Headed to SXSW 2019 and you’re there for health? Great. Health Medtech SXSW 2019 is the perfect place for the discussion about health care. To get you started, here’s the 33 charts Super Guide to the best health medtech sxsw 2019 programming.
What to do before Health MedTech SXSW 2019
- Grab your social profile. The first thing you want to do is create your profile on SXSW Social. Having an updated profile will allow you to connect with other attendees before the event .
- Browse the health track. The most important thing you can do to maximize your time at SXSW is to plan your agenda. Interactive is too big to allow for last-minute browsing. Spend time with the Health SXSW programming guide. Build your personal program on the SXSW app which works really well.
- Prepare to be updated. Programming changes between now and the start of SXSW. Sign up for festival updates by email here. SXSW adds amazing speakers right up to the start of Interactive. If you ride on an agenda that you create today, you will be missing out on lots of amazing stuff.
- Peek in here every week. I’ll update the list with the best programs you don’t want to miss as they come available.
If it’s your first time to SXSW you might stop in on SXSW 2019 Services Hub. Lots of good basic information.
Top Health MedTech SXSW Programs you don’t want to miss
What’s just below are the more interesting programs related to health SXSW this year. This is the guide that I personally use. But your mileage may vary. If you’ve got something amazing that I didn’t profile, reach out and tell me why it’s going to be amazing and I’ll check it out (get me at 33charts at gmail dot com). I’m really interested in open events and things not listed in the SXSW program guide (open parties, meet-ups, back channel events). I will add that if I can’t follow the description of the session or it doesn’t fit with the title, I’m inclined not to include it in the 33 charts super guide.
Important: Not all of the programs listed here are officially noted under Health MedTech SXSW. That’s okay. In fact, it’s how I recommend taking in the best of SXSW. Remember that some of the best solutions to health’s most wicked problems have been solved outside of health care. So some of the best material applicable to health isn’t found under the health category.
I’m an advisor to the Health SXSW and so I’ve had the opportunity to check these out beginning last summer when judging submissions. And so I’m stoked to see it all come together beginning with the first Health SXSW in 2011.
A little housekeeping:
- Blue titles of the programs are live links to the official SXSW program.
- Handles & hashtags where available are listed. If your program has a hashtag that isn’t in the program and you want it listed, just ping me. For those who can’t attend, tags are a great way to follow the conversation. All times are U.S. Central.
- Errors. Please let me know so if there are errors or inaccuracies so they can be corrected. 33charts at gmail dot com.
So let’s go..
Next-Gen Technology Ignites Healthier Lifestyles
March 8, 2019 1100AM – 1200PM | JW Marriott Salon 7
David Albert, AliveCor | Kerrie Holley, Optum | Neil Jordan, Microsoft | Joanna Strober, Kurbo
Handles & hashtags: @DrDave01, @kerrieh, @HealthNeil, @joannastrober
As I often do, I’m judging this panel by its power participants rather than the program description. This is one where I’ll attend strictly as a means of soaking up the powerful wisdom that this panel will bring – Dave Albert alone is worth the trip to the JW. The details of what will be discussed are a little fuzzy but this is not that uncommon. This panel is sponsored by Optum – so be sure to bring questions about how patient-generated data is being used.
Impact Pediatric Health
March 8, 2019 1100AM-300PM Hilton Austin Salon J
It’s the fourth annual pitch event as we look at digital health, medtech, and global technologies that help kids be healthy. This event has companies from all over the world pitching children’s hospitals, investors, and big brands that can take these health startups to the next level. This is a really cool pitch competition and a great way to kick off SXSW Health MedTech. I’m thrilled that this is my (?) fourth year at this event.
