The Health Pulse

Our mission at ElectrifingAI is to bring you up-to-date insights on the latest developments taking shape in the electricity sector. Along the way, we’ll help demystify the connection between the greatest machine ever built — the electric grid — and the greatest enabler of our time — data analytics. To help us do that, we’ll have a series of guests who hold a variety of different roles within the industry. And for this episode, it’s a privilege to begin our third season … and our broader view of the electricity industry landscape … with someone who’s had a hand in crafting what that landscape looks like in his home country. 

Brett Redman is the CEO of Transgrid in Australia. Transgrid operates and manages the high voltage electricity transmission network in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory … connecting generators, distributors and major end users. And Brett is a seasoned executive who has … among other roles … previously served as the CEO of AGL and the chair of the Australian Energy Council.

Just a decade ago, one could argue that the electricity industry was primarily a physical business, centralized in its existence, and with a very narrow view of customers and innovation. That world has changed drastically as innovation has shifted from the tangible to intangible. Hear from Brett his thoughts on how the industry is evolving and where we are headed into the future. 

About one in four Australian homes have rooftop solar panels, a larger share than in any other major economy, and the rate of installations far outpaces the global average. The country is well ahead of Germany, Japan and California, which are widely considered leaders in clean energy. But that great progress undoubtedly brings new complexities for grid operators and others who are tasked with ensuring uninterrupted service. We will hear from  Brett his perspectives on such challenges and initiatives that are top on mind for him. 

Have questions or would like to share your thoughts? Jump into the discussion and reach out to Sal at https://www.sas.com/en/experts/sal-gill.html.... Or email us at: [email protected]

Learn more at http://www.sas.com/utilities.

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

In this episode, Greg speaks with Professor Patricia Maguire, Director of University College Dublin’s Institute for Discovery. The Institute’s mission is to drive interdisciplinary research at UCD. Maguire is a biomedical scientist. Her research focuses on platelets, an interest that began 25 years ago when her father suffered his first heart attack and she recognized the need for better diagnostics in the clinic.

Maguire explains that platelets circulate in our blood, picking up information along the way, which makes them a ready source of biomarkers. In one project, Maguire’s team works closely with three large maternity hospitals in Dublin, Ireland, on a study that has found new diagnostic markers for preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a huge problem worldwide, affecting one in ten pregnancies, and killing 50,000 women and 500,000 babies and causing 5 million premature births each year, according to Maguire. Her team’s goal on the project is to bring diagnostic data from blood platelets together with all other available data on a mother during pregnancy and apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to extract insights that can be delivered to a clinician to inform critical care decisions, such as when a baby should be born. The analysis of multimodal data that can then be delivered to the computer screen of a clinician is an experience Maguire describes as augmented intelligence to support clinical decision making.

Maguire says the ultimate dream of the team on this project is to partner with government and industry to bring the preeclampsia algorithm and diagnostic product to every woman who needs it around the world, saving lives. She also shares her thoughts on the importance of democratizing AI and analytics to improve knowledge sharing and collaboration from academia into the real world.

A transcript of this episode can be found here.

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

On this episode, Greg catches up colleague Reggie Townsend, director of the Data Ethics Practice at SAS. Recognizing the increasing market need around data ethics, SAS formed the practice to establish principles and processes for governing Artificial Intelligence (AI). Townsend defines AI as an algorithm or set of instructions given to a computer for decision making. He explains that the market definition of AI is now the entire analytics life cycle from the initial ingestion of data through to analytic modeling, data visualization and the decisions that are ultimately made. While examples of unethical AI, such as discriminatory hiring and lending practices, necessarily get a lot of attention, there are many more examples where AI is used to our benefit. Data science is deployed to optimize many aspects of daily life from our banking experience to flight routes to recommendation engines.

SAS’ Data Ethics Practice applies a human-centric approach to upholding principles such as transparency, accountability and inclusivity in data science. Townsend challenges his team to start by considering the impact of technology on the most vulnerable populations. Understanding bias plays an imperative role. For example, Black neighborhoods in the US, like the one where Townsend grew up in Chicago, are more likely to be food deserts. The people in those communities lack access to healthy food and have poorer health outcomes as a result. When evaluating health data, it is critical to understand the facts and historical context behind the data in order to deliver effective decisions and solutions that are free of bias. Looking forward, Townsend is hopeful that the ethical development and deployment of AI-related technology can lead to brighter futures for all people.

