Piloting Your Life: In-Flight Entertainment (Leg, Brain, Colon, Vagina, Stomach, Intestine…One Word is Not Like the Others) (Jan 15, 2019)
Welcome Back My Health-Conscious Passengers:
According to Rock Health, $8.1B was invested in digital health in 2018. What is digital health you might ask? I use the following as my working definition but it continues to evolve:
Digital health companies use software as the central piece of the company’s health product offering including but not limited to: genomics, mobile health, telemedicine, wearables, electronic health/medical records (EHR/EMR), wellness (includes sexual health and wellness), diagnostics, digital therapeutics, and healthcare IT. These range from general wellness applications targeting customers to highly clinical solutions, that typically require regulatory approval.
The FDA offers this definition: The broad scope of digital health includes categories such as mobile health (mHealth), health information technology (IT), wearable devices, telehealth and telemedicine, and personalized medicine.
If it seems like a broad definition, it is. The lines between health and wellness are blurring with some doing so successfully, and others, like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop giving out bad advice (Goop jade eggs) and the increase in the number of unregulated CBD cure-alls that might just be a bit of snake oil. As an old-school biotech person, I actually believe in regulatory oversight (right-sized of course) and look for evidence to back up claims which is why I struggle with nutriceuticals as well.
I would like to see more investing dollars, research, and focus on women’s health and the elimination of the stigmas around discussing women’s body parts, women’s health, and women’s pleasure so that we can have more significant progress for women in health, wellness, therapeutic treatments, diagnostics, and healthcare delivery. It’s what this season’s Piloting Your Life (the podcast) is all about and I invite you to join me as we explore the blue ocean opportunity in meeting the needs of ALL women.
In-Flight Entertainment (Bubbly Bonus: Digital Health, Healthcare Innovations, Women’s Health)
Last week was the JP Morgan Life Sciences conference in San Francisco which isn’t one conference but a series of conferences, innovation pop-ups, meetings, showcases, presentations, and receptions that all converge around Union Square. The City is overrun with men in suits (Men named Michael outnumber female CEOs presenting at #JPM18) which is in stark contrast to the homeless population that seems to be taking over my birthplace town. I read an article that commented on the irony of the healthcare and life sciences professionals complaining about the folks sleeping on the streets, in the cold and rain, often with behavioral health issues. Didn’t they get into healthcare or life sciences to help people? Regardless, I enjoyed an action-packed three days starting at a Healthcare Innovation Popup on Sunday and ending at 2 AM Wednesday morning at a hipster bar with one of my investor gal pals, Vica (in from London), and her buddy Dimitris. I talk with Jacqueline (over a cup of coffee…not champagne as I am working on cutting back a little) in this week’s episode about what JP Morgan is, some innovation trends in digital health and women’s health, and the challenges for some women’s products in marketing due to the taboos around using words like vagina. Enjoy!
