Connected Health Connected Minds

Junzi Shi MD

Chief Resident PGY-5 in the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Madhvi Deol MD (left) and Junzi Shi MD (right)
are COE grant recipients
 to attend the 2019 Connected Health meeting.

Who owns big data owns the future. This was a clear message at the 2019 Connected Health conference held in the Seaport World Trade Center Oct 23-25^th. The conference brought together tech companies, marketing companies, start-ups, healthcare organization leaders and providers all in one space. As a radiologist, I am trained in processing visual information and using imaging as guidance for minimally invasive procedures. My expectations for attending the meeting was to learn more about how informatics is being applied through technology to benefit all the stakeholders in healthcare.

One of the most interesting parts of the conference was visiting the vendors on the exhibit floor. As I walked around, I enjoyed learning about various software and hardware that were being advertised. The target audience seemed to be other tertiary vendors rather than providers or patients themselves. Some messages seemed openly hostile towards physicians. Instead of telling me about his product, one vendor launched into a diatribe about how “clinicians own the data” (I gently corrected him) and proceeded to rant that patients need more rights to delete or manipulate their own data. As I walked away, he called out after me, “Computers are coming for you!” However this interaction was counterbalanced by running into a friend James Wyman, co-founder of Pillo Health, a company featuring a pill-dispensing tele-health device to help patients with medication adherence at home.

Several talks in the Innovation Stage located in the middle of the exhibit floor featured patient testimonials relaying about missed or delayed diagnoses that supposedly could have been prevented or ameliorated by technology. The physicians’ fault was implied. Despite these disheartening presentations, one talk rose above the others with an overwhelmingly positive message. Janak Joshi, Chief Technology Officer of LifeImage, stepped on stage and gave an enthusiastic talk about patient engagement and the need to work together to bring the best service in healthcare. I wholeheartedly agree that collaboration is needed in the complex arena of healthcare technology with many moving pieces and stakeholders.

It was also interesting meeting other conference attendees and hearing about what they were looking for. For example, a primary care physician from Chile had self-funded the trip to Boston for the conference, and she was enthralled by the amount of technology offered in the US compared to South America. A technology company executive I met in the line for coffee was disappointed by the relatively smaller size of the meeting compared to previous years and other conferences.

Junzi Shi MD (left) and James Wyman co-founder
of Pillo Health at the exhibit floor of the
2019 Connected Health meeting.

My favorite part of the conference was the women in IT mentoring session. The small group discussions were very productive and featured challenges and solutions that were very relatable to academic healthcare, but also distinctly unique to the corporate world. I sat at the table focused on negotiations, led by Nancy Green, President and founder of the SAA group. An important takeaway from this session is that imposter syndrome can be normal, and do not be afraid to negotiate but do not let emotions enter the negotiations.

Overall I am very thankful for the opportunity to attend the Connected Health conference in the Seaport World Trade Center as part of a grant from the Partners Centers of Excellence. In the future, trainees who attend the conference could get a better sense of the meeting by connecting with meeting organizers, since it is partially sponsored by Partners. As one of the few physicians at the conference, I would have found this very useful to get a sense of the overall purpose – who attends the meeting, what kind of connections are made, and what metrics define success on the part of organizer, attendee or exhibitor.