A transcript of this episode can be found here.

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

On this episode, Greg is joined by Dr. Melissa Strong, founder and lead data scientist for IndiOmics. Her background is in molecular biology and epigenetics—or how our environment can affect our gene expression. The idea behind IndiOmics started when Dr. Strong was pregnant with her son and interested in better understanding chemical exposure in utero. The organization’s mission is to educate the public about common chemicals that have the ability to affect us on a cellular level and what we can do to avoid or prevent exposure. Much of its work focuses on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Participants receive a kit, provide a sample from home and ship the kit to the IndiOmics laboratory. When the results are ready, they can login for a personalized look at what they’ve been exposed to, how it’s affecting them on a molecular level and steps they can take to avoid or prevent additional exposure. For example, they may be able to cut down on EDC exposure by not heating or microwaving plastics. Dr. Strong explains that our gene expression is not set in stone, and our environment and behaviors play a significant role in determining our health. Particularly with EDCs, science has demonstrated the toxicity of even very low levels of chemical exposure. To learn more about what you can do to reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals, even if you don’t know your levels, Dr. Strong recommends visiting the Environmental Working Group’s website, www.ewg.org, and referencing the IndiOmics Healthy Living Pocket Guide at www.indiomics.org/pocket-guide. Looking to the future, Dr. Strong is encouraged by younger generations’ awareness around this issue and believes that consumer demand will drive action on the part of manufacturers and regulators alike to further reduce the use of harmful chemicals in consumer products. She also believes that blood tests on endocrine exposures will eventually become a part of routine medical care, empowering more people to understand their exposure levels and take steps to improve their health. 

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

On this episode, Greg Horne talks with Dr. Robert Winn, Director at VCU Massey Cancer Center. Dr. Winn is the second ever African American to be director of a cancer center in the United States. Growing up as the child of a 15-year-old mother, he didn’t dream of becoming a doctor, but two priests in his life saw his potential and helped him to get on a path that eventually led to medical school. In his role at Massey Cancer Center and his life, Dr. Winn focuses on two goals – eradicating cancer and eradicating disparities in access to quality health care wherever they exist. People who have access to quality treatment receive it. It’s that simple. And, trust and affordability play a critical role. As Dr. Winn explains, in order to earn people’s trust in science, the scientific and medical community must be trustworthy. That’s why Massey Cancer Center is working on a trustworthiness scale to measure how they are doing with their patients.

Dr. Winn also shares his perspective on the role of health data convergence in improving health outcomes and the importance of using data from the community to improve scientific questions and address social determinants of health. When it comes to disparities in health care, we already know that a patient’s zip code has a significant impact on their health outcomes. Taken a step further, we can look at the implications of racism historically and identify how it is impacting health outcomes for African Americans today.

Another foundational value for Dr. Winn is respect for humanity. He describes his awe and humility at both the power and limitations of science in treating cancer. He recognizes that there are some cancers and diseases that even today’s best medicine cannot fix. This is when it is imperative for cancer centers to ensure patients have the best possible palliative care to support their transition from this life. Finally, Dr. Winn leaves us with his thoughts on the cancer center of the future and the importance of data to better understand population health and communities. 

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

On this episode, Greg Horne interviews Craig Lipset, advisor, advocate and educator in the area of decentralized clinical trials and the former head of clinical innovation at Pfizer. During his time at Pfizer, Craig helped design and lead the first fully remote, decentralized trial. Surprisingly, that was more than a decade ago. In fact, Craig explains that the methods, investment and even the regulatory readiness around decentralized trials existed in the industry long before the pandemic. The lock-down disruption caused by COVID-19 in early 2020 delivered a key missing piece – meaningful adoption as the industry worked quickly to mitigate delays to ongoing research and spin up new trials to address the virus.

Craig and Greg further discuss the potential for decentralized trials to make participation in clinical research more convenient and accessible to diverse and representative patient populations. Unique support is required to achieve this objective. Decentralized trial participants need specialized technical and emotional support to ensure they have a positive experience and are able to stay compliant with study protocols. In developing nations, decentralized methods can help researchers expand their work into areas where infrastructure may be lacking, but it’s critical to be mindful of the digital divide and ensure that the appropriate support is provided.

Craig leaves us with his perspective on the role of decentralized trials in helping health care deliver clinical research as a care option. For example, the technology offers new ways to engage with non-investigator physicians to improve engagement with community health care and democratize access to clinical research.

