What will these technologies mean in the future of medicine & healthcare?
-How will the synergistic integration of exponential technologies ranging from imaging, to wireless digital medicine remote monitoring, with the data explosion?
-The cost and speed of a sequencing a human genome is dropping at more than a double-exponential rate… down from millions to $10K in cost today… what do we do when ubiquitous $100 or even ‘free’ genomes become available? How do we leverage, crowd source and make this immense and complex information actionable within healthcare?
-The digital health world is rapidly evolving with the convergence of exponentially growing wireless technology and the proliferation of mobile devices, giving rise to new practices and products. With continual, real-time information on patient health, the healthcare system will be moving from focusing on simply treating sickness to maintaining wellness and enhancing the patient-physician connection. How will this be leveraged to improve outcomes and medical practice?
-Imaging technology and information is ramping dramatically: The rapid CT scans of yesterday produced 100 slices (50MB of data) to today 24K slices (20GB) today, to soon1 Terabyte (800K phonebooks) datasets acquired in seconds…. how to manage and leverage this degree of information and resolution, from diagnostics to integrating into treatment planning, simulation, and even virtual autopsies?
-Point of Care Diagnostics will dramatically change with the advent of point of care microfluidics and genomics… enabling immense diagnostic power at a low price point and within the clinic. What do we do with a proteomic fingerprint of thousands of biomarkers, from early disease detection to managing and modifying therapy?
- Google has developed an automonous robotic cars which have safely driven hundreds of thousands of miles. Sensing and Robotic technology continues to evolve and has integrated with interventional procedures, from prostatectomies to cardiac catheterizations. What will the future bring with ever more capable and even autonomous systems which can potentially take the surgeon out of the loop. How will various modalities from virtual reality displays, and brain computer interfaces enhance the capabilities of the clinician ranging from radiologist to neurosurgeons?
-In 1999 the first human embryonic stem cell line was developed. A decade later the 1st clinical trials are underway utilizing off the shelf oligodendrocytes derived from embryonic stem cells. Regenerative medicine is on the cusp of clinically useful induced pluripotent stem cells, generated from the patient’s own skin which have the properties of pluripotent embryonic stem cells and can be differentiated into over 200 tissue types. Cellular ‘alchemy’ and reprogramming directly from skin cells to neurons and cardiomyocytes is showing promise in the lab. How will such technologies enable regenerative medicine, and the repair, replacement of tissues and organs damaged by aging, trauma and disease?
-When will we be 3D printing our own organ replacements?
-Gene therapy, derailed in recent years is in resurgence, with the development of targeted gene therapy approaches which enables specific genes to be safely replaced. What new paradigms of prevention and therapy will emerge when genetic modification can be done in a safe, targeted, outpatient modality?
-Personalized medicine attempts to tackle the long tail of medicine…instead of one sized fits all, targeted, patient specific therapies. Recognizing the almost every cancer is unique, how will multiple exponential technologies, from genomics and expression gene profiling, to proteomics, methylation and detection of rare circulating tumor cells change the face of oncology and individualized cancer regimens? How will the regulatory bodies respond to n=1 clinical trials?
-Healthcare information is rapidly becoming digitized. Convergent technologies connecting patients and physicians in real-time is rapidly evolving and integrating. Clinicians will be able to practice medicine from virtually anywhere at anytime, with instant access to the information and systems they need. What is the likely timing, barriers and opportunities in the evolving arena of digital medicine?
-Medical devices and implants (such as pacemakers) continue to shrink in size at exponential rates, and grow in terms of capabilities and level of integrated technology. What will the future minimally invasive devices, and implants look like? What unmet needs can they address?
-Medical care is becoming distributed away from the hospital and clinic as technology allows networked homes to wirelessly track the health and events of the elderly, to engage in telepresence patient-doctor interactions, and via our mobile and wearable devices. How will such technologies roll out and what might the benefits and barriers be?
