Dive Brief:
- AdvaMed has launched a new division to promote the role of data and digital medical technologies in healthcare.
- The AdvaMed Digital Health Tech division will focus on four core policy areas: regulation, payment and healthcare delivery, data stewardship and privacy, and cybersecurity, the medtech industry association announced Monday.
- Taha Kass-Hout, chief technology officer at GE HealthCare, was named the division’s first chair on Monday during AdvaMed’s annual MedTech Conference in Anaheim, California.
Dive Insight:
The AdvaMed Digital Health Tech division is the association’s former Center for Digital Health, with an expanded scope.
The trade group has two other divisions: AdvaMedDx, representing more than 70 manufacturers of in-vitro diagnostic tests, and Accel, dedicated to small and emerging medtech companies. Each division has its own board of directors.
With the transition of digital health to a division, “the work remains the same, but there are more resources to expand the reach,” AdvaMed spokesperson Cody Uhing said in an email.
Shaye Mandle, who joined the digital health center as executive director earlier this year, will lead the new division, along with Kass-Hout.
Kass-Hout, who was named GE HealthCare’s chief technology officer in January, previously was vice president of machine learning and chief medical officer at Amazon and Amazon Web Services. He also served two terms in the Obama administration, as the Food and Drug Administration’s chief health informatics officer, and as director of information science and informatics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Also joining AdvaMed’s Digital Health Tech board are:
- Shan Jegatheeswaran, global head of digital, Johnson & Johnson MedTech
- Urvashi Tyagi, chief technology officer, ResMed
- Julia Strandberg, chief business leader, connected care, Philips
- Robert Cohen, president, digital, robotics and enabling technology, Stryker
- Christian Eusemann, vice president, research and innovation, and collaboration officer, Siemens Healthineers
- Ken Washington, senior vice president and chief technology and innovation officer, Medtronic
- Sumbul Desai, vice president, health, Apple
- Bakul Patel, senior director, global health strategy, Google
- David Rhew, global chief medical officer and vice president, healthcare, Microsoft
- Rich Glenn, head of commercial, care delivery, Verily
- Josh Sackman, president and co-founder, Applied VR
- Melissa Cha, vice president, devices and services, Amazon
- Venk Veradan, co-founder and CEO, Nanowear
- Reaz Rasul, executive vice president and president, healthcare systems and technologies, Baxter
“Digital technology is rapidly evolving and making a profound impact on the care patients receive,” AdvaMed CEO Scott Whitaker said in a statement. “This new division … will enable us to expand our work as this ever-evolving technology paves the way for new innovation at a faster pace.”