CEO and Co-Founder
Why Digital Health?
Peter I studied medical informatics 15 years ago – back then the phrase digital health was not even invented. So, you could ask why is a new term needed? For me, it is the patient, the customer, the individual, the citizen who were mostly digitally excluded in the past and are now becoming more and more digitally savvy in healthcare. Almost everybody has the experience that a mobile computer is available all the time and is capable of doing almost everything. On the one hand, it is the patient and their needs that need more attention. On the other hand, the computer itself is a powerful health tool. In 2014 I published a book about big data in medicine. One of my major questions was: When do we get to meet the real Dr. Algorithm? The computer functions not only as an analyst or supporter of patients and experts in healthcare but as a tool to “create health” independently and digitally. This vision is why I co-founded the Digital Health Factory with its focus on digital therapeutics.
What does work mean?
Peter I love to bring three dimensions together: Medicine (with the highest evidence available), economy (with feasible and realistic models), and information technology (as a tool to innovate) – and most of the time of my work is in between these dimensions. So I feel lucky to really do what I am most interested in. We are living in a very intensive time – where computers can evolve a lot in new and hopefully good things, including music, art, and private life. Work means meeting great people and learning something new every day – ideally with a smile.
Who or what continues to inspire you to grow and push boundaries?
Peter Digital health is not a tool, a gadget or a nice-to-have. I hope that we can build solutions which really have an impact on people’s health. Hopefully, digital health can be one of the smartest diagnostic and therapeutic solutions ever made in the history of medicine. I love to discuss and work with smart people to drive this impact.
What does the future in digital health look like for you?
Peter For me personally, I would not change too much. The things we are doing are inspiring me, and we have a lot of fun too. So I hope to be able to drive this in the future as well. Ideally, with the continuous growth of our ventures, I can keep up with my other areas of interest like digital music making or literature. Anyway, digital health has so many dimensions – today is “the good old times” of tomorrow.
