00:26:00] Encouraging adoption of best practices and the importance of measuring and monetizing the benefits of closed-loop systems. [00:28:00] Challenges in convincing decision-makers and ensuring effective implementation amidst existing workloads.

When the war in Ukraine began, Marta Kaczmarek welcomed one of the refugee families to her home. She then thought about how more could be done to help Ukrainians and started an incentive called EIT Health Ukraine. EIT Health, which is a European organsation connecting stakeholders in healthcare, partnered with the Polish Medical Mission. PMM is a 22 years old Polish humanitarian organization that provides medical aid to the countries most in need in the world. Since 1999, the Polish Medical Mission Association has been helping victims of wars, catastrophes and natural disasters. Their volunteers include doctors, paramedics, nurses, rehabilitators, as well as psychologists and medical analysts.  In this episode, speakers: Ewa Piekarska, President of the Board, Head of the Development Aid Program, Polish Medical Mission andMarta Kaczmarek, Coordinator of the EIT Health Ukraine Appeal explain the current needs for medical support, what supplies are in demand and more.  EIT Health Ukraine appeal is ongoing, so if you’re a medical device manufacturer or have the ability to donate medical equipment, please go to the link in the show notes and coordinate with EIT Health to provide help to Ukraine. Please complete the form on EIT Health’s website: https://eithealth.eu/ukraine-appeal/    This episode is supported by EiT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs. And as you will hear from Marta, it doesn’t matter if you’re a startup, a small or a large business. If you would like to contribute to support Ukraine, anything you can do to help, will help.

Jennifer Schneider used to be the Chief Medical Officer and President of Livongo. In 2022 she started a company focused on improving access to healthcare in rural America. More than 46 million Americans, or 15 percent of the U.S. population, live in rural areas. Now the company called Homeward is on the mission to deliver care to those who don’t have it, starting in rural America. In this discussion, you’ll hear more about the challenges related to rural health, how could care be brought to the community instead of patients needing to travel two to five hours for a 15 minutes visit, and more. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Voice could be called one of the exciting new avenues for medicine and healthcare: first, it is seen as a potential optimization tool, if we used voice tech instead of typing data into software. A few months ago, Julia Hoxha, the CEO of Zana explained how her European startup that provides healthcare organizations with the technology to design and to deploy their own chatbot and voice assistants. In the future, we might discover biomarkers in voice. After all, all the characteristics of voice - how loud or how quiet we speak, what tone do we use, how fast or slow we talk - all these characteristics probably have a correlation with something. But what about starting with something much simpler? Analysing voice recordings that already exist? US company Authenticx listens, analyzes, and activates customer voices. The AI-based software analyzes millions of conversations patients have with customer support agents through phone calls or emails. By analysing these conversations, it unveils recurring trends that healthcare organizations use to make informed, proactive decisions for improved workflows and care.  In this discussion you will hear from Amy Brown, executive with 20 years of public and private sector experience in health care public relations, startup management, policy development, quality improvement and insurance operations. Enjoy the show and browse through other episodes on: facesofdigitalhealth.com 

Investments in digital health have been steadily rising for the last seven years. 6.2 billion dollars were invested in digital health startups in 2015, 44 billion in 2022, according to Startup Health. Startup Health is a US-based organisation supporting digital health innovators across the world and globally spreading optimism about the potential of technology in healthcare. The vision that drives that optimism is the hope that we can bring access to healthcare to everyone in the world, that we can beat cancer and cure diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer’s. That vision is important because healthcare innovation is not for the faint-hearted and as health indicators show, currently, life expectancy and health are worsening across the world, says co-founder and president of Startup Health Unity Stoakes. The market is maturing, he says, which is also seen in the number of companies that attract investments. The total amount of investments has been increasing for several years, but th number of companies that are invested in, is staying roughly the same - it’s just that some companies are maturing and raising higher amounts of funding. In this discussion you will hear Unity Stoakes talk about his reflection of Startup Health which is already 11 years old, he talked about the global expansion of Startup Health, why we need to think about healthcare innovation less locally, more globally, and also why we still need much more investments in the future. If you want to go down the memory lane of digital health, you can also tune in to the interview with Unity in 2017: https://podcasts.apple.com/si/podcast/faces-of-digital-health/id1194284040?i=1000380325225

Hassan Chaudhury is a global healthcare expert, he worked in several countries across the world. He currently works at Healthcare UK; a joint initiative of the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the Department for International Trade (DIT). His global role includes advising commercial teams in over 100 UK embassies. In this discussion, we chatted about the digital transformation of healthcare and social care in the UK and Hassan’s experience with countries across the world. Which innovations are reasonable to implement in healthcare today? And which technologies are currently not ready for prime time just yet. You might be surprised by Hassan’s opinion.  Read an excerpt:

