#284: Even dogs use AI now
The one-minute healthtech roundup, by SomX - the full service communications agency for many healthtech, biotech and pharma companies. And we write a pigeon-based newsletter.
Hello healthtech fans.
This week: Everything is AI now. Every conversation. Every story. Everything you read. Everything you hear. AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI. Weâve made zero attempt to avoid it, so weâre leaning in. To be fair, there is a story at the end about dogs. But even they use AI đ«
đ Fancy this newsletter in podcast form? đ Well⊠Click this linky link to get the pod on Spotify. And itâs on the SomX YouTube channel if you like to look at the faces of people when they talk.
News Bites đ„Ș
âïž Heidi Launches Evidence and Acquires AutoMedica to Accelerate Its AI Care Partner Platform: Medical knowledge doubles every 73 days (apparently), so good luck keeping up with a textbook and a strong coffee. Melbourne-based Heidi, who already power over 100 million clinical interactions globally, are taking on the knowledge gap (and the London tube system đ) with a clinical-grade research tool built on partnerships with HealthPathways, NICE, the BMJ and others, and it's making a point of keeping it ad-free. The AutoMedica acquisition bags them access to the (gloriously named) âMHRA AI Airlockâ and a stronger foothold in the UK. A play for NHS credibility and adoption, perhaps?
đș Oura Launches AI Model Built Specifically for Womenâs Health: The smart ring company has gone and built its own proprietary LLM designed specifically for women's health, which combines clinician-curated knowledge with members' biometric data across sleep, cycle, pregnancy, activity and stress to deliver personalised guidance from first periods to menopause. It's been deliberately tuned to be "non-dismissive and emotionally supportive," (appropriate nod to the lack-thereof re: womensâ experience thus far)âŠ
𧏠How to scale genomics to transform precision diagnostics: Genomic sequencingâs ready to move from niche specialty toolâ to âstandard-of-careâ if the ecosystem can get its act together. The good news⊠costs are falling and evidence is building⊠But... Scaling this isn't just a tech problem. It needs providers ordering the tests, health systems embedding them into care pathways, clinical societies updating their guidelines, and payers actually covering it. TLDR: itâll be the unsexy plumbing thatâll make precision medicine work at scale. And probably the rest of healthcare.
đŹ Canary Speech, JubileeTV partner on AI voice biomarkers for at-home care: If youâre a Healthtech Pigeon-reader, of COURSE youâre a Healthtech Podcast listener*, so you wouldâve heard James ask if Canary Speech would be taking their vocal biomarker tech out of clinics and into living rooms. Well, guess what⊠They have**. The system analyses how someone speaks during normal video calls to generate non diagnostic indicators around cognition, mood, stress and energy to give earlier insight into changes that might otherwise be missed between appointments. If you wanted another signal on this, an LLM in South Korea just claimed it can predict a senior personâs risk of dementia from their voice-recorded conversation.
đ§ EEG AI model discovers epilepsy biomarker?: MANAS-1 isnât just an excellent OnlyFans handle, itâs an AI model trained on EEG data from more than 25,000 patients globally. And, allegedly, itâs decoded patterns linked to epilepsy and mental health conditions. Interesting, right? Affordable, non-invasive brain health in the community is exactly what youâre looking for if you want to make outsized impact and mega dollar. The global race to read the brain and discover new biomarkers is very much on.
đ¶ How AI Is Transforming Detection of Congenital Heart Defects: Some more seemingly positive, practical AI progress. Currently, up to half of congenital heart defects go undetected prenatally. Half. But AI-enabled ultrasound is now flagging abnormal foetal cardiac images in real time. The "AI doesn't replace clinicians" line is doing a lot of work here, as it always does. But in this case, the use case is actually solid - getting community-based sonographers to flag what would otherwise need a maternal-foetal medicine specialist. Early data looks good. Peer-reviewed evidence to come.
And finallyâŠ
đ¶ How dogs and tech can detect cancer through breath: Believe it or not, Pigeon is a big lover of canines, itâs the felines weâve got to watch out for. Anyway. SpotitEarly pairs trained dogs with AI (because why wouldnât you add AI in) to detect cancer from a breath sample. Sounds crazy, but also⊠brilliant. You breathe into a tube at home, the dogs sniff out cancer linked compounds, and an AI system translates their behaviour into a structured diagnostic signal. Early detection is the goal but this method just so happens to involve floppy ears and puppy dog eyes. Innovation comes in many forms, people.
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What to Listen to đ
This week, Dr Saira Ghafur, respiratory consultant, healthtech leader and co-founder of Prova Health talks medical training to NHS consultancy, policy fellowships, co-founding and running two ventures, and the realities of scaling digital health, building credible evidence and regulating AI in healthcare. All in a dayâs (podcastâs) work.
Vishaal Virani leads YouTube's UK health strategy and talks about how the platform handles medical misinformation at scale, what their "health shelves" actually do, and what healthcare can learn from creators about communicating clearly.
Events đ
Women in Biotech
đ
5th March 2026
đŹđ§ Cambridge, England
In celebration of International Womenâs Day, this is a full-day event bringing together 250+ attendees for practical workshop roundtables, inspiring keynotes and thought leadership panels.
Womenâs Health Horizons - London Summit
đ
10th March 2026
đŹđ§ London, England
A heavyweight London convening of clinicians, founders, investors and policymakers zeroed in on accelerating real progress in womenâs health. With leaders like Julia Levy, Joyce Harper, and Dr Suzanne Steinbaum on stage, and partners spanning Organon to Women of Wearables, this is where the serious conversations on AI bias, menopause reform and device adoption will happen.
Biotech & Beers
đ
11th March 2026
đŹđ§ Newcastle, England
An agenda-free networking evening which provides opportunities for key people from companies working in or with the life sciences sector to just hang. Lovely.
Digital Health Rewired
đ
24-25th March 2026
đŹđ§ Birmingham, England
Uniting NHS leaders, teams and innovators to shape the next decade of digital healthcare.
Opportunities đ”ïžââïž
đ©ș Health & Wellbeing Physiologist, Unbound: Early-stage preventative health startup building the physical & digital member experience (think: biometrics to digital twin pipeline). This is the human end of that stack - collecting the data that powers everything else. Phlebotomy cert and relevant degree required. Good one if you want to be on the ground floor of prevention/longevity.
đ Marketing & events, Scarlet: Scarlet is Europe's only Notified Body built specifically for AI and software medical devices - one of nine in the world with dual UK/EU access. They're hiring two peeps: one to own content and social (strong writing, knows what lands), one to own premium IRL events end to end.
đ§âđŒ Transformation Manager, UK, Proximie: Proximie connects operating rooms to people, data and devices - think OS for the intelligent OR, backed by $130M and partnered with Olympus. This role sits between clinical reality and the tech, which means you need to know what a theatre actually looks like on a Tuesday morning, and be able to translate that into dashboards that mean something.
đŹ Business Development Manager, SISU Health UK: SiSU puts self-serve health kiosks into workplaces, retailers, councils and the NHS - five-minute checks, no clinician required, Aldi and the NHS both fans. They're scaling fast and want someone to run deals from first conversation to signed contract. High autonomy, real scope. Pigeon suspects (at least) one of you is exactly this person.
* Totally voluntary, but please like and subscribe etc.
** For raising this incredibly obvious idea that was already being actioned, we can confirm that James unfortunately (rightly) received absolutely no credit, payment or equity.
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