Insights / Technology
Field notes on Digital Health — what's actually working in software-driven care, beyond the funding headlines.
63 posts in Digital Health
31 Jul 2026 · 3 min read
Salesforce just signed a contract worth up to $1.6 billion with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to deploy agentic AI across call handling, scheduling, and benefits verification — unglamorous work, and precisely where agentic AI in healthcare scales first.
28 Jul 2026 · 1 min read
Eli Lilly just took an equity stake in Oura this month, and I think it's one of the more interesting big pharma moves into digital health because Lilly gets retention and behavioral data leverage without ever touching the biometric data itself.
14 Jul 2026 · 1 min read
I'm marking my own homework on the five AI predictions I made for 2026: two hits, two partials, and one still too early to call at the halfway point.
25 Jun 2026 · 1 min read
Sanofi and Pangaea Data's AATD collaboration shows where pharma AI may create near-term value: finding undiagnosed patients already visible in clinical records. In rare disease, patient identification can create patient value and market expansion at the same time.
16 Jun 2026 · 1 min read
A Nature Medicine study found OpenEvidence, a clinical AI now valued at $12 billion, scored no better than free Google Search on blinded real-world physician queries, while general frontier models led. The sharper lesson for anyone buying clinical AI: which benchmark you trust decides the winner you see.
14 May 2026 · 4 min read
I spoke at the Global Health Exhibition Capital Xchange webinar opened by the Saudi Ministry of Health, and the headline story in healthcare venture this year is concentration — less capital, larger checks, AI dominating in techbio and clinical workflows, and a Saudi market that is shifting from consumer to producer economy.
28 Apr 2026 · 3 min read
OpenEvidence has withdrawn from the EU and UK citing regulatory uncertainty around the EU AI Act, making the geography of clinical AI access officially American. I break down what this means for US and European pharma, and why the AI Act's first observable market effect may be pushing physicians toward less-grounded AI alternatives.
23 Mar 2026 · 3 min read
Verily raised $300M, ended Alphabet’s controlling stake, and changed its legal name to Verily Health Inc. The capital matters. The structural change matters more. In healthcare, ownership structure is part of the product. As a personal anecdote, I stopped using my Fitbit the moment Google took over.
19 Mar 2026 · 3 min read
Five days separated Microsoft’s Copilot Health launch from Satya Nadella restructuring Copilot leadership. The official story is coherence and strategic focus. The architecture is compelling. But architecture isn’t execution. The real question is whether Microsoft can actually ship it.
5 Mar 2026 · 3 min read
The FDA quietly granted Breakthrough Device Designation to a generative AI chatbot — not a diagnostic, not a scoring tool. An LLM that talks to post-surgical patients twice daily and escalates red flags. No GenAI device has ever received FDA authorization. This becomes the test case.
19 Feb 2026 · 1 min read
The AI-in-healthcare debate keeps swinging between “AI is going to take over everything” and “AI is useless in a medical setting.” Neither is useful. What the field actually needs are external neutral benchmarks on specific clinical tasks. Congrats to Rory Davidson and team for bringing one to market.
20 Jan 2026 · 3 min read
I just completed my first peer review — on a healthcare AI paper — under journal rules that explicitly forbid AI assistance. Peer review is slow, strained, and imperfect. And it now actively forbids the tools that could make it better. Will this model survive the next decade?
13 Jan 2026 · 3 min read
Everyone is framing the new healthcare AI launches as ChatGPT vs Claude. That’s the wrong comparison. The real story is consumer memory vs reimbursement workflows — two completely different bets on where AI lock-in actually gets built.
8 Jan 2026 · 2 min read
OpenAI just launched ChatGPT Health (waitlisted). I can’t access it from Europe yet, but I’ve been using ChatGPT for surprisingly complex Swiss health insurance reimbursement scenarios. The personal health AI category is emerging in real-time, and OpenAI may have a real shot where Apple has tried for years.
5 Jan 2026 · 2 min read
I'm sharing my 5 bets for AI in Healthcare and TechBio in 2026 — from ambient scribes becoming table stakes to a TechBio Series B shakeout accelerating. If one of these is wrong, I want to know which one and what would change your mind.
27 Oct 2025 · 1 min read
AI implementation in healthcare in the KSA is progressing at a breathtaking speed — I was inspired by Saad Alhuzami's case study on the MOH Cortex project at Global Health Exhibition, covering agentic AI, ML modeling, digital twins, and care orchestration.