Therapies for cancer are being developed at light speed and upward of 60 gene and cell therapies are projected to reach regulatory approval in the U.S. by 2030, according to the MIT NEWDIGS collaborative. Due to the nature of cancer, readiness for risks in drug development is much higher here than it might be in other medical fields. In this episode you’re going to hear a bit more about what can digital health innovation learn from the mindset present in oncology development.  Sean Khozin is the CEO of CancerLinQ, a non-profit health technology company focused on improving quality of care and health outcomes for all patients with cancer. He was the Global Head of Data Strategy and Data Science Innovation at Johnson & Johnson, before that he co-founded Hello Health, a technology company focused on developing integrated telemedicine, point-of-care data visualization, and advanced analytical systems for optimizing patient care and clinical research. He was also the Founding director of a digital health incubator inside the FDA.  You will hear a little bit about processes in oncology, innovation in oncology, the promise of decentralized clinical trials and more. Leave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

In this episode, founders of four very different companies talk about their fundraising experiences. As critically mentioned by Fouad Al-Noor - Co-Founder & CEO - ThinkSono - we should stop talking about the myth that startups search for investors that can offer strategic benefits. It’s true, but fundraising is still primarily about getting money to be able to start a business. The key thing, in the end, is also to find an investor you like as a person. This will be crucial for the investor-startup relationship to survive once things get tough,” he says.  And it does get tough. As mentioned by Kei W. Mueller, he talked to over 90 investors with very limited success because the solution Ebenbuild is creating is so forward-thinking. In this episode you will hear:  About a mental health app that world with hospitals to give patients timely support after discharge and prevent to early readmissions,  A startup improving mechanical ventilation with the help of digital twins,  How can immunotherapy production be optimized according to a swiss based startup Limula,  Revolution in ultrasound: handheld ThinkSono is shortening the diagnostics time of deep venous thrombosis.  We briefly discussed each of these solutions and also the fundraising side of startups. EIT Health Catapult Program has plenty to offer, but as a startup you should consider which stage you’re in when applying, to get the most value.  Speakers:  Luc Henry – CEO and co-founder – Limula https://limula.ch/ Kei Wieland Müller - Co-Founder & CEO at Ebenbuild https://www.ebenbuild.com/ Fouad Al-Noor - Co-Founder & CEO of ThinkSono https://thinksono.com/ Hans Juergen Stein - Managing Director of mentalis https://mentalis-health.com/ HELP UKRAINE: If you’re a medical device manufacturer or have the ability to donate medical equipment, EIT Health is facilitating the supply of medical equipment to Ukraine. EIT Health has partnered with the Polish Medical Mission, a leading humanitarian organisation working with healthcare professionals on the border of Ukraine. If you are an organisation with the ability to donate and ship any of the medical equipment please complete the form on Eit Health’s website for Ukraine: https://eithealth.eu/ukraine-appeal/ This episode is supported by EiT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The unique network helps initiate outstanding innovations in the health sector. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs. 

SPECIAL APPEAL: Dear listeners, as the war in Ukraine continues, the need for medical help is increasing.  If you’re a clinician or a telehealth provider, please get in touch with Health Tech Without Borders. Health Tech Without Borders is organising a "Ukraine Telehealth Relief" initiative to provide free of charge telehealth and remote consultations to the people of Ukraine. So if you’re a clinician or telemedicine provider, please contact Health Tech Without Borders: https://www.healthtechwithoutborders.org/ukraine-telehealth-relief If you’re a medical device manufacturer or have the ability to donate medical equipment, EIT Health is facilitating the supply of medical equipment to Ukraine. EIT Health has partnered with the Polish Medical Mission, a leading humanitarian organisation working with healthcare professionals on the border of Ukraine. If you are an organisation with the ability to donate and ship any of the medical equipment please complete the form on EIT Health’s website: https://eithealth.eu/ukraine-appeal/ In this episode, you’re going to hear about metaverse and healthcare, which conditions need to be fulfilled for health tech to succeed, you will also get a glimpse into how Canada’s Primary Care Chronic Disease Surveillance System was built. And much more. I spoke with Karim Karshavjee, Family Physician with over 25 years of experience designing, developing, and implementing Electronic Health Records/Electronic Medical Records and helping clinicians use them effectively. He is also the Program Director of the Masters of Health Informatics program at the University of Toronto. Enjoy the show and if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the show to be notified about new episodes automatically. 