Providing for Providers: Future of Healthcare UX Meetup
March 8, 2019 330PM-430PM | Fairmont Verbena
Eric Boggs, Thinktiv
Handles & hashtags: @eboggsyboggs
There has been much bleak speculation around the impact of new technologies on jobs in healthcare, but can clinician-centric UX change the game? This meetup will cover the impact of technology advancement and explosion of care models that will allow physicians to choose when and how they practice. An interesting discussion of the improvements in healthcare technology and service design on caregiving and the clinician lifestyle.
Silos in Healthcare are Preventing Better Outcomes
March 8, 2019 330PM-430PM | JW Marriott Salon H
Claudia Williams, Manifest MedEx
Handles & hashtags: @ClaudiaWilliams
This former Obama White House staffer is not to be missed. As the leader of Manifest MedEx, she wants every ACO, hospital, and medical group to have industrial-strength patient information. She wants the sickest patients, the five percent who add up to 80 percent of costs, to get support to live healthier lives. For this to happen, patient health data needs to be unlocked from silos and exchanged between facilities in real-time. Manifest MedEx is taking an aggressive non-profit approach and has broken 11 million patient records out in the first year. Claudia is a national treasure – do yourself a favor and bask in her brilliance!
Preventing the Cambridge Analytica of Health Data
March 8, 2019 500PM-600PM | JW Marriott Salon FG
Brooke Grindlinger, NY Academy of Sciences | Regina James, 2M Research | Jessica Mega, Verily | Jennifer Miller, Yale University School of Medicine
Handles & hashtags: @NYASciences @regina_rjames, @millerbioethics #sxhealthdata
In the future, your medical prognosis may be predicted by data from fitness monitors, genetic testing kits, insurance databases, web searches, or even your cell phone’s GPS. While it can democratize research, what protections are needed for ourselves, and our data? Tremendous mindshare on this panel and arguably the most important topic under discussion at health SXSW 2019.
The Future of Healthcare, Really
March 8, 2019 500PM-600PM | Location pending
David Feinberg, Google | Clay Johnston, Dell Medical School
Handles & hashtags: @dtfeinberg, @claydellmed
The modern era of human evolution has seen rapid improvements in quality of life with industries demonstrating innovations to improve consumer experiences, increase efficiency, and lower costs, often shepherded by technology. While health has improved over the last century, healthcare has hit a wall. Rapidly rising costs have not been matched with commensurate improvements in health outcomes. In fact, life expectancy has actually declined in the US in the last 3 years. Dr. David Feinberg, who is heading up Google’s health efforts, and Dr. Clay Johnston, founding dean of the highly innovative Dell Medical School at UT Austin, will discuss opportunities for the next several decades, when healthcare will finally embrace technology and catch up with society’s interests in health. As one of medicine’s most forward thinkers, Johnston never fails to find the right angles during and interview.
Transparency in Healthcare, One Note at a Time
March 9, 2019 930AM-1030AM | JW Marriott Salon FG
Catherine DesRoches, OpenNotes | Liz Salmi, OpenNotes | Rasu Shrethna, Atrium Health | Bryan Vartabedian, Texas Children’s Hospital
Handles & hashtags: @cmd418, @TheLizArmy, @RasuShrestha, @doctor_v
What if the most effective way to change the culture of medicine didn’t need tech and used a resource nearly 50 years old? Welcome to OpenNotes, the movement to make healthcare transparent by giving people access to their medical providers’ notes via online patient portals.
In this panel focused on the risks and benefits of culture change in medicine, attendees will meet the leaders changing this culture from the inside. A health policy nerd rewriting rules on transparency; a physician who believes patient engagement is key to a humane, sustainable health system; punk rocker turned cancer patient advising one of the nation’s oldest teaching hospitals; and a pediatrician-blogger/podcaster capturing the transformation of medicine in real time.
I’m thrilled to be moderating this fascinating panel discussion. I would love to meet each and every one of you and hope to see you there. To get a feel for this project check out my Exam Room podcast with Cait DesRoches, Executive Director of OpenNotes and SXSW panelist. And here’s 4 Reasons OpenNotes Will Rock SXSW in 2019.
