Career Guide In Digital Health And Healthcare AI

It seems like every other day, someone reaches out to us - aiming their questions at Dr. Meskó, our lead researcher - seeking career advice. Now, let's set the record straight: doling out career guidance isn't exactly what we do. Yet, here we are, writing this article. Why? Even though we're not career advisors, we're right in the thick of the digital health and healthcare AI world. From this spot, we have a good overview of what you need to get into these booming fields.?

So, while we might not be career counselors, here are our two cents on which direction to take? - depending on the field from where you come.? Whether your background is tech-savvy, medically inclined, or somewhere in between, this article aims to share some straightforward advice to help you navigate your journey.

1. For researchers

We’ve previously published our 'Top 10 Research Topics To Pursue In Digital Health,' where we highlighted potential pathways for researchers. Although over a year has passed since its publication, we still stand by these topics and believe they hold great opportunities for those aspiring to make a mark in digital health and healthcare AI.

Back then we defined four main pillars to determine if a topic was promising enough:?

• Find a niche
• Aim for uncharted territories
• Look for ease of entry
• Seek answers to important questions

We recommended research areas like Diabetes management with wearable trackers including CGMs, or The impact of ECG smartwatches on unnecessary hospital admissions and Virtual reality (VR) therapies outside pain management and phobias among others. But these are just a few ideas, so check your desired topics against our four pillars, and follow your own path!

2. With medical background

Entering the field of digital health and healthcare AI with a medical background presents a unique advantage. Every company in this space needs medical supervision to ensure their developments meet real clinical and medical needs. But, to efficiently navigate this realm, you must understand the technology you’re working with.

It's not about becoming a developer or data science master but grasping the technological challenges developers face when creating healthcare solutions. Linking clinical requirements and technological capabilities will significantly enhance the effectiveness of these solutions.

To this end, pursuing courses that provide insight into the intersection of medicine and technology is highly beneficial. Similarly, engaging with scientific literature on this topic can deepen your understanding, so look for papers like Dr. Meskó’s "A Short guide for medical professionals in the era of artificial intelligence," which serves as a great starting point for medical professionals keen on navigating the healthcare AI landscape.

This approach leads you to the digital health field while also ensuring that technological innovations focus on genuine healthcare needs, resulting in patient-centered solutions.

3. With tech background

If your expertise lies in the tech realm, the key to making a meaningful impact in digital health and healthcare AI is to develop a thorough understanding of real medical, clinical, and patient needs. Developing technology for its own sake, without a clear application in the clinical world, is unlikely to stand the test of real-world healthcare challenges. Tech professionals need to grasp the medical and, most importantly, the patient perspective, should we talk about physical products, research or clinical design. We discussed these with real-life examples in detail in this paper, the common denominator is that we need to understand what patients want to improve.?

The current AI revolution offers great healthcare opportunities for data scientists, or AI developers building neural networks and/or large language models (just to name a few examples). They don’t need to graduate from a medical university to connect tech advancements to practical problems to create tangible results.

Focusing on patient design and incorporating feedback from medical professionals can bridge the gap between technological potential and healthcare reality, creating solutions that are both innovative and genuinely beneficial to patients.

Engaging in patient-centered design is an excellent direction for tech professionals entering the healthcare space.

4. For those transitioning from traditional med-tech to digital health

Individuals with a background in medical technology, and especially those who exclusively develop solutions for medical professionals, face a unique transition when moving into the digital health sector. This shift requires an in-depth understanding of the fundamentals of digital health and the ongoing paradigm shift and cultural revolution transforming the healthcare landscape.

Such a move represents a significant change, not just in technology but in mindset and application. Developing for digital health diverges from traditional medical settings in several crucial factors.?

As digital health typically targets a broader user base, including patients, caregivers, and healthcare consumers, a user-friendly design and an intuitive interface accessible to non-professionals is a must. The development of digital health solutions frequently involves a diverse mix of expertise, potentially including elements from data science, user experience design, and behavioral science, beyond traditional engineering and medical expertise.

Another factor to keep in mind is the drastically different approach to data. Digital health initiatives, by definition, aim to make health data more accessible and understandable to patients, empowering them to take an active role in their health management. This is a shift from med-tech's guarded approach to medical data. With this comes the last unique factor: field-specific challenges of data privacy and security, which are the basics of creating safe digital health spaces.?

5. For biomedical engineers

Biomedical engineering stands at the crossroads of engineering and healthcare, representing a field where specialists have a firm understanding of both technology and the foundational elements of digital health.?

For biomedical engineers, the likely focus for further development should be on honing their communication skills with doctors and patients alike. While they possess the technical expertise and have a grasp on the medical and patient perspectives, the ability to effectively communicate and translate complex technical concepts into actionable, understandable information for medical professionals and laypersons is paramount.

Their unique position allows them to serve as a central “communication hub” between patients, healthcare professionals, and tech teams. Ideally, this ensures that innovations align with the real-world needs of healthcare providers and patients.

We're living in a fascinating era where fields that were once miles apart are now converging to develop health-related products and services. This convergence creates previously unseen collaborations and overlaps. Due to this, a “hodgepodge” of knowledge from different domains can become highly sought after, favoring generalists - people proficient in multiple areas.?

Having said all that, the guiding principle for navigating one's career should not be to follow the top lists but be driven by curiosity and belief in/passion for the path chosen.