When one starts to wonder about why data-sharing is still more or less cumbersome in healthcare, you quickly get to the challenges with interoperability siloed data and of course, data standards. Sharing of data has improved with the introduction of the messaging standard called FHIR. But throughout the years, debates about open standards and open ecosystems have started to become louder. In this episode, you’re going to hear a little bit more about that and the openEHR standard specification. I was joined by Hanna Pohjonen, eHealth management consultant and founder at Rosaldo Oy. Hanna has worked across the world, as a consultant in various regional and national eHealth projects in 31 different countries across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. She consults on healthcare information systems and IT architectures, vendor-neutral archiving, data sharing, and more. In her past, she also represented Finland in eHealth matters in the European Commission. In this discussion, you will hear a little bit more about healthcare digitalization in the Nordics, the complexity, and challenges with national and regional eHealth projects and openEHR, what exactly it is, and where it is used. Visit the website: www.facesofidigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth To read a bit more about the history of the show: A reflection after 100 episodes: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-did-i-get-100-digital-health-podcast-episodes-tjasa-zajc-1f/?trackingId=J%2BV0zLmqRSSEgTaklgTkUg%3D%3D ****Sponsor mentioned in the episode***** Master E-networking live course on Maven. In ten days, you’ll digitalize and build your network. You will learn how to maximize the value of any event you’re attending: Go to Masterenetworking.com Use the code: FACESOFDIGITALHEALTH10

Many software solutions for healthcare could be described as lacking empathy. Too often, solutions are addressing products viability and feasibility, but put desirability in the second place of priorities, says Tim Peck is Executive Portfolio Director of Health at IDEO. He is an entrepreneur and a Harvard-trained Emergency Medicine physician, who has been practicing human-centered design for over a decade. He spent 3 months in a nursing home to grasp the reality and problems of this kind of environment before he built Call9 - a health technology company that provided telemedicine for nursing home residents. In this discussion, we talked about design in healthcare. What is human.centered design? How to ask questions in your user research? What are the main mistakes innovators make?    More episodes and recaps: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth ****Sponsor mentioned in the episode*** Master E-networking live course on Maven. In ten days, you’ll digitalize and build your network. You will learn how to maximize the value of any event you’re attending: Go to Masterenetworking.com Use the code: FACESOFDIGITALHEALTH10

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 compatibility across regions [00:08:00] - Goals of Canadian health data strategy and its impact, focusing on improving healthcare delivery through better data utilization. [00:10:00] - Governance and collective impact in Canadian healthcare [00:12:00] - European health data space and public engagement [00:14:00] - Opt-out provisions and public interest in European health data space [00:16:00] - Setting standards and policy compatibility in Europe [00:18:00] - Learning from historical approaches in healthcare data strategies [00:20:00] - Digital health literacy and public engagement [00:22:00] - Simplifying communication in digital health [00:24:00] - Role of patient leaders and public deliberation in health policy [00:26:00] - Public expectations on health data usage [00:28:00] - Economics of digital health and ROI [00:30:00] - Utilizing health data for policy and research [00:32:00] - Interoperability and investment in digital health infrastructure [00:34:00] - Shifting towards a prevention-based health system [00:36:00] - Workforce and capacity building in digital health [00:38:00] - Automation and the future of health workforce

Voice tech is one of the tech areas with high potential to optimize healthcare processes for providers and ease chronic disease in management for patients. In reality: How far are we from futuristic ideas where everything would be operated with the help of voice? How do innovators reduce the risk of misunderstandings in designing voice technologies? What does the development of human-like bots look like? Tune in to the discussion with Julia Hoxha co-founder and CEO of Zana - a healthcare startup that helps organisations to build artificially intelligent voice and chatbot solutions. Julia’s background is in computer science with a heavy focus in machine learning and particularly in conversational AI, which is also the core technology of Zana. We discussed the latest trends in the use of voice in healthcare and how far beyond scheduling appointments with the help of Alexa have we come by 2022.  This episode is supported by EiT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The unique network helps initiate outstanding innovations in the health sector. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs.  The application deadline for many of these programs is 14th March, so do check them:  Startups meet healthcare providers: https://eithealth.eu/programmes/start-ups-meet-healthcare-providers/  All 2022 opportunities: https://eit-health.de/en/accelerator-2/ Learn more about Zana:https://zana.com/  Past EIT Health Germany series episodes: EIT Health Germany Series 2/12: Improving Medication Prescribing With Digital Twins (ExactCure): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/eit-health-germany-medication-prescribing-digital-twins-exactcure EiT Health Germany Series 1/12: Changing The Paradigm in the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance (Alexander Belcredi): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/phagomed-biontech-antimicrobial-resistance Also visit: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

This is the second episode about digital health transformation in the Middle East. I spoke with Michele Tarnow, a healthcare leader experienced in managing across multi-national geographies, organization boundaries, and matrix organizations. Michelle has been living in UAE since 2016 and shared her insights into how are countries in the Middle East approaching digitalization of healthcare, how does cultural diversity amplify innovation and how is Alliance Care Technologies, the company she is the CEO of, using best available technologies to optimize care and offer clinicians tools for better care, without turning them into data clerks. Enjoy the show and also tune in to the previous episode with a perspective of Zaid Tabet - healthcare executive who has been living in the Middle East for a decade and worked with government and private organizations to advance healthcare operations, processes, policies and regulations to promote digital healthcare adoption and use. Enjoy the show and go to www.facesofdigitalhealth.com to browse through other episodes as well. 

