News from Mass Digital Health - August 2019

The Case for Boston: 3 Reasons to Build Your Startup in Boston

"The recipe for extraordinary startup communities is now well-studied and clear: pillar firms, research hubs, the fluidity of labor markets, a risk capital infrastructure, openness, and a propensity of one generation of entrepreneurs to give back to the next. Frankly, Boston didn’t always have the ingredients. It does now," writes Matt Wozny at Underscore.vc. Read more

"Why Healthcare Needs Nurse Innovators like Dr. Rachel Walker"

Nurse innovators like Dr. Rachel Walker, Ph.D., RN, are not only providing care to their patients, but also innovating on behalf of them, to make sure their complex needs are being addressed. Dr. Walker is a nurse, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the first nurse to be named an AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador, in the class of 2018–2019. “I got into this program, in part, because I got angry… (I had been) relentlessly using technologies and digital interfaces for electronic health records, and all manner of other things under the sun, that had clearly been designed without us, and without necessarily the input of our patients,” Dr. Walker said . Read more from Seana Kelly at Medium.

Explore the Mass Digital Health Jobs Board

The recently revamped Mass Digital Health Jobs Board is the place to go if you are looking for a career in digital health. With nearly 2,000 posted positions from over 330 companies, it’s the only jobs board solely dedicated to digital health in Massachusetts. Plus, it’s updated daily with new openings and allows you to search for openings in 12 different fields in the digital health ecosystem. Start your search today at Jobs.MassDigitalHealth.org

Apply For Our Digital Health Sandbox Grant Program

Do you run a test environment for startups? Is your firm looking for a sandbox to further develop your products? We are seeking applications from companies and sandboxes to help grow our Digital Health Sandbox Grant Program. Read more

MeHI Job Opening: Program Associate

MeHI is seeking candidates to apply for the role of Program Associate to support the projects and programs within the Massachusetts Digital Health Initiative. The Program Associate is responsible for assisting with program operations, which include strategic planning, business analysis, topical research and reporting, and all necessary analytical, technical and administrative processes. S/he assists with developing and coordinating all program-related activities, including stakeholder communication, outreach and inquiries. Read more

2019 HealthTech Standout! Competition

StandOut! in front of an audience of front-line healthcare providers, tech innovators, decision-makers, life sciences companies, investors and forward-thinking companies during the opening day of the Connected Health Conference. An expert panel of digital health experts will select the top innovations, to present their ideas on the Main Stage on October 16, at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. Read more

Mass Digital Health Roundup

A new industry report from Silicon Valley Bank highlights 17 Massachusetts-based medtech companies that closed funding deals worth a total of $339 million during the first half of 2019. Massachusetts was second only to California in total medtech investment during the same time period. Dr. Joe Kvedar, a professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School and the Vice President of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare, was elected President of the American Telemedicine Association. The Medically Engineered Solutions in Healthcare Incubator inside the radiology department at MGH is the first innovation incubator known to be integrated into a medical training program in any specialty. BetaBionics raises $126 million for artificial pancreas project. The bionic pancreas device, called the iLet, is expected to become commercially available within the next 18 months. The Boston-based startup Nix Biosensors is developing a disposable biosensor that attaches to the skin and monitors dehydration through sweat rate, electrolyte loss, body temperature and more. Nix is currently in a round of seed funding and aiming to launch next year. MCHT alum Leuko Labs raises $1.8 million in seed funding. The company intends to use the funds for the ongoing development of its PointCheckTM technology. Philips purchases Medumo for an undisclosed sum. The hospital communication startup has less than 30 employees, was launched at a Brigham & Women’s iHub hackathon and was part of the inaugural class of the MassChallenge HealthTech accelerator. Rendever has launched a new VR rendering platform for senior living communities to make it easier for prospective residents and their families to explore a facility. WPI is working with Holliston-based prosthetic device manufacturer Liberating Technologies to develop wireless sensors to improve the performance of upper-limb prosthetics. Funding for the project came from a two-year, $400,000 award from the company, which was part of a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The deployment of 5G technology across Massachusetts this fall will help digital health companies like Proximie. Launched in 2016, Proximie is an augmented reality health platform that allows surgeons to remotely collaborate on medical operations. The new 5G technology will allow surgeons to zoom in and out of areas of interest on a patient’s body, and retaining the high-quality definition that is necessary to perform precision surgery. Waltham-based Pixm is working on ways to combat the growing problem of phishing in the healthcare world. Flare Capital Partners, a five-year-old venture capital firm focusing on healthcare technology, closed its second fund at $255M. Acting FDA Commissioner Norman Sharpless includes emerging health tech in the agency’s priorities. NY health data firm COTA is moving its headquarters to Boston this month. The firm is expected to increase its employee headcount to 100 by the end of next year.

Upcoming Mass Digital Health Events

Pop Health: Bridging Social Services & Healthcare

Date & Time: August 9 , 2019 - 12:00 pm  Join TechSpring for an open door meetup to increase visibility and communication around projects that bridge the clinical-community divide as participants work together to define and implement "Population Health" in Western Mass.

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Summer of '19 Healthtech Liquidity Event

Date & Time: August 13, 2019 - 6:00 pm Join several Boston area digital health professionals to raise a glass for this summer's recent IPO successes. 2019 has been a milestone year for the sector. The companies going public this summer include:

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Living Longer, Living Better: Changing the Culture of Aging

Date & Time: August 15, 2019 - 9:00 am A live telecast of the morning session of " Living Longer, Living Better: Changing the Culture of Aging ," a conference with national and local trendsetters who are changing the culture of aging to improve the lives of all.

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2019 HCEG (Healthcare Executive Group) Annual Forum

Date & Time: September 9, 2019 - 7:00 pm A forum for senior level healthcare executives to discuss the continuous innovation, evolution and transformation of the industry.

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The 6th Annual Thought Leadership on Access Symposium (ATLAS)

Date & Time: September 23, 2019 - 7:00 am The preeminent patient access conference for hospital and health system leaders, this year's event focuses on expanding boundaries and removing barriers in order to take control of change amid disruption.

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NEHI's 2019 Innovators in Health Awards

Date & Time: September 25, 2019 - 7:00 am NEHI’s Innovators in Health Awards recognizes individuals who have made lasting contributions in health and health care and inspired the community with their vision and achievements. Join NEHI to celebrate this year’s forward-looking leaders and thinkers.

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This newsletter is curated by the Massachusetts eHealth Institute at MassTech as a coordinating entity for the Mass Digital Health Initiative, a public-private partnership building a stronger and more competitive digital health ecosystem across the Commonwealth. Learn more at massdigitalhealth.org . If you would like to submit content for inclusion in future issues, email us at massdigitalhealth@masstech.org .

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