USC Center for Body Computing Inaugural Awards, SLAM Competition Winner Recognize Innovation Through Disruption in Digital Health

The USC Center for Body Computing Inaugural Awards
Abbott received the inaugural USC CBC Global Connected Product Award for its revolutionary continuous glucose monitoring system, Freestyle Libre. This system brings unprecedented insights to patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. Introduced in Europe in 2014, the Freestyle Libre consists of a small, round sensor that sits on the back of the upper arm and can be quickly scanned by a small reader or smartphone over the sensor to get a glucose reading along with eight hours of glucose history and a trend arrow showing where the user's glucose is heading.

Robert Ford, executive vice president of medical devices for Abbott accepted the award for the company at the event, where the USC CBC also recognized Abbott as its partner to assess that the connected form of any device meets the highest standards of cybersecurity.  Abbott is a known leader in the cybersecurity of innovative, regulated medical products.

"Abbott has invented a digital health tool that is discrete, efficient and eliminates the pain of routine fingerpricks," said Leslie Saxon, MD, executive director and founder of the USC Center for Body Computing. "The Freestyle Libre has the potential to bridge the gap between wellness, performance and chronic disease and can provide all of us the ability to look under our hoods and get the real-time information we need to optimize performance. This product is testament to Abbott's continued focus on improving health care through digital innovation.

Dr. Dave Albert, founder of not just one but three digital health companies, InnovAlarm, Lifetone Technology, and AliveCor, received the USC CBC Digital Health Innovator Award. Recognizing his 30 years of innovating medical and other life-saving technologies and products, Albert left his role as chief scientist of GE Cardiology to disrupt several new markets. He caused a global sensation when AliveCor featured Kardia Mobile at the International CES and AliveCor has been named "#3 Most Innovative Company in Healthcare" by Fast Company this year.

The USC CBC published a study with AliveCor using the electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor in over 1,100 non-medical users showing the potential for the public to use accurate medical grade digital sensors for health and recreation regardless of age or profession.

"Dave is a true renaissance man in digital health, he's our Da Vinci and I've been proud to also call him a personal friend for many years," said Saxon. "He took a 100-year-old technology, the electrocardiogram, and reinvented it into a life-changing device accessible to the masses. There is no one more deserving to be honored as a digital health innovator."

The 11^th Annual Competition – 2017 SLAM Winner
Every year the USC CBC holds a competition inviting multidisciplinary teams to solve a new problem using digital health tools. This year the objective was to help transform health behavior for the better, using the theme, "Connected Health in the Workplace."

The $10,000 grant for the winning entry, underwritten by IEEE Standards Association, went to team Mollitiam, which means "resilience" in Latin. They focused on the challenge for many returning veterans who struggle to mainstream into society while suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Conceived by a Keck School of Medicine of USC medical student, Martin Shapiro, and his teammate, Sara Ma, a student at the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, working with clinical psychiatrist, Margarita Krasnova, MD, of the Veterans Administration, the team proposed a program whereby returning veterans re-enter the workforce as Lyft drivers and are connected through their smartphone app to a "digital coach" for breathing and relaxation exercise reminders to help combat the onslaught of a PTSD episode.

"The Mollitiam group gave us a unique perspective on a workplace environment that offers a natural, safe space for our veterans with PTSD," said Dr. Saxon. "It's inspiring to see these team members come from different disciplines in their education to solve health problems for our society using digital health tools and services."

The awards were presented to recipients at the 11^th annual Body Computing Conference held September 22 on the USC campus near downtown Los Angeles. The Mollitiam team also presented their winning SLAM entry to the event crowd of 300 digital health Thought Leaders from the worlds of sports, military, aging, healthcare, medicine, science as well as venture capitalists. The USC Center for Body Computing Conference draws a broad spectrum of innovative companies and individuals who come together for the one-day summit to offer local, national and global perspectives on the evolving convergence of health and digital technology.

About the USC Center for Body Computing
The USC Center for Body Computing is the digital health innovation center for the Keck Medicine of USC medical enterprise. Collaborating with inventors, strategists, designers, investors and visionaries from health care, entertainment and technology, the USC CBC serves as an international leader on digital health and wearable technology. Founded in 2006 by Leslie Saxon, a cardiologist, the CBC was one of the nation's first academically-based centers to focus on digital health solutions.

Dr. Saxon, an internationally renowned digital health guru has spoken at TEDMED, SXSW and WIRED international conferences as well as participates on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory group on global medical app regulations and recently served on a panel at the Bipartisan Policy Center to discuss medical apps and health IT cybersecurity. She was recognized as the nation's "Most Tech Savvy Doctor" by Rock Health. For more information about the USC CBC: uscbodycomputing.org.

Conference hashtag: #USCBCC11   

Twitter: @USC_CBC

SOURCE USC Center for Body Computing

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https://www.uscbodycomputing.org/