In the next two episodes, we’ll dive into healthcare development a digitalization in the Middle East. You’re going to hear from two speakers based in Dubai. The speaker of today’s episode is Ziad Tabet, Chief Customer Officer at Alliance Care Technologies. Ziad is a healthcare veteran with three decades of experience spanning many aspects of the healthcare space. He has extensive experience in operations and financial management of hospital systems, healthcare start-ups, sales and business development, account management, creating and bringing infrastructure and teams from idea to reality. Ziad has been living in UAE for over ten years, first in Abu Dhabi now in Dubai. In this discussion, he shared his experience in the region, commented on opportunities and mindset around digitalization. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Unsafe medication practices and medication errors are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm in health care systems across the world. Exactcure is a digital health startup from France addressing the challenge of preventing the negative effects of medications. The company is building a digital twin simulator, that shows the effects and interactions of drugs in the body of an individual. They take into account any data the patient can provide, from basic personal characteristics such as age, gender, kidney status, genotype, if a person smokes or not, or any other individual parameter that has a proven influence on a specific medication. I spoke with Fabien Astic, Chief Business Development Officer at ExactCure, and Margaux Kerhousse, Business Developer at ExactCure, about the company’s journey, partnerships, and how their solution could fit into the existing prescribing workflows.  This is the second out of 12 episodes supported by EIT Health Germany. EIT Health Germany is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EIT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research, and education from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs.  Exactcure participated in several EIT Health Germany programs. Among others you will hear about is the Startups meet Healthcare Providers programs, which aims to bridge the gap between startups and clinicians. This can help shorten the time it takes for innovators to start testing their solutions in practice. To learn more about this program, go to the link in the show notes. Many application deadlines close in March, so do check out the links for opportunities right for you: All EIT Health Germany 2022 opportunities: https://eit-health.de/en/accelerator-2/ Startups meet healthcare providers: https://eithealth.eu/programmes/start-ups-meet-healthcare-providers/  www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Recap of the episode: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/eit-health-germany-medication-prescribing-digital-twins-exactcure Leave a rating or review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

If you took part in the Clubhouse frenzy last year, you probably came across the Digital Health Channel and MedNet club. Digital Health Channel which currently has 6400 members, was among the key digital health topics related hubs on Clubhouse with an active schedule of discussions each week. It was founded by MD Jhonatan Bringas and healthcare expert Amit Goldman. MD Diana van Stijn who was often a speaker in the channel too, founded MedNet, a club targeted at medical professionals. While the married couple Diana Van Stijn and Jhonatan Bringas are not active on Clubhouse anymore, they are continuing their pursuit of bridging the gap between medical practice and innovation. They work with Medscape and occasionally facilitate digital health-related discussions. They’re the co-founders of Lapsi health, a digital health startup that was first looking at a digital therapeutic solution for asthma in children but is now pivoting in the space of digital biomarkers. Most of the time, however, Diana works as a clinical resident at Amsterdam UMC Hospital and Jhonathan as the digital health consultant and lecturer. In today's short discussion you’re going to hear a bit more about their journey, perspective on digital therapeutics, and bridging the gap between academia and the industry to accelerate healthcare innovation. More on the website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com 

The positive potentials of AI in healthcare are breathtaking. From smoother processes to more accurate care with fewer medical errors. But if we learned anything from the last 15 years of living with social media, it is that the development of algorithms without proper regulation can have negative impacts on society. In healthcare, AI development is still in the early stages. Many regulation-related questions still need to be addressed. It is not easy to create regulation, because it needs to take into account all sorts of aspects: safety, trust, values of the environment it is designed for. In today’s episode, you’ll hear a discussion with Bart de Witte - Founder of Hippo AI foundation - a non-profit organization that fights for making medical knowledge openly available and AI-based healthcare a common good. This is a diametrically opposing approach to the direction of current medical AI developments — the majority of which focus on the privatization of medical knowledge. Bart and I discussed what exactly does it mean to have open AI models, how can we create an environment to support that, the state of AI regulation in Europe, and more.  Learn more about the Hippo AI Foundation: https://www.hippoai.org/ The European artificial intelligence strategy: implications and challenges for digital health: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(20)30112-6/fulltext www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem related to the overuse of antibiotics and the lack of development of new ones. Many solutions are entering the market to address the issue: software solutions to identify, track and predict antibiotic-resistant infections and help prescribers with more accurate prescribing of antibiotics.  Antibiotics are not appealing to the pharmaceutical industry from a business perspective. The reason is that new antibiotics are intended for a fraction of all patients. So if you develop a drug that’s meant to be used as the last resort for clinicians after they've tried all other options, clinicians would more often than not try to avoid using these new antibiotics if not absolutely necessary.  Among the problems with antibiotics is the fact that many are very broad-spectrum, used to kill several different bacteria. So in this episode, we’re going to change the paradigm of antimicrobial treatments: what if you could target harmful bacteria more precisely? You’ll hear from Alexander Belcredi, co-founder and Co-CEO of the biotech startup PhagoMed, which was acquired by BioNTech and renamed BioNTech R&D Austria in October 2021. Phagomed has been researching the field of antimicrobials and also developed an innovative treatment for bacterial vaginosis. In today’s discussion, you’ll hear about the challenges with the development of antimicrobial therapies, and also learn more about Phagomed’s journey before the acquisition.   This episode is supported by EiT Health Germany, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The unique network helps initiate outstanding innovations in the health sector. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs. Learn more: EiT Catapult Program: https://eit-health.de/en/eit-health-catapult-2021/ EiT Health Germany: https://eit-health.de/en/   More about antimicrobial resistance:  How Can We Optimize the Use of Antibiotics? (Oliver Schacht, OpGen): https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f130-how-can-we-optimize-the-use-of-antibiotics-oliver-schacht-opgen?rq=antibiotic   US Clinicians: Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs here: https://earnc.me/UpR9lQ