23 Oct 2025 · 1 min read
The Menlo Ventures report on AI in healthcare confirms that the sector is now one of the fastest adopters of enterprise AI, with ambient scribes leading the charge — but commoditization and pricing pressure are already reshaping the competitive landscape. My bet for the next battlefield is RCM.
21 Oct 2025 · 1 min read
Many think GenAI will replace data standards — I argue the opposite: for AI in healthcare to be trustworthy, GenAI makes standards like SNOMED and LOINC more critical than ever.
25 Sept 2025 · 1 min read
The NHS is building AIR-SP, a national AI screening cloud that lets every trust plug into shared, real-world trials — starting with a breast-cancer study involving nearly 700,000 women. I think the overall approach makes sense, and I'd love to see other countries adopt something similar.
16 Sept 2025 · 1 min read
Healthcare AI is moving from answers to actions — and model evaluation must shift from simplistic multiple-choice testing to comprehensive workflow safety and governance. I'm convinced that agentic workflow automation will be a massive opportunity in healthcare and life sciences.
9 Sept 2025 · 1 min read
In Dubai at WHX Tech, AI in healthcare isn't just being debated — it's being deployed. A new health-data sandbox is launching so startups can work with de-identified EMR under clear governance, build quickly, and prove safety.
4 Sept 2025 · 1 min read
I joined Sonal Rupani on Dubai Eye 103.8's The Reboot to explore real-world AI applications in healthcare and the ethical considerations we need to address as we move forward — a perfect primer for my panel on real-world AI usage in healthcare at WHX Tech Dubai.
7 Aug 2025 · 1 min read
Hinge Health is up 50% in share price since its IPO while posting 55% revenue growth — a rare combination that digital health genuinely needs more of. I'm asking which other digital health companies are quietly building towards a breakout moment like this.
5 Aug 2025 · 1 min read
Meta is facing up to $190 billion in damages after users of the period-tracking app Flo alleged their sensitive health data was shared with Meta for targeted advertising. I see this as a timely reminder for all of us to treat our health data with far greater care.
30 Jul 2025 · 1 min read
Investors have poured nearly $1 billion into the AI scribe market this year, and this week's announcements from Doximity and Ambience Healthcare drew the battle lines clearly: is ambient AI documentation a free commodity feature, or the foundation of a dominant clinical workflow platform?
21 Jul 2025 · 1 min read
I explore why bigger isn't always better when it comes to data in AI — and why, in healthcare especially, the real problem is data quality, not quantity. Curated, structured, interoperable data is what will make trustworthy clinical AI possible.
18 Jul 2025 · 1 min read
It's great to see more unicorns in health tech AI — OpenEvidence is now valued at more than $3.5B after a $210M Series B backed by Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, GV, and Coatue. GenAI is clearly starting to move beyond the pilot phase into daily clinical practice, and the AI hype cycle in health tech venture investment shows no signs of ending just yet.
15 Jul 2025 · 1 min read
Participating in the SNOMED International board meeting in Manchester reinforces my conviction that SNOMED CT is absolutely critical for healthcare AI. As a board member chairing the Technology and Innovation Committee, I see firsthand how this global standard transforms fragmented health data into a reliable, structured foundation for AI innovation.
8 Jul 2025 · 1 min read
A recent Microsoft study suggests AI outperforms doctors at diagnosis, but only under artificially constrained conditions — the real story is about AI augmenting physicians, not replacing them. The greatest barrier to better patient outcomes isn't physician skill or technology potential; it's the clinical inertia and outdated infrastructure keeping them apart.
17 Jun 2025 · 1 min read
I share key learnings from the AIspotlight at HLTHEurope2025 on federated data and learning collaboration, where speakers from Roche, Charité, and beyond made the case for combining insights across institutions. A recurring theme: this shift in how we interact with health data requires clearer explanation and specific use cases for stakeholders.
12 Jun 2025 · 1 min read
One of the biggest paradoxes in health data is that the most valuable insights are locked within the most sensitive and difficult-to-access information — a natural brake on innovation. I explore how the new Atropos Health and Databricks partnership takes a meaningful step toward solving this.
