Staying Relevant
In 2009 we watched and were entertained by
- The Repair of the Hubble Space Telescope
- We were still knee-deep in the Financial Crisis that began in 2007
- The Icelandic banking system collapsed taking the government with it
- Michael Jackson died
- The NY Yankees won the World Series (Go Nats!)
- Mobile Phone Technology use increases and we were teased with 3G speeds
- Twitter goes mainstream
- Windows 7 is released
- Satellite Navigation starts arriving on you Phone replacing Tom-Tom, Garmin and Magellan
In amongst these developments CNS Summit was launched and according to legend was still being put together just 2 days before the actual event. As the Curator in chief, Amir Kalali points out:
10th Anniversary- we made it!
Not an easy task in the crowded world of conferences and an indication of the value and unique nature of
Curator in chief intro to #CNSSummit makes a salient point:
10th Anniversary- we made it!
Not an easy task in the crowded world of conferences and an indication of the value and unique nature of #cnsummit2019 pic.twitter.com/a1tFNGEVlJ— Nick van Terheyden, MD – "Dr Nick" (@drnic1) November 1, 2019
There was a need then, and there is still now especially since as Amir put it
Our personal technology was (and still is) much better than our healthcare technology
We heard from a string of leaders for the morning sessions from the FDA and Amy Abernethy, MD (@DrAbernethyFDA) the Principal Deputy Commissioner & Acting CIO, US Food & Drug Administration with a fascinating background that includes working for NASA with robotics
On the stage @DrAbernethyFDA from the @US_FDA #CNSSummit
Who has worked at @NASA
working on robotics and #AI but favorit job was a Can-Can dancer at @Disney pic.twitter.com/hCfzPvsnoT— Nick van Terheyden, MD – "Dr Nick" (@drnic1) November 1, 2019
Who noted that now we have the mass of data available from the EMR’s and claims data that we could use for outcomes clinical research it is in desperate need of being “cleaned” up but there is no magic button to do that but reported that they had made progress in improving systems int eh FDA with the recent announcement of the new improved digital submission for MedWatch. Most significant she quashed the urban legend that things moved slowly at the FDA and went on something of a recruitment drive sharing her delight at the speed of progress at the FDA
There were plenty of highlights but I wanted to call out Compass Pathways who are taking a new approach to brain health with Ekaterina Malievskaia MD MScPH sharing the personal story of her son and his path to healing
The most telling moment came when George Goldsmith asked the audience to close their eyes and then put up their hands if you or anyone in your family has any mental health problems. Roughly speaking 90% of people had their hands up when they opened their eyes and looked around
Eye-opening!
They are working to return to sanity around drugs that were demonized in the dark ages of fear of psychoactive compounds and the artificial “war” on drugs and recently announced their FDA approval for Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Psilocybin
The other stand out company for me was the Passive monitoring technology from Emerald AI. Remote sensing that can be done through walls and includes vital monitoring (From Wearables to Invisibles)
Want to dive a bit deeper into how Emerald monitors vital signs and other health metrics? Check out MIT Professor, MacArthur award winner, and co-founder Dina Katabi’s TED talk.
From #Wearables to no device for trackign activity and body metrics from Emerald #AI and Dina Katabi#CNSSummit #CNSSummit2019https://t.co/p37grOqItc pic.twitter.com/fjzJs1cPud
— Nick van Terheyden, MD – "Dr Nick" (@drnic1) November 1, 2019
As always new and fascinating insights and this was only day 1