Two Choices for Humanity’s Digital Future
March 9, 2019 930AM-1030AM | Fairmont Manchester EFG
Katryna Dow, Meeco
Handles & hashtags: @katrynadow #IEEEDow
Not in the health track but this talk has everything to do with health. The fact that it’s up against my own panel and in the Super Guide tells you what I think. Katryna Dow explains how the rapid fusion of physical, biological and digital is moving us from a fourth Industrial revolution to a new age. How we collect and process open, big, personal data, and harness algorithms, AI and automation, however, will determine whether society evolves in the best interest of mankind. Will we enter a digital renaissance where humanity thrives, or a feudalistic new age, marked by prejudice, a loss of freedom and personal control? Part of the IEEE Tech for Humanity Series.
Startup Colors Meetup [Unofficial programming]
March 9, 2019 1200PM-5:30PM | Buffalo Billiards, 201 E. 6th Street
After my panel I’ll hightail it over here. This looks like a super lineup of digital health power hitters. Click through to see some of what they’ve got on stage. I’ll be front row for Patrick Leonard of Sopris Health at noon – they’re crushin’ it with voice first interfaces for health professionals. Michelle Longmire of Medable is always worth your time. Oh, and they’re got Rasu Shrestha in for a fireside chat. Best of all you’ll get to take in the sights and smells of Buffalo Billiards, and iconic SXSW destination.
How Blockchain Can Tackle the Opiod Epidemic
March 9, 2019 1230PM-130PM | Courtyard Marriott Rio Grande Ballroom
Victoria Adams, ConSensys | Thomas Mayes, Bexar County | Robert Silverman, Booz Allen Hamilton | Vanila Singh, Stanford & HHS
Handles & Hashtags: @ToriinDC, @RPSilverman, @VanilaSingh #BoozatSXSW
More than 115 people in the U.S. die every day after overdosing on opioids. The crisis is fed by the ready availability of prescription painkillers and cheap heroin and the inability to monitor the transition from pain management to use disorder. Blockchain is a distributed ledger database that provides transparency and traceability to ensure the integrity of the data.
Could this technology be used to bring transparency and accountability to the misuse of opioids? This panel of doctors, social entrepreneurs, and technologists who are working to combat the epidemic of a generation.
Communities as Health Equity Implementation Hubs
March 9, 2019 1230PM-130PM | JW Marriott Salon 7
Esther Dyson, Way to Wellville | Alonzo Plough, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | Fred Trotter, CareSet Systems
Handles & Hashtags: @edyson, @fredtrotter, @alonzoplough #healthjustice
Nationwide there’s a growing number of models that take a collaborative, holistic approach to building just and healthy communities. From nonprofit – Way to Wellville, National Collaborative for Health Equity’s HOPE Initiative – to philanthropic RWJF’s Culture of Health, Aetna Foundation Healthiest Communities, to grassroots and public examples. This session will discuss how partnership, policy, open data and startup engagement can result in significant, sustainable impact in building just and healthy communities. This panel has some of the greatest health minds that you’ll find at SXSW. Miss it at your own risk.
Novartis Biome @ Energizing Health House
March 10-11, 2019 | Coopers Old Town BBQ 2nd Floor – 217 Congress
The Novartis Biome Energizing Health House is a good example of great programming that you can find outside of the traditional SXSW program. This ‘house’ runs for two days. And under the direction of Southby health veteran Shwen Gwee this is worth a look. Click through for some fascinating programs from thought leaders in Digital Therapeutics & AI; Future of Clinical Trials; Digitizing Biology Through Genomics; Biome + Startup Health Mini-Fest; Open Innovation. Too many powerhitters to mention but there’s some amazing talent talkin’ if you’re willing to scope it out.
