Faces of Digital Health

Which funding models can digital health and biotech companies count on? This was one of the main topics at the last Charite Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Berlin at the beginning of May. In this episode dr. Klaus Stöckemann, co-founder of Peppermint VenturePartners (PVP), talks about digital health and healthcare digitalization in Germany and challenges startups face when evaluating and proving the usability and value of their solutions. PVP looked at approximately 500 solutions last year. Comments, suggestions welcome on @zajctjasa or tjasa.zajc@gmail.com

In 2004, after 14 years of research, The Human Genome Project was concluded. 99,9% of the human genome was sequenced and we learned that people have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes.  Genes are seen as a map to people’s health and diseases; the ultimate source of our health problems and wellbeing. Expectations of what could be explained with genetic testing are high, however, genes are a universe of the unknown.  Even if a person has a predisposition for something, it is very often the environment which will or will not trigger it. Many diseases are polymorphous — more genes are included in their expression and severity.  We are far from knowing all the correlations. So where are we? Sooraj Ratnakumar is a scientist with a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge. He is also the CEO of Swagene — an Indian company for medical genetics. Wondering what he thinks? Listen to the 9th episode of Medicine Today on Digital Health. Comments, suggestions welcome at tjasa.zajc@gmail.com or Twitter @zajctjasa

In this episode, Sachin Gaur, a researcher, and entrepreneur in space of mobile and Internet solutions talks about cybersecurity and innovation in healthcare in India. After working and studying in Finland and Estonia, he returned to India and co-founded InnovatioCuris, a company focusing on connecting healthcare experts and looking at global innovation models and lean management processes to deliver healthcare at an optimum cost. If you just want to know more about cybersecurity, skip the first 20 minutes! Reviews, comments, and suggestions welcome at tjasa.zajc@gmail.com, on Twitter you can find me under @zajctjasa

It is hard to imagine the size of the country with 1.3 billion people. That is the approximate population of India. In healthcare, the country faces many challenges: a big shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas, big differences in access to healthcare, the influence of pollution and environment on population health. The healthcare system is private, the majority of expenses - 60 to 70 percent - are out of pocket. But when it comes to digital health, India looks like a promise land for developers. According to GSMA, India is now the world’s second-largest smartphone market, overtaking the US in the first half of 2016. By 2019, a third of that population - which amounts to 430 million people - is supposed to own a smartphone. Estimates of the number of mobile internet users by 2019 vary from 500 to 600 million people. In this episode, Prabhu Guptara - a Distinguished Professor of Global Business, Management & Public Policy at William Carey University, India, a Member of Boards of different companies in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland - talks about societal, political and technological challenges in terms of digital health influence on population health. Suggestions, feedback & comments welcome at: tjasa.zajc@gmail.com finance.si or TW: @zajctjasa

Wearables and measurements. Which Point of Care devices are just gadgets and which ones bring actual better outcomes for patients? British researcher prof. dr. Anthony Turner, Head of The Biosensors and Bioelectronics Centre at Linköping University Sweden: “we haven’t yet made the sensors we really need, we are using the sensors that we happen to have.” That is why in recent years investors have been more interested in other sensors: ingestibles, implantables, etc. Feedback welcome on Twitter @zajctjasa

Internet forums have been here before smartphones and somehow, despite all the apps, they are still very much alive, especially for health information. They give patients information, support, psychological empowerment, and self-confidence. They offer doctors and developers an insight into behavior and thinking of patients. One big advantage of online forums is anonymity which gives users a certain level of confidence about the safety of their shared information. The perception, retention, and dynamics of interaction in online health communities differ from health apps and other digital health solutions. Do you know what useful data can be extracted from conversations on forums? Comments and suggestions: tjasa.zajc@gmail.com, Twitter: @zajctjasa

In 2012 Cleveland Clinic experts designed the Medical Innovation Playbook – a detailed report on the diverse and rapidly evolving technology commercialization programs of the USA’s top medical centers. It includes an overview of nearly 10,000 invention disclosures, 6,400 patent applications and almost 2,000 issued patents. Many saw the opportunity in this technological revolution, by establishing incubators and accelerators inside institutions, to give their doctors a supportive environment for innovation. Not only did they get new reliable solutions, they also generated a new revenue stream. In this episode, Ashish Atreja, the Director of Sinai AppLab - a sort of incubator/accelerator inside Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York explains how they are designing and testing apps. Through clinical trials and thorough evaluation. Your feedback is valuable. Questions, comments, suggestions can be sent to tjasa.zajc@gmail.com or on Twitter @zajctjasa

In 2010 an idea was born: to build an army of entrepreneurs to improve health care worldwide. Only a year later the founders of StartUp Health pitched their vision to former U.S. president Barack Obama. On their January festival this year, former vice president in the Obama administration Joe Biden was one of their main speakers. According to their data, in five years, StartUp Health grew to an allegiance of more than 30.000 investors, entrepreneurs, customers from all over the globe. They are backed by Google, Amazon, Keiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic, Allianz, SAP and other prominent institutions. 4000 startups tried to get in Startup Health so far, only 180 made it. Are you curious about their mindset and interests? Co-founder Unity Stoakes explains. Your feedback is valuable. Send questions, comments, suggestions to tjasa.zajc@gmail.com or on Twitter @zajctjasa

Remember how if you go from central Europe to the UK or US, you can’t plug your charger into a socket, because they are different? They are not compatible. This is how a lot of medical data looks like. Data from devices in hospitals or from sensors and trackers cannot be transferred to your medical record automatically unless they are in a proper format. This can be done if systems are interoperable or compatible. In this episode, Tomaž Gornik, the CEO of an IT company Marand explains, how they managed to make the Slovenian University Children's Hospital the first paperless hospital in the country and why digitisation of healthcare is happening so slowly. Your feedback is valuable. Send questions, comments, suggestions to: tjasa.zajc@gmail.com or on Twitter @zajctjasa

Healthcare and medicine are overwhelmed by innovation. There is a lot of excitement around digitization: convenience of telemedicine, electronic health records, apps, new devices. However, don't be overly excited. As Esther Dyson, a U.S. investor and opinion leader says, doctors, have values. Nurses have values. Digital solutions will not solve all the problems. But a lot of potential is there. A good example is Babylon - one of the top digital health startups enabling reliable medical advice with the help of artificial intelligence. Your feedback is valuable. Send questions, comments, suggestions to tjasa.zajc@gmail.com or on Twitter @zajctjasa