Have you ever had the experience of not knowing how to decide about your medical condition? Or when you went to the doctor’s and haven’t asked half of the things you remembered might be useful to know when you returned home? Maybe you’re an app developer trying to figure out how to prevent churn and have a lasting user engagement with your health app? In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Talya Miron- Shatz, PhD, an expert in medical decision making, and author of a new book titled “Your Life Depends on It: What You Can Do to Make Better Choices About Your Health.” She talks about why physicians and patients need to abandon old behavior patterns that no longer work and learn to help each other make better collaborative choices. In this discussion, Dr. Miron-Shatz discusses the latest findings about health choices and medical decisions, how can doctors talk to patients so they will leave the doctor’s office informed and we ended the discussion with three questions you should practice before going to see a doctor. https://talyamironshatz.com/ Leave a rating or a review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth Episode recap: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/what-to-ask-the-doctor

The field of healthcare digitalization is maturing and getting increasingly sophisticated, demanding healthcare and technology leaders to think more strategically than they were perhaps required a few years ago. Chief Innovation or Chief Digital Officers are moving more to the executive level, where they need to take into consideration not just which tech solutions are really good, but which make most business sense at a given time for a given institution. In today’s discussion you’ll hear about current top challenges for healthcare leaders, how can healthcare providers do more with less and other findings by McKinsey. Speakers: Karl Kellner, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, New York Venkat Inumella, Partner at McKinsey & Company www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

This is the last episode of Faces of digital health in 2021. Instead of an interview or a string of predictions for 2022, you will hear a reflection about the past year or two which I had with two other podcasters - Joy Rios - the host of HIT like a girl podcast - a podcast and a community supporting women in healthcare IT, and Bianca Rose Phillips - the host of Voice of Law podcast. Bianca is a digital health lawyer, and the author of a recently published book Making The Digital Health Revolution.  This was a cross-continental discussion, with Joy based in Mexico, Bianca in Australia, and Tjasa Zajc in Slovenia, Europe. We exchanged experiences with the pandemic in our environments. We also talked about our learning through our shows in the last year. Faces of digital health: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com. HIT Like a Girl Podcast: https://www.hitlikeagirlpod.com/ Digital Health Think Tank: https://www.biancarosephillips.com/ (OVER)DOSE - Documentary about medication errors: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/overdose-documentary

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: [00:02:00] The use of AI and RNA sequence analysis in capturing the cancer immunity cycle and disease progression [00:04:00] Biotech in Switzerland [00:06:00] The impact of Swiss biotech capabilities on global healthcare and the specific advancements made by Swiss companies in the field. [00:08:00] Predictions and hopes for the future of healthcare technology, especially in the realms of cancer detection and treatment. [00:10:00] Challenges and opportunities in biotech, and the role of AI in advancing healthcare. [00:12:00] Challenges in Colorectal Cancer Screening [00:14:00] The Impact of Liquid Biopsy on Clinical Trials and Drug Development [00:16:00] Market Adoption and Patient Accessibility to Liquid Biopsy Tests [00:18:00] The Future of Liquid Biopsy and Precision Medicine [00:20:00] Real-world Application and Impact of Novel Biomarkers [00:22:00] Expanding the Reach of Novel Diagnostics Beyond Switzerland [00:24:00] Partnerships and Collaborations to Accelerate Adoption