Beating the Hype of AI in Healthcare
March 10, 2019 1100AM-1200PM | JW Marriott Salon H
Michael Abramoff, Idx | Elizabeth Asai, 3Derm
Handles & hashtags: @liz_asai #healthcareAI
If headlines are to be believed, the coming of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is either non-existent hype or will be so disruptive that it will destroy healthcare as we know it. Our session aims to dispel common myths of over- and under-hyped AI predictions by offering two examples of startups who have developed healthcare applications of AI. IDx, the first company to obtain FDA clearance for an autonomous AI-based diagnostic, and 3Derm, a company navigating these regulatory waters, will teach the audience how to bring an algorithm out of the lab and into the marketplace without cutting corners or breaking the bank. Content will cover how to spot appropriate healthcare applications for AI, considerations to minimize algorithmic bias, and the future landscape of diagnostics.
Pro-tip: If you are looking to 1) speak at SXSW and 2) have people actually show up at your panel, write your panel description like this. These two are putting together a great program.
Kaiser Permanente Healthy Happy Hour
March 10, 2019 430PM-530PM | JW Marriott 3rd floor prefunction area
Join innovators and advocates working to transform the lives of residents across the country for cocktails and lively discussion in the Healthy Housing Lounge.
Big Data + Genomics = Earlier Disease Detection
March 10, 2019 500PM-600PM | JW Marriott Salon FG
Dave Blazes, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | Jennifer Gardy, University of British Columbia | Sheri Lewis, The Johns Hopkins University
Hashtags & handles: @jennifergardy
Public health surveillance is at a crossroads –innovation is pairing big data and genetics to understand, diagnose and treat infectious scourges that have defined world history. Handheld genetic sequencers can diagnose an infection in hours, determine where it originated and even identify what drugs will work to fight it. The technology is accessible so that diseases like the Zika virus, Ebola fever and tuberculosis can be controlled in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Brazil just as quickly as in the United States. Working through the technical and ethical challenges of genomics and its big data, the Nirvana of precision public health can be achieved when these bugs can be geospatially mapped. Love the big picture approach here – exactly what I come to Southby to see and hear.
Features Session: Michael Pollan and Tim Ferriss
March 10, 2019 500PM-600PM | TBD
Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week | Michael Pollan, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Hashtags & handles: @TFerriss, @michaelpollan
A renaissance is underway in the scientific study of psychedelics, both as a mode of therapy for mental illness and as a tool for understanding the mind. Tim Ferriss takes up these issues and more in a conversation with Michael Pollan, the author of How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics teaches us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence.
Delivering Care Anywhere: Beyond the Office Visit
March 10, 2019 500PM-600PM | JW Mariott Salon 7
Jay Bhatt, American Hospital Association | William Buster, St. David’s Foundation | Bonnie Clipper, American Nurses Foundation | Daniel Weiberg, Kaiser Permanente
Hashtags & handles: @thoughtleaderRN
Are the days of signing into a doctor’s office a thing of the past? With advancements in telehealth and in-home care, doctors have the ability to eliminate transportation barriers and reach more patients. Join a lively panel discussion about the impact of telehealth and in-home care on the trajectory of a person’s health journey and solutions for combating the digital divide inhibiting marginalized communities from taking advantage of these technological advancements in healthcare. Note that this is a beginner level program but probably excellent for attendees who are behind the curve on telehealth.
SXSW Pitch: Health and Wearable Technology
March 10, 2019 500PM-600PM Hilton Austin Salon DE
Stacy Feld, Johnson and Johnson Innovation | Byron Ling, Canaan Partners | Lynn O’Keefe, Kleiner Perkins | Kathleen Werner, American Heart Association
Handles & hashtags: @stacyamityfeld @byronling1, #SXSWPitch
SXSW Pitch is a platform to allow early stage technology startups to pitch their product and/or services to industry technology experts, high profiled media personnel, and Venture Capitalists / Angel Investors. Five companies will dazzle a live audience, panel of judges with their ideas, innovations, product and/or service on Sunday, March 10th in Salon DE on the 4th floor of the Hilton Hotel. We will announce the winner of the Health and Wearables Technologies category at the SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony on Sunday, March 10th at 6:30pm in Salon H on the 6th floor of the Hilton Hotel.