15 May 2025 · 1 min read
I joined fellow panelists from Saudi FDA, WEF, LEAN, and others at the menatelehealth conference in Riyadh to discuss how AI is reshaping virtual care. We explored Saudi Arabia's regulatory sandbox approach, high-impact use cases from LLMs in critical care to agentic AI, and the infrastructure enabling it all.
24 Apr 2025 · 1 min read
Biolinq has raised $100M to challenge the CGM market with an intradermal patch that uses microneedles and a built-in LED display — and I break down what makes their approach genuinely different from devices like Abbott's FreeStyle Libre.
8 Apr 2025 · 1 min read
I'm traveling back from several intense days at the quarterly SNOMED International Management Board meeting in Oslo, where I chair the Technology and Innovation Committee. Here's why internationally aligned clinical standards remain vital — and are even essential — for effective AI in healthcare.
27 Mar 2025 · 1 min read
Bill Gates predicts AI will replace many doctors and teachers within 10 years — but I think he may be underestimating how hard it is to fix systems that are already deeply broken. The technology will be ready; whether our dysfunctional healthcare systems will truly change is another question.
20 Mar 2025 · 1 min read
We're increasingly relying on AI and LLMs in medical settings — from self-diagnosis to clinical co-pilots — but there are still no good benchmarks for how well these models actually perform in real clinical practice. I think we have a long way to go before LLMs become truly reliable thought partners in our medical journeys.
18 Mar 2025 · 1 min read
AI in healthcare shouldn't aim to replace professionals — its true potential lies in enhancing their ability to deliver quality care. I explore how Wysa's merger with April Health exemplifies the broader industry trend of combining human empathy with AI-enabled tools in mental healthcare.
11 Mar 2025 · 1 min read
Even Epic — not historically known as an innovation powerhouse — is now fully embracing AI agents. I share highlights from an interview with Epic's SVP of R&D and offer my take on what their commitment to AI and open collaboration means for healthcare.
4 Mar 2025 · 1 min read
I've written several times about the power of AI agents, and I remain convicted that they will bring a fundamental shift in the way we work — including in healthcare — in the next five years. Healthcare may be sleeping on this shift, but the time to start exploring Agentic AI is now.
18 Feb 2025 · 1 min read
A proposed US bill could allow AI to legally prescribe medications — a significant shift beyond today's administrative and decision-support roles. I see this as a potential turning point in how AI is integrated into clinical practice, though regulatory and safety challenges remain.
30 Jan 2025 · 1 min read
I attended the FutureofHealth summit in Dubai today, where leaders from PureHealth and GE HealthCare shared their visions for agentic AI in primary care and oncology — including the bold idea that primary care could become free over time.
29 Jan 2025 · 1 min read
Neko Health's $260M raise is a signal that prevention may finally be getting the prime-time moment it deserves. I reflect on why this investment matters for a part of healthcare that has long been underfunded despite being the most cost-effective way to manage disease.
27 Jan 2025 · 1 min read
I share interesting insights from Microsoft's Chief Medical Officer David Rhew, M.D. at ArabHealth in Dubai, covering GenAI's role in healthcare — from ambient scribes saving admin time to multimodal models, agentic AI, and the critical importance of trust in adoption.
21 Jan 2025 · 1 min read
Wrapping up three productive days in Orlando following my first meeting as Chair of SNOMED International's Technology and Innovation Committee, I came away with one clear conviction: as we move into an era of AI-enabled healthcare systems, SNOMED CT as a common global language will be more crucial than ever for accurate, interoperable communication between humans and machines.
5 Dec 2024 · 1 min read
Interesting insights on the use of GenAI in Healthcare, from Bayer's Guido Mathews, Medtronic's Irina Evstifeeva and Karista's Amine Benmoussa at Health Tech Forward in Barcelona. From drug discovery and digital twins to medical imaging and workflow efficiency, the panel surfaced where GenAI is maturing — and where it still has a long way to go.
20 Nov 2024 · 1 min read
Oura's $5B valuation following its deal with Dexcom signals a powerful convergence of continuous glucose monitoring and consumer wearables — and I think it could be a game-changer for health optimization well beyond diabetic patients.
28 Oct 2024 · 1 min read
Just back from the Global Health Exhibition in Riyadh, I was inspired by the 'can-do' mindset driving healthcare advancements across the GCC. AI and digital health solutions are making a tangible difference in patient outcomes, and Saudi Arabia is fast becoming a global example of digital transformation in healthcare.
