Dr. Danish Nagda — Reclaiming the Profession of Medicine and Merging Telemedicine with Robotics (Podcast #55)
Dr. Danish Nagda is the founder and CEO of Rezilient, an exciting startup telerobotics company. He also founded Schoology, the first social learning platform which has had over 20 million users in 130 countries. He recently spoke with Ryan O’Keefe and Maryam Alausa on episode #55 of the Penn HealthX Podcast.
Below are some of the major takeaways from the discussion.
From Running a Textile Plant to Medicine
Before he even considered a career in medicine, Dr. Nagda thought he was destined to take over his family’s business. This happened much sooner than he thought, as his father’s sudden illness led him to Dubai where he would help run what would become one of the largest textile plants in the Middle East.
After selling the company, Dr. Nagda began doing consultant work for McKinsey until a 2005 earthquake in his mother’s homeland of Kashmir prompted him to relocate. He would spend three months in a medical camp working alongside doctors which helped him to find his calling in medicine.
Upon arriving at Penn to pursue his medical degree, a mentor physician, Dr. Bert O’Malley allowed him to try robotic surgery during his rotations, drawing him to the field of ENT. Dr. Nagda would later go on to do his ENT residency at the Washington University School of Medicine.
The Origins of Rezilient
Dr. Nagda is a caregiver to both of his parents. His father experienced cardiogenic shock during his last year of residency, causing him to spend significant time in the hospital. Simultaneously performing the roles of a physician and a caregiver shed light on the frustrations that both parties share. Dr. Nagda noted that he spent 4,900 minutes going back and forth to doctor appointments for his father where he’d only be seen for a total of 280 minutes by a healthcare provider. More than 1/6 of Americans are caregivers, yet very little was being leveraged to assist them. Telehealth seemed like the surefire solution, yet nobody was using it to its full potential.
Danish notes that as a medical student, you learn that you must physically examine the patient in order to perform a proper examination.
“What if you could use a robot avatar to beam into any office and examine the patient from anywhere?”
Telemedicine and COVID19
With the current pandemic, Danish believes that physicians are once again at a crossroads. He believes they must decide whether or not they should take the lead on innovation and in shaping the future of the profession. He notes that many barriers (i.e reimbursements and payments) are being untangled through during the COVID-19 pandemic and that growth in telemedicine is now inevitable.
“This healthcare crisis is going to breed the future of what it means to be a medical professional.”
Dr. Nagda notes that once patients are given the convenience and access that telemedicine provides — they simply won’t allow the market to return to the inefficiencies that once existed. However, he says that just because the current system is convenient doesn’t mean it’s considered the best standard of care. He says that his company Rezilient is trying to bridge the gap that currently exists between telehealth and in-person care.
Dr. Nagda believes that physicians must be the ones who speak out regarding the limitations of telemedicine, as there is no current standard of care.
The Role of Medical Students
Dr. Nagda discussed how medical students are a crucial component of pushing medical innovation forward. He argues that medical students are the closest to the consumer, and are able to see both sides of the coin in the doctor-patient relationship. Further, they have the best vantage point of how attending physicians perform their jobs compared to how they themselves would like to be treated as patients. Danish says that medical students can educate physicians on what actually works in reality versus in the textbook.
The Evolution of the Physician
Dr. Nagda says that doctors need to take the lead in technology and business in order to reorganize how the healthcare system is built. He references the $900 million shortfall the Mayo Clinic is experiencing and points to compensation cuts that are happening to frontline workers. He believes physician advocacy in critical not only for themselves, but also for their patients and communities. Dr. Nagda says this must be accomplished by taking ownership of the business of medicine and not letting others tell physicians how to take care of the patient except for the patient themselves.
Crisis breeds innovation. Echoing the famous sentiment, Dr. Nagda says that you cannot let a good crisis go to waste and that his biggest fear is that this current crisis will not be the catalyst for physicians to take ownership of their profession.
The Evolution of Healthcare Systems
Dr. Nagda believes healthcare systems will adopt new roles for physicians to undertake, such as mass communicators of health information to the public. He references how Jefferson Health created the unique role of a chief medical social media officer which he sees many other healthcare systems adopting. He also discusses the rise of asynchronous technology, and how we will continue to see an uptick in remote communication and examinations through platforms like Rezilient. He notes that many fields, including mental health, will be radically transformed by the presence of telemedicine.
Through this evolution, however, Danish remains steadfast in his message that physicians must remain in control. He talks about how Rezilient’s platform is healthcare professional centric, with the physician’s presence being the key factor in a remote environment.
“Physicians need to develop a three way evolution by becoming technologists, better business people, and community activists.”