Health & Wearable Technologies focused on human-centric health applications that connect the “health optimizer” and those with illnesses, their care teams, primary and specialist clinicians, inpatient and outpatient facilities, benefit providers, and corporate wellness programs to share timely, relevant health data and drive better outcomes at affordable and sustainable cost levels.
Introducing Ann: The Warm Hand of AI
March 10, 2019 515PM-530PM, JW Marriott Salon H
Tiril Syversen, Accenture
This looks oddly fascinating: My father’s fight with dementia, depriving him his ability to communicate, is what inspired me to look to modern technologies for ways to support dementia sufferer in communicating their needs. With dementia experts, we created Ann: an IBM Watson virtual agent that blends data from a patient’s medical records and experiences with AI to predict behavior and form hypotheses, to improve patient communication. Currently a second-iteration prototype, Ann demonstrates how we can combine AI with human experience to make healthcare personal.
How AI Will Design the Human Future
March 11, 2019 930AM-1030AM | Fairmont Manchester AB
Heather Berlin, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai | Amir Husain, SparkCognition | Peter Stone, UT Austin | Jennifer Strong, The Wall Street Journal
Handles & hashtags: @heather_berlin @amirhusain_tx @strongreporter
Advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are enabling us to replace limbs, translate dreams into pictures, interpret neural signals, and gain insights into our genetic makeup. Countries like China are already investing in programs to raise IQ scores by up to 15 points every successive generation. Capabilities like these, unthinkable for most of history, raise existential questions: What, if anything, is the essence of what makes us human? How can AI augment our intelligence? Should we even use it for that purpose? Do we have a choice? This panel will draw on the knowledge of a diverse group of science and technology experts to explore the economic, ethical, and existential implications of using AI and robotics to enhance humans of the future. Nice example of how programming outside of health can be relevant to health.
The Intelligent Future track looks spectacular, by the way. Fascinating to see how many of the titles relate to humanity.
Precision Medicine and Race – Improving Health 4 All
March 11, 2019, 1100AM-1200PM JW Marriott Salon H
Renee Navarro, UCSF | Chiquita Collins, UTSA | Rene Salazar, Dell Medical School
Handles & hashtags: @VCdiversityUCSF, @CCollinsPhD, @ReneSalazarMD
Precision medicine refers to the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient. By taking into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle as an approach for disease treatment and prevention, precision medicine presents a powerful framework that could ease disparities in health care experienced by racial and ethnic minorities. Or does it? This panel will review the long history of race and medicine and provide an update on the field of precision medicine. Next, we will discuss the potential impact of precision medicine on existing disparities in health care. Finally, we will highlight the challenges of precision medicine and reveal its limitations in the quest to eliminate health care disparities.
Douglas Rushkoff – Team Human
March 11 1230PM-130PM | Fairmont Manchester CD
Douglas Rushkoff, Team Human
Handles & hashtags: @Rushkoff #TeamHuman
There’s an anti-human agenda embedded in our markets and technologies, which has turned them from means of human connection into ones of isolation and repression. Our corporations and the culture they create glorify individualism at the expense of cooperation, threatening the sustainability not just of our economy but our species. In his new manifesto, Douglas Rushkoff reveals this agenda at work and invites us to remake society toward human ends rather than the end of humans.
There’s still time to think before we hit the switch and automate ourselves out of existence. We must reconnect with our essentially social nature, assert a place for humans in the emerging landscape, and forge solidarity with the others who understand that being human is team sport. Team Human is a rallying cry for humanity’s best future. So what’s this got to do with health? A whole lot. The message of Team Human has huge relevance for the changing healthcare landscape. I’ll be front row.