22 Oct 2024 · 1 min read
I'm honored to announce my appointment as a Management Board member of SNOMED International, following three inspiring days in Seoul at the Management Board and business meetings. I'm passionate about advancing data standards like SNOMED CT to drive AI-powered healthcare transformation and improve patient outcomes worldwide.
16 Oct 2024 · 1 min read
I fed Google's NotebookLM the entire 144-page EU AI Act and the result was a genuinely jaw-dropping podcast-style conversation that made learning feel effortless — this might just be the future of learning with GenAI.
9 Oct 2024 · 1 min read
A great talk from Gilead's Jeremy Zhang at BiotechX on scaling LLMs like OpenAI and Claude to the clinical portfolio — covering key use cases from protocol design to automated document generation, and the real hurdles of stakeholder skepticism and regulatory clarity.
8 Oct 2024 · 1 min read
Being the Health Care AI Czar of the most powerful economy in the world sounds impressive — but maybe think twice. I share a great STAT podcast episode on Micky Tripathi, the acting HHS Chief AI Officer, and the daunting reality of his role.
11 Sept 2024 · 1 min read
While Europe is still trying to implement an electronic patient record, Tencent in China is building an end-to-end digital healthcare system — a vision I saw firsthand when we at Novartis built our strategic partnership with Tencent back in 2018.
6 Sept 2024 · 1 min read
Neko Health's AI-powered body scan is making waves as celebrities line up for the £300 check-up at its new London branch. I think these technologies are about enhancing healthcare, not replacing it — complementing public systems with early, accessible diagnostics.
29 Aug 2024 · 1 min read
Big Pharma is increasingly jumping on the direct-to-consumer bandwagon in the U.S., with Lilly Direct, Pfizer-For-All, and others following the trail blazed by Ro and Hims/Hers. I'm asking whether this could be the moment when Pharma's business model truly evolves — and whether these companies can finally engage directly with patients.
26 Aug 2024 · 1 min read
Following Pear's bankruptcy, their FDA-cleared DTx apps reSET and reSET-O have been relaunched by PursueCare — and I think it's a timely reminder that we may have been overly optimistic about digital therapeutics succeeding independently, and that go-to-market strategy deserves an open mind.
22 Aug 2024 · 1 min read
I'm not entirely surprised by the buzz around Roche potentially selling Flatiron — transitioning to a truly data-driven, RWE-focused business model is no small feat for large pharma, and the bigger question is who will ultimately lead the large-scale RWE and curated healthcare data space.
25 Jul 2024 · 1 min read
I'm tracking the continuous emergence of new AI foundation models — from Mistral Large 2 to Meta's Llama 3.1 — as a billion-dollar arms race. My prediction: three types of models will emerge, and for healthcare, specialised imaging models like Microsoft's collaboration with Mass General Brigham are the ones to watch.
22 Jul 2024 · 1 min read
I've been following the debate around whether enabling patient interactions with GenAI is a net positive or negative — and a recent study suggests machines can sometimes outperform overworked hospital staff on empathy, understandability, and tone.
19 Jul 2024 · 1 min read
CB Insights has just released a report on the AI readiness of different hospital systems in the US, and I'd love to see a similar study done for Europe. From my experience working with startups in the field, France, Spain, and several Scandinavian markets appear ahead of places like Germany or Switzerland.
16 Jul 2024 · 1 min read
Rock Health's 2024 Weight Care Experience Survey highlights that consumers favor multi-approach weight loss strategies, with exercise and diet most popular and virtual coaching services like Noom and WW widely used. I see this as the archetype of a major behavioural health challenge where well-executed digital solutions with smart AI components should be a perfect complement to the current GLP-1 craze.
8 Jul 2024 · 1 min read
I came across a TIME article by Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington worth reading amid all the AI noise — they're building an AI health coaching app called Thrive AI that combines best practices of behaviour change with AI.
1 Jul 2024 · 1 min read
AI agents — systems that don't just converse but actually do things for you — are the next frontier after GenAI, and I predict we'll see the first pilots for administrative tasks in healthcare within the next 2–3 years.
1 May 2024 · 2 min read
I just got back from two packed days at LSX2024 in London, where I joined panels on pharma's path to launching digital health products and shared how QuantHealth will transform clinical trial design. Here are my key takeaways from the healthtech track.