A transcript of this episode can be found here. 

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

On this episode host Greg Horne interviews David Rhew, M.D., Global Chief Medical Officer & VP of Healthcare for Microsoft, on the role of technology in health care. Dr. Rhew, who has a background in infectious disease management, observed early in his career that evidence-based practices often lead to better health outcomes, but they aren’t adhered to consistently. From there he set out on a digital transformation journey that quickly brought him into health tech and eventually Microsoft. Dr. Rhew and Greg discuss the role of technology in delivering the right information at the right time to improve patient experience and outcomes. For example, in one cardiac rehab program where patients were offered the option to participation digitally, completion rate jumped from 40 to 80 percent and 30-day hospital readmissions dropped from 12 percent to less than 1 percent. Quite simply, making things easier for patients improves care and reduces costs. According to Dr. Rhew, the next horizon in health care will be around making data more interoperable so that the industry can bring it into a common platform and analyze it to drive actionable insights that improve care. And, Dr. Rhew leaves us with his parting thoughts on technology’s capacity to improve health equity and access.

A transcript of this episode can be found here. 

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

Jennifer Byrne, CEO of contract research organization Javara Research, has a lifelong passion for serving patient populations through clinical research. On this episode, Jennifer shares with Greg the concept of learning health systems that improve health care through research. Javara brings a lot of the traditional advantages that a CRO brings to pharma to health care systems through an integrated research organization approach. The organization's strategic vision and partnerships are centered around bringing clinical research opportunities to health care systems to meet unmet patient needs while simultaneously partnering with pharma to address the data and scientific needs to clinical trials. Jennifer explains how analytics and AI are used to deep dive into electronic health records and other health data sources to identify potential clinical trial participants and connect the right patient with the right trial and the right time. Greg asked Jennifer about the role of bias in clinical research, and she shares her experience around bias that patients and physicians aren’t as interested in participating in clinical research as they actually are. Technology can assist in physician and patient outreach and engagement, so that patients can come to clinical research with their trusted physician and keep their clinical trial participation in sync with their overall health care journey. They also discuss opportunities to use technology to deliver optimal and more patient-centric clinical trial participation. 

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

Grainne Lynch, Senior Manager and Traceability Lead for Accenture, helps pharmaceutical companies be compliant with supply chain legislation around preventing counterfeit medicines from entering the supply chain. Her expertise is around helping pharmaceutical manufacturers implement common capabilities and coding to allow tracking and tracing of products at the unit level. On this episode, Grainne explains to Greg that the pharmaceutical industry is on the forefront of a consumer-led trend demanding the ability to track and trace products end-to-end throughout the supply chain. Now more than ever, consumers want to know a product’s entire history—where it came from, how materials were sourced, where and when it was manufactured, and the process by which it was approved. And, consumers expect companies to be responsible for making good decisions throughout the supply chain. This trend toward greater tracking and tracing is being seen in many industries, and as Grainne explains, life sciences is a natural leader because the industry already has GxP requirements in place. Data and analytics of course play a critical role. For example, most pharmaceutical products require refrigeration, and devices are used to monitor and measure refrigeration throughout the supply chain to ensure the proper temperature level is maintained. Grianne leaves us with her thoughts on the importance of pharmaceutical traceability to the future growth of the industry as a whole. 

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.

Jessica DaMassa is the Executive Producer and Host of video series, What’s the Future, Health?, where she interviews key stakeholders in health tech to uncover unique perspectives on where the industry is headed. On this episode of The Health Pulse, Jessica briefly switches from her usual role as interviewer to share her observations on the trends to watch right now in health care. She shares with Greg several clues on the future based on the unprecedented funding pouring into the health tech space since the early months of the pandemic. Start ups focused on improving analysis of data from electronic health records (EHRs), particularly those focused on gleaning predictive value from EHR data, are hot. Jessica also identified trends around funding for later-stage start ups, which indicates these companies are gaining traction, and an expansion in private equity money in the health tech space. So, where is all this new funding going? Jessica identified three key focus areas – mental health; technology that helps navigate patients into and through the health care system (also know as digital front doors); and AI implementation specifically in the areas of clinical trials and automation of health care administration. Greg and Jessica also discuss key considerations around identifying and controlling for bias in AI. Looking ahead to delivery of care, Jessica sees the home as a place of care will be a key pandemic trend that is here to stay. Her advice for start ups? Make sure you understand the payment model! 

All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.