Design for Health – What You Need to Know
March 12, 2019 930AM-1030AM JW Marriott Salon 7
Thomas Goetz, GoodRx
Handles & hashtags: @tgoetz #DesignforHealth
Health is affected by much more than diets, exercise routines, or even DNA. The health of people in marginalized communities, in particular, is impacted by every aspect of our lives from air quality to housing affordability to education. Join Thomas Goetz, Chief of Research at GoodRx, to discuss the hidden forces that impact health and how to consider the challenges facing different communities and explore how products across every sector can prioritize their users’ health as a design principle. This is going to be a great session. Independent of the description or objectives, Thomas is worth listening to.
Hope After Trauma – Designing VR for Amputees
March 12, 2019 930AM-1030AM JW Marriott Salon FG
Krista Burket, Hanger Clinic | Cameron Clapp, Hanger Clinic | Pedro Pimenta, Hanger Clinic | John Sommer, Mutual Mobile
Handles & hashtags: @CameronClapp, @PPimenta7,
After being struck by a train at 15, Cameron Clapp woke up in a hospital bed missing three limbs, wondering if he would ever walk, surf, or be independent again. At 18, Pedro Pimenta contracted bacterial meningitis, and to save his life, all four of his limbs were amputated. Every year, about 185,000 people in the U.S. lose a limb and find themselves facing the same question: what will my future look like? Virtual reality offers an exciting new tool to bring hope, emotional healing, and peer support to trauma survivors and others facing conditions that threaten their mobility and independence. Join us to discuss the conception and design of a new virtual reality experience for amputees called MiGO, which features Cameron, Pedro, and others thriving despite limb loss. Surprised not to see more on VR/AR in health this year – This looks to be a solid look at VR for those struggling with physical disability.
Tumors, Transplants and Technology – AI for Life
March 12, 2019 1230PM-130PM JW Marriott Salon FG
Tim Brown, Belfast City Hospital | Cathy Coomber, Axial3D | Daniel Crawford, Axial3D | Nigel McAlpine, Digital Catapult
Handles & hashtags: @Axial3Dan, @Chipster30
A young mother in need of an urgent kidney transplant to save her life, a father willing to donate. The story could end there. Except that the kidney due to be transplanted had a tumour. That, along with the recipient’s severe health complications, meant that her only hope was a waiting game via a cadaver donor. She was in real danger of dying within months.
In this session you’ll hear first hand from the surgeon and the team at axial3D how this world first, life saving operation was made possible through technology. We’ll also hear the very ambitious plans the company has, to use machine learning to complete labour intensive and complex tasks to create functional 3D models from 2D scans, eliminating costly human intervention. This allows surgeons to do what they do best, treat patients.
Tips for a powerful Health SXSW experience
In conclusion, here are a few of my favorite tips for a great experience:
- Don’t overlook the exhibit hall. Some of the most amazing new products show on the exhibit floor. And it’s a great time to canoodle with the people behind them. It’s also great to support the people who support southby. And you’ll gets lots of great t-shirts and swag.
- Drink lots of water. Most major venues provide water coolers in the public areas. So be sure to down a few cups or fill your sports bottle. Water, sleep and exercise are the variables most likely to dictate how you feel. But water and exercise are the two you will be able to control at this always-on event.
- Expect the unexpected. Take in things that you might not otherwise think about. This is a chance to expand your mind and thinking. Get out of your comfort zone.
- Leverage the lounges. This is one of the best places outside of parties and functions to meet people when they’re not moving quickly. Introduce yourself. Some of these lounges host amazing speakers that aren’t on the SXSW program.
- What to wear. With the corporate invasion of SXSW it’s always amusing to see the occasional person in a suit. Casual rules the day. Beyond that you will look tone deaf and out of place. My dressiest look for meetings and meet ups is jeans, boots and a comfortable Tommy Bahama shirt. And don’t forget your pink socks.