Music & Film Event Grows Medtech Focus

You may have heard of the SXSW event that takes place each year in the spring in Austin. It’s become a launching point for many popular bands breaking into the mainstream and highlights an array of consumer interests in pop culture and technology. What people aren’t as aware of, however, is how significant it has become as a showcase for cutting edge medical technologies that will undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on healthcare.
 
With this in mind, MPO spoke with Dr. Dana Abramovitz, the Expo’s business development liaison, who has been put in charge of managing the Health & Medtech portion of the event. She is passionate about making the event a leading expo of medical technology and bringing various stakeholders together with the ultimate goal of developing new healthcare solutions that ultimately raise the effectiveness of modern medicine.
 
Sean Fenske: Can you please tell me what the focus of the SXSW Health & Medtech event is?
Dr. Dana Abramovitz: The Health & Medtech programming focuses on innovations and uses of technology to bring together patients, providers, payers, designers, entrepreneurs, and investors to move the needle and improve outcomes in health and healthcare. The SX Health & Medtech Expo showcases companies, from startups to global giants, that are working to bring these innovations to market. Attendees should expect to be inspired and reenergized by members of the ecosystem working together to push the limits in medicine, healthcare, and wellness. 
 
Fenske: Why did the SXSW event develop a focus on medical technology?
Dr. Abramovitz: SXSW is a reflection of the community and what is being discussed around the world. Our topics are introduced and grow organically as a result. Health & Medtech was first introduced as a discussion around five years ago and the interest in that topic has grown significantly such that we introduced the inaugural SX Health & Medtech Expo in 2015 and expanded it for 2016 by moving it up on the schedule to Saturday March 12 and Sunday March 13.
 
Fenske: Are there specific areas of healthcare technology that are featured at this event?
Dr. Abramovitz: As discussed previously, topics are generally based on what is being discussed in and driving the community to have an impact on health and healthcare. This year, some of the topics covered include applying design thinking to healthcare, using big data to achieve outcomes, the Internet of Things and aging in place, precision medicine, the relationship between healthcare and government, and applying technology to advance medicine and medical education. 
 
Fenske: What are the drivers you are seeing in advancing medical technology?
Dr. Abramovitz: I see the biggest drivers in advancing medical technology as bringing all the members of the ecosystem together so their needs are represented, which is what happens at SXSW Interactive, and introducing new perspectives such as those found in other industries. Bringing a patient, doctor, engineer, and designer together to think from different perspectives and break down silos to solve a problem will help drive the change.
 
Fenske: Can you share some of the more interesting medical technologies that have been featured at the event?
Dr. Abramovitz: There are so many. Some of my favorite sessions include a chip implanted in the brain of a patient paralyzed from the neck down to help him move his limbs, bioelectronics sensors, virtual physicians (telemedicine and AI), and precision medicine and early cancer detection.
 
Fenske: Do you foresee this section of the SXSW event to grow in the coming years?
Dr. Abramovitz: It has already grown over the last several years and I do anticipate that Health & Medtech will continue to grow. As I mentioned, SXSW is a reflection of the community and the world and as a global community, we just started to focus on and take advantage of applying technology to health.
 
Fenske: What can visitors expect to see in the Health & Medtech event this year? What will be the “main attractions”?
Dr. Abramovitz: The SX Health & Medtech Expo is definitely a large attraction. In addition to the exhibitors, we also have the Medtech Stage sponsored by Clover Health and have an amazing line up of speakers, including Daniel Kraft from Singularity University, Bakul Patel from the FDA, the leadership team behind the President’s Precision Medicine Initiative, and a discussion about the Star Trek Tricorder XPrize among doctors, an editor from Popular Science, and Star Trek actor Robert Picardo.
 
Fenske: What’s ahead for the medical technology space in the next five to ten years?
Dr. Abramovitz: Unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t look out that far ahead. What I do anticipate, especially as people who grew up with technology are moving into the field of medicine and becoming patients and caregivers of loved ones themselves, is the ability to use technology to open the communication between doctors and patients; to make us a healthier society focused on prevention, and that when someone does need care, using technology to improve access to the best possible care. I also encourage us as a community to continue to push the limits.