Hi friends,
This week: Smart tech, common sense committee, stupid cartoon.
Listen to me (James) and Jessica chatting through this weekâs stories on the Healthtech Pigeon podcast if you like that sort of thing âŹïž
News Bites đ„Ș
đ€ Experts join forces to help accelerate NHS use of artificial intelligence â Here we go - a new national commission to speed up the safe use of AI in healthcare, putting a group of people together to âmove regulation of AI in healthcare at the pace of innovation.â You have to wonder whoâs going to contribute and what their remit is going to be. A common-sense committee of informed decision-makers with the power to influence policy? Great idea. But the article states âexperts from companies such as Google and Microsoftâ will be on it and the aim is to publish a ârulebookâ next year. Is big tech really best placed? Is a rulebook what we need⊠in a yearâs time?
đâI used AI to spot my skin cancer â it saved my lifeâ â Pigeon loves a real-world use case of the technology that weâre always harping on about. Lynsey Robertson became an unexpected first patient of an NHS AI skin cancer tool when it flagged a deadly melanoma on her own skin. We do talk about them a lot here, but, no apology to be honest, because Class III autonomous AI product-making company, Skin Analytics, triggered a referral and a successful surgery, removing all Lynseyâs cancerous cells. Donât let that cynical tone in the first story make you think AI isnât changing the healthcare world as we speak, because it is.
đ AI at the eyelid: Glasses that track health through your blinks â They do say the eyes are the windows to the soul and a lot of healthtech founders would argue to our health too. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed BlinkWise, an AI-powered add-on that turns ordinary glasses into smart, energy-efficient health monitors by tracking eyelid movements. Using radio signals rather than cameras, the device captures blink dynamics in milliseconds, providing insights into fatigue, eye dryness, mental workload (yes to all), and other health indicators.
đ©č Startup developing âliquid bandagesâ raises ÂŁ4.8m â This is one product Pigeon absolutely needs to get its wings on, after all, our quick wit has landed us in a few avian scrapes over the years. Cambridge spinout-that-sounds-like-a-2000s-hip-hop-group - NoBACZ Healthcare - has raised funding to roll out its âliquid bandageâ for livestock wounds. The patented gel, dip, or spray forms a waterproof shield that keeps bacteria out, helping cut infections, improve animal welfare, and reduce antibiotic use. Yep, animal biotech is where weâre at. Itâs been a slow news week.
đ„ NHS launches virtual hospital â Look at the NHS being all avant-garde. The NHS is letting patients skip the waiting room and see specialists anywhere in the country via the NHS App. The aim seems to be to the usual triple - increase efficiency, drive down costs and even out care, with AI-driven triage, online consultations using services all over the country, and easy booking for scans or procedures. The plan is to deliver millions of extra appointments by 2027. Lots of future tense in the press release⊠âwill be..â âplans to..â so weâre not sure if this is a plan or if itâs the press release before the press release before the thing happens.
đș Visana Health Raises $24M Series A for Virtual-First Womenâs Health Clinic â âMost of womenâs health isnât in the reproductive organsâ was a clear message at Thursdayâs NXGN event on womenâs health if you were there. Hence, this Minneapolis-based startup is taking its virtual womenâs health clinic beyond gynecology into areas like weight loss, chronic care, and cardiometabolic health. Visana Health provides 100% virtual, full-spectrum care helping women manage multiple conditions, book screenings, and coordinate procedures from home. Bet your bottom dollar youâre going to see a lot of companies in this space - and rightly so.
đȘ Smart wearable device developed to monitor muscle health â Another shoutout to the researchers this week. What would Pigeon do without you? Weâre moving away from the states, back closer to home at dear old Nottingham Trent University* where researchers are developing Axoband, a wearable that tracks muscle health to spot sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, earlier. The stretchable, washable band measures muscle signals and movement, giving doctors a clear, real-time picture of muscle function. With sarcopenia affecting 1 in 10 over-60s and driving costly falls, early detection could make the world of a difference.
And finallyâŠ
đ§ This Startup Wants to Put Its Brain-Computer Interface in the Apple Vision Pro - Avoiding the joke about âfinally making the Apple Vision Pro usefulâ because thatâs too obvious, Cognixion is one of several companies, including Elon Muskâs Neuralink, that is developing a brain-computer interface, or BCI, a system that captures brain signals and translates them into commands to control external devices. But this oneâs non-invasive. Theyâre doing a trial with 10 participants in the US with speech impairments secondary to spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, or ALS and enabling participants to âspeakâ through the headset. Proper healthtech, that.
What to Listen to đ
Quick note on this one âđŒ - itâs on longevity (with a PhD scientist, Tomasz, who knows a heck of a lot about the actual science and application of longevity), and he starts by talking about about being an international DJ opening for Calvin Harris etc, which is epic, obviously⊠funny thing is⊠(this is true) I had to edit out a story of him going to a club with Maxi Jazz from Faithless because it was too outrageous.
Also, Mustyâs back very soon with Big Picture Medicine releasing a load more episodes. That one âđŒ is a great one from last year - Iâve put it in so you can find the pod and save it to get ready for when the new episodes drop.
Events đ
HealthtechX
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November 5
đ Hurlingham Club, London
IEEE Global Public Health Forum 2025 â Powering AI for Climate-Ready Population Health
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Nov 6
đLondon, UK
BMJ Future Health conference
đ
Nov 6 - 7
đ London
đĄ Save 20% off the ticket price with the code PIGEON20
Opportunities đ”ïžââïž
Not gonna lie, Iâm short on time this week, so Iâve added 2 jobs at the top and copied the ones from the NXGN newsletter (that oneâs ÂŁ1 for a year and Pigeon is free, so youâre winning. Sheâll be fine with it, but still, donât grass me in to Grace, who writes that one. Also, if the links donât work, donât look at me).
Senior Software Engineer at Birdie
Senior Medical Lead at Doccla
Healthcare Expert at Data Annotation
Health Gen AI scientist at Apple
Senior Medical Advisor at Flo Health
Clinical Specialist at Taskify
Medical Monitor at Medpace
Senior GenAI GTM Tech BD, Healthcare & Life Sciences Startups at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Clinical Director at NAYA Health
Clinician Operations Associate at Asterix Health
* Side note - the Pigeon writing this rolled back the years for a friend-from-medical-schoolâs birthday last weekend and went back up to Nottingham to see Hot Since 82 at a rave in a restaurant with a 9am train home booked for the following day because it âdefinitely wonât be a big one.â It obviously was a big one. Followed by a five-day hangover and a vow never to do that again because what on EARTH was I thinking.