A lot has been done in the VR for healthcare space today, especially in the US. The therapeutic potential is undeniable. Over 5000 studies have shown the efficacy of VR for pain management, PTSD, eating disorders, mental health, even helping manage pain during childbirth. In 2020 the FDA gave VR ​​a special designation for virtual reality as a breakthrough device for managing pain. In November 2021 the FDA a prescription-use immersive virtual reality (VR) system that uses cognitive behavioral therapy and other behavioral methods to help with pain reduction in patients 18 years. The regulators are on board with VR, progress is happening on the software and hardware side, so where is VR at the moment in terms of development, challenges and accessibility?  In this episode, three experts answer these questions.  Speakers:  Jennifer Esposito is currently Vice President and General Manager, Health Business Unit at Magic Leap, which is pioneering an augmented reality platform to amplify enterprise productivity. https://www.magicleap.com/en-us Aaron Gani - CEO of BehaVR which cultivates community with the country’s leading researchers, advocates and clinical domain experts to co-develop solutions https://www.behavr.com/ Rafael Grossman - Surgeon, Educator, speaker and one of the leading voice in medical extended reality space. https://www.rafaelgrossmann.com/ US clinicians: Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs here: https://earnc.me/4x7hfK Listen also: F106 VRx: What has over 5000 studies taught us about the healing effect of VR? (Dr. Brennan Spiegel) https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f106-vrx-what-has-over-5000-studies-taught-us-about-the-healing-effect-of-vr-dr-brennan-spiegel Leave a rating or a review: https://lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Claire Murigande is a Medical Affairs leader born in Burundi, lived in Kenya, and is now based in Switzerland. She is a biologist by background, passionate about empowering team members and bringing value through science. Among other things she recently completed an advance business degree in digital leadership and looked at the future development of digital health, where, as she says, being mindful of diversity. She’s also a TEDx speaker and the host of an award-winning podcast Narratives of purpose, in which she talks with people making an extraordinary social impact in various areas, such as youth empowerment, healthcare initiatives, and sustainable business. In this short discussion, we talked about her journey, healthcare in Switzerland, diversity, and what she has learned about global healthcare through her podcast. Enjoy the show and if you haven’t yet, do subscribe to the podcast to be notified about new episodes automatically. I will add the links to Claire’s TED talk and podcast in the show notes.  TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxSg32Le3kA  Narratives of purpose podcast: https://narratives-of-purpose.podcastpage.io/  3D printed assisted suicide pods approved in Switzerland: Series about digital health in Africa: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f056-f060-digital-health-in-africa-series-tanzania-nigeria-south-africa-rwanda 

Marylyn Harris, RN, MSN, MBA is a Cybersecurity Consultant, Speaker, Writer and Social Entrepreneur. Harris is a decorated (former) U.S. Army Nurse and Gulf War Veteran. She was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1992 and pursued a Master’s degree in psychiatric mental health nursing. After working as a sales rep for pharmaceutical companies she dove into healthcare IT and has been immersed in the cybersecurity space for the last few years. In this episode, she talks about:  how does it feel to work in a war and the consequences a deployment has how can we as a society improve attitude towards mental health and coping why are nurses perfect cybersecurity experts what are the basic cybersecurity practices everyone should know?  More about the podcast: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Marie is the CEO of the Centre for Digital Business. She is a writer, commentator and international speaker on artificial intelligence, digital transformation, cyber, technology, ethics and the human experience. Marie’s expertise is the human interface in complex servicing systems. She is the co-creator of Nadia, the first AI digital human for service delivery and the creator of the AI digital human cardiac coach. She has a rish career behind her - she led the collaborative development of Microsoft’s global e-government strategy, led business authentication, business digital identity and professional digital credential initiatives, was Chief Technology Architect (CTA) of the Australian Government Health and Human Services Access Card program. In this episode, Marie talks about healthcare in Australia, how can we make AI solutions such as coaches more human and her thoughts regarding the future development of AI for healthcare. More episodes: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

This is the last episode in a short series about healthcare digitalization in the Nordics. The discussion resolves around healthcare in the Nordics more broadly, data standards and interoperability across Europe, a successful pilot project from the 2000’s called epSOS, in which 12 EU Member states worked on cross-border healthcare interoperability, and what that project tells us about ambitions in Europe to achieve the European Health Data Space by 2025. The speaker in the episode is Anna Adelöf Kragh, Partner at VENZO_Public and Healthcare - an innovative consultancy firm specializing in human-centric digital transformation. Anna has more than 10 years experience working with  governance, strategy and project management within the public and healthcare sector. For example she worked on various projects related to healthcare interoperability and digitalization for the European Commission,  Nordic Ministerial Coucil in the project for Nordic e-health cooperation group.     www.facesofdigitalhealth.com  Nordics series: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/digital-health-in-the-nordics   Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Finland has well-established regulations and processes for the use of data for secondary purposes. This is overseen by the Social and Health Data Permit Authority Findata, which facilitates data permit processing and improves data protection for individuals. The secondary use of health data refers to using health data, such as patient records, for purposes other than the primary reason for which they were originally collected. This can include research, decision-making, and innovation.  European Commission has made the creation of a European Health Data Space (open in new window) as a priority for 2019-2025. The proposal stems from the GDPR. There are currently no common practices for the secondary use of health data in Europe.  This episode is a recording of a panel discussion that took place during the eHealth Days, organized as part of the Slovenian presidency to the Council of EU, end of August. Speakers:  - Minna Hendolin, Leading Specialist – HealthData at the Finish innovation fund SITRA, Finland Jukka Lähesmaa, Senior Specialist, The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland Angel Martin (Brussels), chair of MedTech Europe’s Digital Health Committee and AI and Data WG Dipak Kalra (UK), President of The European Institute for Innovation through Health Data See the full series: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/digital-health-in-the-nordics

