Hi friends,
This week: healthcare super-apps, how to build digital skills and alienate people, and AI: friend or foe?
News Bites 🥪
💙 NHS and Government back AHSNs to continue to lead innovation, under new name - The more things change, the more they stay the same. AHSN are here to stay. But there’s a twist….a break clause means there’s the potential for early changes.
🐞 New superbug-killing antibiotic discovered using AI - In a week where tech-bosses warned AI was an ‘existential threat’ to humanity, up there with nuclear war and pandemics, the tech did its best to get back into our good books by finding a way to beat another ‘critical threat’: superbug Acinetobacter baumannii.
🍐 Q&A: Digital therapeutics' future after the fall of Pear Therapeutics - What’s left to say about DTx pioneer Pear Therapeutics after its fall from grace back in April? A lot, says Andy Molnar, CEO of the DTx Alliance, who claims the U.S. healthcare system is not designed to promote innovation. Wait until he comes to Europe!
🤖 The AI revolution can put patients at the centre of NHS - The Chair of the Times Health Commission looks to Israel, Estonia and Denmark for proof that technology CAN transform healthcare. So what’s standing in the way of the NHS innovating? …err….the NHS, apparently (or at least bits of it).
🎓 Review published on current status of digital tech and skills in health and care education - On that topic, Health Education England’s last big act as an independent body was to publish a list of digital skills needed by healthcare professionals. It’s starting its new life as an NHS unit by reviewing whether we’re actually teaching HCPs those skills.
🏃🏽♀️ The role of accelerator programmes in supporting the adoption of digital health technologies: A qualitative study of the perspectives of small- and medium-sized enterprises - Pigeon’s no data scientist, but questions whether 9 interviews is enough to draw conclusions. Nonetheless, the findings are interesting: accelerators work…sort of….but they’re not going far enough to help healthtechs develop the evidence they need to scale.
🔓 NHS data breach: trusts shared patient details with Facebook without consent - While everyone’s arguing about centralising our data and putting it in the hands of one US tech giant, several NHS Trusts have accidentally sent patient data to a different US tech giant. Pigeon can hear the HEE team hurriedly updating their skills review from here.
💍 One smart ring to rule them all: Oura unveils superapp ambitions - Sometimes, people suggesting ‘super-apps’ can sound a little…overambitious - Think Elon Musk, who wants to combine social media, banking, and pizza delivery while at the same time struggling to banish hate speech from Pigeon’s Twitter feed. But could healthcare be a good use-case…and could Oura be the one to do it?
What to listen to 🔊
🐦 The Healthtech Pigeon Podcast - The Buzzword Generator - Join, James, Huw and FITFILE’s Philip Russmeyer as they take a deep-dive into the week’s healthtech stories.
🔊 The Healthtech Podcast #305 From Loss to Legacy: Paul Gaudin's Journey to Solve Social Care - James is joined by Carerooms.com cofounder Paul Gaudin, a mechanical engineer turned serial entrepreneur. He founded the New York Bagel Co., ran national screening programs, and now focuses on medtech, insurtech, and investing in innovative businesses.
Events 📅
🇺🇸 Crossing the Atlantic: US & UK digital health - SomX & KHP Ventures
🕑 June 12th 6:30pm-9pm
📍 Governor’s Hall, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster, London
🔓 Decoding the Future of Women - Femtech Labs
🕑 June 12, 8am-10pm
📍 Wellcome Collection, Euston Road, London
Use the code ‘SOMX15’ at checkout for an exclusive discount on your ticket.
🥐 HealthTech Breakfast Club - Albion VC
🕑 June 12, 4-10pm
📍 PUBLIC Hall, Westminster, London
🔬Discovery Park Innovation Summit - Discovery Park
🕑 June 22, 9.30am-4.30pm
📍 Discovery Park, Sandwich
🖥️ Can digital education help stroke survivors to have better outcomes? A perspective from UCLH - Cognitant
🕑 June 22, 8.15-9.00am
📍 Online
Opportunities 🕵️♀️
👂Medical AI Applications Scientist (AI Champion), Tympa Health - Ready to break new ground on the use of AI in ear health? Tympa Health is the place to do it. Apply now.
📰 Intern, SomX - Not to toot our own horn, but there’s no better place to start your career in healthtech than SomX. That and everyone wants to hang out with Pigeon.
💚 Account Manager, Oxford Heartbeat - Surgical decision-making startup Oxford Heartbeat continue to bolster their growth team with a new hire.
💊 Software Engineer, Phlo Digital Pharmacy - Phlo continues to build out their team to bring pharmacy into the 21st Century. Get your application in now.
⚙️ Account Director, Cognitant - Empowering patients to take a greater role in managing their own health and improving health literacy are among the most worthwhile missions we can imagine. Want them to be your mission too? Apply!
Got news, jobs or events you think is worth coo-ing over? Let us know! Email us: news@healthtechpigeon.com
At SomX, we are clinicians, scientists, creatives and communicators dedicated to elevating healthtech and biotech. For our clients, we provide communications strategy, multimedia content marketing, public relations, events and branding/design services. Get in touch to find out how we can support your healthtech company.