Arbutus Medical is a company that aims to improve access to surgical power tools for surgeons around the world. Their flagship product, the DrillCover, is a sterilizable enclosure that allows surgeons to use an off-the-shelf hardware drill for orthopedic surgery. Four years ago, we interviewed Lawrence Buchan, Arbutus’ co-founder. We caught u (Read more...)
Tag: Public Health
Electronic Caregiver Offers Modern Medical Alert Pendants: CES 2019
SameDay Security, an at-home security firm, has developed a few offerings to help the elderly and sick people to maintain independence at home. The devices are pretty attractive and offered in a variety of colors and patterns. They monitor people’s activity levels and the accompanying app can help to adhere to medication regimens and to [&hel (Read more...)
Interview with Dr. David Rhew, Samsung’s Chief Medical Officer: CES 2019
Most people think of Samsung as a manufacturer of televisions and smartphones, but the company is much more diversified and in the last few years it has seriously entered the medical space. Samsung now offers its own portable CT scanners, ultrasound machines, radiography systems, and in-vitro diagnostics products. It has done so by buying existing (Read more...)
Improving Healthcare Efficiency with Incentives: Interview with Ben Kraus, CEO of Stellar Health
Doctors are a busy bunch! From an endless stream of patients to frequent team meetings, from piles of paperwork to hours in the operating or emergency room – the list goes on. In a drastically slow and often back-logged healthcare system, physicians often feel the need and responsibility to get through as many patients as […]
Kepler Vision Technologies Monitors Elderly at Home: CES 2019
An extra set of eyes can be important in manufacturing, air traffic control, medicine, and just about any other field. The elderly living alone at home can also benefit from someone maintaining an eye on them, while keeping their lives private. Enter cameras, computer vision, pattern recognition, and other powerful technologies, and you can have [& (Read more...)
Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Lab Accelerator at CES 2019
Dassault Systèmes is a major French manufacturer of all sorts of clinical equipment and technologies, and the company is always looking for new product ideas and ways that can improve medical care. Recently, the firm launched its 3DEXPERIENCE Lab initiative, which is an accelerator program for startups across the world that are looking for h (Read more...)
Stanley Black & Decker Getting Into Healthcare: CES 2019
TThe names Black & Decker and Stanley conjure thoughts of sawing wood planks, drilling holes, as well as mixing up dough for your secret bread recipe. They certainly don’t make one think of medical devices. But the joined company, called Stanley Black & Decker, now has a division called STANLEY Healthcare that already has a (Read more...)
Smartphone App Detects Opioid Overdose
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a smartphone app that can detect if someone is experiencing an opioid overdose. The app uses sonar to monitor the breathing rate of a user, which it can do from up to three feet away, to assess if someone is experiencing an overdose. So far, the technology […]
what3words Addressing System for Medical Uses: Interview at CES 2019
Modern medicine relies a great deal on advanced technologies, but some of these technologies introduce new complications and existing systems muddy the waters further. GPS, for example, is highly accurate, but GPS coordinates are difficult to use. Old fashioned addresses, on the other hand, are pretty easy to remember, but they can be ambiguous, ar (Read more...)
Near Infrared Food Shelf Life Scanner
Spoiled food is a global problem and people end up sick all the time. Modern methods of detecting spoiled food include smelling it, looking for moldy spots, and arguing with your spouse whether a given item is ready to be thrown in the trash. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation […]
Using Blockchain for More Efficient Healthcare Economy: Interview with Digipharm Founder, Ahmed Abdalla
If you’ve been following the news, you know that the U.S. healthcare system has many, many inefficiencies. Some have gone so far as to claim that U.S. healthcare is flat-out broken. While that may be over-dramatization for political purposes, many of the arguments presented are entirely valid. With recent modifications to U.S. legislature, th (Read more...)
Eliminating Counterfeit Drugs from the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Interview with FarmaTrust CEO
Around the world, an estimated 1 million deaths are attributed to substandard and counterfeit drugs. The World Custom Organization’s Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Coordinator Christophe Zimmerman has claimed in the past that, “We have more fakes than real drugs in the market.” Inflexible, legacy systems and fragmented technical s (Read more...)
Tiny Wearable UV Sensor Can Help to Optimize Phototherapy
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a “virtually indestructible” solar-powered UV sensor. Described as the world’s smallest wearable, the battery-free device is thinner than a credit card and smaller than an M&M candy, but can warn people about UV over-exposure and help clinicians to optimize dosing during li (Read more...)
Tiny Wearable UV Sensor Can Help to Optimize Phototherapy
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a “virtually indestructible” solar-powered UV sensor. Described as the world’s smallest wearable, the battery-free device is thinner than a credit card and smaller than an M&M candy, but can warn people about UV over-exposure and help clinicians to optimize dosing during li (Read more...)
Equashield Uses Robots and Image Recognition to Handle Hazardous Drugs
Although lifesaving, chemotherapy drugs are potentially hazardous to the pharmacists and other healthcare workers who routinely handle them. Closed System Transfer Devices (CSTDs) are used to move these drugs from one container to another, while preventing contamination and occupational exposure due to aerosolization or needle sticks. A reliable CS (Read more...)
Inkrypt and Translo Partner on Blockchain-Based, Secure, Shareable Healthcare Data (Interview)
Last month, two startups out of Harvard Innovation Labs announced a partnership to enable patient-controlled sharing of biomedical data from a decentralized platform. The underlying system is provided by Inkrypt, a privacy-centric decentralized content hosting platform. Inkrypt uses a decentralized storage architecture, blockchain technology, and a (Read more...)
Backpack Health’s App for People with Rare Diseases in Developing Countries: Interview with CEO
Backpack Health, a health-tech company based in Boston, has partnered with two organizations specializing in rare diseases, Care Beyond Diagnosis and FYMCA Medical, to bring their mobile and cloud-based health management application to patients with rare diseases living in low-income countries. Rare diseases can be significantly challenging fo (Read more...)
Philips Releases 2018 Future Health Index Report
As of last week, all three parts of this year’s Future Health Index (FHI) by Philips are now available. Started two years ago, the FHI has previously measured perceptions of how healthcare is experienced from the points of view of both patients and providers in different countries (2016) and compared these perceptions to the reality [… (Read more...)
Philips Releases 2018 Future Health Index Report
As of last week, all three parts of this year’s Future Health Index (FHI) by Philips are now available. Started two years ago, the FHI has previously measured perceptions of how healthcare is experienced from the points of view of both patients and providers in different countries (2016) and compared these perceptions to the reality [… (Read more...)
Philips Releases 2018 Future Health Index Report
As of last week, all three parts of this year’s Future Health Index (FHI) by Philips are now available. Started two years ago, the FHI has previously measured perceptions of how healthcare is experienced from the points of view of both patients and providers in different countries (2016) and compared these perceptions to the reality [… (Read more...)