This is the second episode about digital health in the Nordics. In the previous episode, you could listen about Denmark, how elderly care is managed there and how EHRs have been in place for years so clinicians and patients can access data digitally. In this episode, Nard Schreurs, a journalist by background who’s been working with e-health since 2007, and has both started and built up Healthworld and the EHiN conference, talks about why do Norwegians have not only high life expectancy but more importantly a high number of healthy years, what are people satisfied and dissatisfied about the healthcare system, and more. The Nordics series: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/digital-health-in-the-nordics eHin conference: https://ehin.no/en/

This is the first out of four episodes about digital health and healthcare in the Nordics. In the next few weeks, you will hear about Denmark, Norway, Finland, and a broader regional overview. Not all countries but there have already been speakers on the show who also talked about Sweden, so I will link those in the show notes as well.  The first speaker you will hear from is Erik Jylling, the executive vice president of Danish Regions.  In his professional career, Erik has been deeply involved in planning, organizing, and leading the Danish healthcare system with the view from different professional perspectives and positions, practical and political. He earned an M.D. with 25 years of practical experience in anesthesiology and intensive care medicine. He has worked as a consultant, head of the department, and in superior leading positions on hospital and organization levels. In this episode, we discussed the specifics of management in healthcare, how does one achieve organizational chance in a hospital setting, but also healthcare in Denmark: the admirably organized elderly care, the fact that patients have access to doctor’s notes since 1987, yes, 1987, so 34 years.  The Nordics Series will be available at: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/digital-health-in-the-nordics Sweden: F068 The power of patients 3/4: How can patients influence policy? (Bettina Ryll) https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f065-f068-the-power-of-patients-4-episodes-series?rq=Bettina Leave a rating or review: www.lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

A few years ago Stefan Buttigieg, a digital health evangelist from Malta said that Malta is a great testbed for digital health startups interested in entering Europe (https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/2019/01/03/f027-can-malta-be-a-gateway-to-the-european-market?rq=Malta). In this episode, we’ll re-visit the island in a discussion with Ryan Grench - Radiology Registrar from Malta who works in the UK. Ryan talked about the benefits of running a digital health startup in Malta, made a few comparisons between healthcare in the UK and Malta, and also shared his views on telemedicine and digital health. Ryan is among other things an advisor to the MedTech World Conference, which we’ll take place between 17-20 November. To visit the conference, listen to the end of the discussion where Ryan shared how you can get a nice discount on your ticket.   Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth MedTech World Conference: https://med-tech.world/ Discount code: DigitalHealth50ST50

End of August Days of eHealth were organised as part of the Slovenian Presidency to the Council of EU. In four days a lot of insight was offered about healthcare digitalization in Catalonia, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, Israel and Finland. In the previous episodes, I published the panel discussions about Germany and Catalonia. This is the panel about Israel.    Israel has had electronic healthcare records for two decades, in 2018. A country of 9 million people, attributes 7,5% of its GDP to healthcare and is home to roughly 1,500 companies operating in the healthcare and life sciences. In the panel discussion you will learn about the national digital health strategy in Israel, how to Health Maintainance Organisations, Government, and Hospitals collaborating to advance healthcare. You will also learn a little bit more about Slovenia with two representatives of the Slovenian healthcare ecosystem.   The speakers:  Esti Shelly, Director, Digital Health at Ministry of Health Israel Michael Halberthal, General Director of Rambam Health Care Campus Noa Kedem, Deputy Director, Digital health unit (Medical Informatics) at Maccabi Health Services   Jurij Šorli, CEO of the Hospital Topolšica (Slovenia) Bogdan Tušar, Acting Director General, Directorate for the Development of the Health System, Ministry of Health, Slovenia Recap of roundtables at Days of eHealth: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/days-of-ehealth-healthcare-digitalization-in-catalonia-germany-finland-and-israel Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com. The European Patient Forum’s Congress happening during 26-29 October: https://epfcongress.eu/

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 entrepreneurial spirit here is 10-times as strong as in the US, and that biotech and drug development are the next thing to watch for in the region. www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/ Show notes: [00:02:00] Pilar Fernandez Hermida, an expert in healthcare market strategies, shares insights from Abu Dhabi. [00:04:00] Analysis of the healthcare infrastructure development in GCC post-pandemic. [00:08:00] The role of expats in the Middle East's healthcare transformation. [00:10:00] Public-private partnerships as key opportunities. [00:12:00] Cultural considerations for startups in the GCC. [00:14:00] Misconceptions about the Middle Eastern healthcare market. [00:18:00] Building long-term relationships in business. [00:20:00] Navigating diverse cultural communication in healthcare. [00:24:00] Comparing the entrepreneurial spirit in the Middle East with the U.S. and Europe. [00:28:00] Strategic advice for healthcare entrepreneurs targeting the GCC. [00:30:00] Importance of understanding regulations and digital maturity in MENA. [00:32:00] Future potential in biotech and digital health in the GCC. [00:36:00] The convergence of digital health and biotech.

