Event Summary | Digital Health Speaker Series: Wearable Tech Panel
Edited by Elisa Danthinne and Heenal Marfatia
On Thursday, September 24th, ViTAL hosted its first Digital Health Speaker Event through ZOOM that discussed the topic of wearable technology and its growing importance in the healthcare realm.
Three guest speakers, all entrepreneurs with expertise in this field, were invited to share their insight and experiences with members of ViTAL and the Northeastern community, as well as to share their unique, nontraditional journeys in healthcare. Wearable devices are just one part of the numerous digital health platforms and applications that exist, but in a world that’s seeing continuous advancements in technology and a shift towards more patient-centered and personalized medicine, they are certainly becoming a hot commodity. COVID-19 and the social distancing measures in place have only increased the demand for digital solutions. Wearable technology is seen as a way to help manage or improve the health of an individual even without in-person visits with providers.
We were happy to welcome Elizabeth Gazda, John Rachlin and Maneesh Sethi to speak about the field of wearable technology from their diverse realms of expertise and experiences. Elizabeth Gazda is the CEO of Embr Labs and has over 20 years of experience in technology with focus on emerging and disruptive technologies. John Rachlin is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, and is Co-Founder of Diatom, LLC, a software consultancy specializing in bioinformatics, healthcare, and big-data solutions. Maneesh Sethi is the Founder and CEO of Pavlok — “The Wearable Wristband That Trains Your Habits” and is designed to help you wean off bad habits like smoking or nail biting.
Three core questions framed our discussion:
- How would you define wearable technology & why is it important in this day and age?
Elizabeth kicked off our discussion by emphasizing the value in wearable technology being possible, no longer bound by wires like in the past but now with more wireless options available. Elizabeth bought up a personal example using her company’s wearable device, The Wave Bracelet, and how by activating the device it helped her feel 5 degrees warmer on her flight when it was feeling really cold. This is an example of wearable technology being able to interrupt the fight-or-flight response, which can help people and make them feel better even in a situation they’re not used to. John Rachlin gave the group additional perspective by discussing how the electronic medical record system is seeing increases in data collection mechanisms, with a vast amount of data collected and input into the system from these wearable devices. This helps to monitor an individual’s health throughout the day, and enables both patients and providers to keep track of health progress over time. Maneesh also talked about how wearable devices can be worn by the customer 24/7, which is a deviance from other products which you typically have to put on and take off numerous times during a day. All three speakers ended by agreeing that the wearable technology field is continuing to expand, and that it can truly become the “next big thing” in the near future. They also all overlapped in discussing ideas relating to the portability and quick accessing capabilities that make wearable technology more useful as well as desirable.
2. What are the advantages and potential disadvantages of wearable technology?
All three speakers thoroughly discussed the advantages of wearable technology, with the biggest theme being that you can personalize your wearable device to wear it 24/7 and use it to help focus on yourself. Maneesh discussed how habits, routines, and natural setpoints differ from one person to the next. For example, some people may lose weight after sleeping more than 7 hours while others may gain weight by doing so. These correlations can be detected from data collected by wearables, such that you can figure out your optimal setpoints by doing your usual routines and observing patterns over time. Wearable devices are intended to monitor and improve health outcomes, as well as give the user insight on what things may not be working, such as eating certain foods or sleeping habits.
Some disadvantages of wearable technology, however, include many concerns related to data safety and privacy. How sure are you that your information is secure and not being sent to third parties? Could the data be easily accessible to hackers? John Rachlin explained how people are concerned that their data will be sold to third parties, and Maneesh touched upon the idea that certain companies might be willing to sell their data to third parties for their business-model, ultimately to gain profits.
3. What are ways in which we can work to minimize health inequities in the digital health world?
Maneesh began by thoroughly explaining how people can be wealthy simply by staying healthy. Staying healthy can open new opportunities for you, and the goal of digital health is to help the customer and to improve outcomes for as many people as possible. This in turn helps to minimize health inequities as people become healthier and happier. John Rachlin shared that equity in healthcare will be possible if we have equity in income. If there are fewer gaps in income, then digital health applications can become increasingly accessible and affordable to more people around the world. Elizabeth thoughtfully discussed how being a woman in the past may be considered a “pre-existing condition” due to the intense and invasive side effects of periods and menopause, citing that tampons — which can be considered medical devices — are nonetheless still taxed. Meanwhile, Rogaine (a hair growth product typically used by men) is tax-free. Closing the gender gap can be a way to minimize health inequities in the digital health world, as stigmas do exist especially for women compared to men. All three speakers mention that there is a lot of work to be done going forward to address health inequities, and it’ll take some time even with the digital health field expanding.
The key takeaway from this event is that wearable technology is a game changer in the healthcare realm. The realities that COVID-19 has made us face have caused an increase in the prevalence of digital health for the common person, and wearable technology is included in that. There are disadvantages to wearable technology, primarily involving safety and privacy concerns. Inequities also continue to exist in the healthcare field which go on to pervade the digital health realm. With that said, all of our speakers emphasized that progress is being made and we’re in a much better place now than we were even a decade ago. Healthcare is continuing to improve and advance, and wearable technology is one avenue which can reach a wider population across the country, and the world. It’s a sector that has been “underrated” for a while now, as Maneesh touched upon during the discussion, but the potential is there for it to truly take off in the near future.
Thank you to the 40+ attendees for tuning in, and a very special thanks to Elizabeth Gazda, John Rachlin, and Maneesh Sethi for such an insightful event!
The event recording is available here.