From the 26th and 29th of October, I will be co-hosting the EPF Congress 2021, brought to you by the European Patients’ Forum. This year’s topic is the digital transformation of healthcare. Speakers from across Europe and organisations such as WHO, German Federal Ministry of Health, European Medicine’s Agency, EIT Health, BMJ and more are going to discuss the state of digitalization in Europe, with a heavy focus on the patient perspective. The event will be moderated by me and Ivett Jakab, who is the president of the European Patients’ Forum’s Youth group. In this short special episode, you will get to know Ivett, who was diagnosed with a rare disease called Wilson’s disease at the age of 16 and underwent a liver transplant as a consequence. In this episode, Ivett shared her story, the meaning and power of the EPF Youth group and why patients between 15 and 29 are such an underserved group, what are the specifics of this age group and more.  If you’re working in pharma or digital health and would like to work with the EPF Youth Group, learn more about EPF by visiting www.eu-patient.eu. To learn more about the EPF YG: https://www.eu-patient.eu/about-epf/about-us/Youth-Strategy/ Young patient employment project (WAYS) results: https://www.eu-patient.eu/about-epf/about-us/Youth-Strategy/ways/ Contact the EPF YG via youthgroup@eu-patient.eu  Registration and Programme details for the EPF Congress 2021 at www.epfcongress.eu Follow the Congress on Twitter by following #EPFCongress2021

Slovenia is currently presiding the council of EU until 2022. In the first week of September, the members of the Slovenian health tech ecosystem organized a conference about examples of good practices in healthcare digitalization across Europe. In one of the previous episodes, you were able to listen to the panel discussion on the healthcare strategy in Catalonia. Today’s episode is an adapted recording of the panel about Germany, and the upcoming two episodes will be the adapted discussions about healthcare digitalization in Israel and Finland.  In the past two years, a lot of efforts have been put in place to accelerate the progress on the digitalization of the healthcare digital infrastructure in Germany. Many laws were passed, the country received a lot of international attention about the DIGA process, which enables startups to make their apps reimbursable. The bigger national projects which saw the day of life this year, however, were the introduction of electronic patient records, telemedicine, and e-prescriptions.  On the funding side, the federal ministry of health and the federal states are investing EUR 4,3 billion for concrete projects that work towards the digitalization of hospitals.  In this discussion, we’re going to scratch the surface of the design of the national strategy and digital health infrastructure in Germany. and look at the practical example of the Medical informatics Initiative. Medical Informatics Initiative is a separate project to improve medical research and patient care.   You will hear more from five speakers. The panel discussion was moderated by Maja Dragović, a former journalist for digitalhealth.net, now a Business Developer at Better. She will also present the speakers.    Speakers:  Dr. Michael Marschollek  - professor for Medical Informatics at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and executive director of the Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics of TU-Braunschweig and Hannover Medical School.  Johannes Starlinger, an MD, working as an Interdisciplinary Digital Health Consultant, Howto Health GmbH, Germany Mark Langguth, eHealth Consultant, Former Senior Product Manager at Gematik Fabien Prasser, Professor of Medical Informatics at the Berlin Institute of Health at the Charite University Hospital Berlin We were also supposed to be joined by Anka Bolka, Head of Director of Field for Development and Analysis, Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia, but since she couldn’t make it, Tomaž Mračun, who manages the application development department at Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (HIIS).   Recap of the Days of eHealth: https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/days-of-ehealth-healthcare-digitalization-in-catalonia-germany-finland-and-israel  Join the EPF Congress: https://epfcongress.eu/  Podcast Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com 

Nina Capital, is a specialized venture capital firm investing in early stage startups at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Level 20 is a not for profit organisation founded in 2015 by 12 women working in senior roles in private equity, aligned around a common vision of improving gender diversity in the industry. Nina Capital and Level 20 recently published a report that showed y. In aggregate, women represent 30% of the workforce. Only 17% of senior roles positions are held by women. I spoke with Yahel Halamish, Nina’s Head of Investor Relations and Diversity & Inclusion Officer and she shared her views of the results, why diversity matters and how can we encourage and improve it.  Gender Diversity in the Priate Equity and Venture Capital in Spain Report: https://www.level20.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ninacapital_Whitepaper-LEVEL20-NINACAPITAL_final_20210830.pdf  Read an opinion piece about the report: https://medium.com/ninacapital/gender-diversity-in-private-equity-and-venture-capital-in-spain-c5d7c80a03d1  Join the European Patient Forum Congress: https://epfcongress.eu/