Enabling health through data and digital

We held a webinar on Tuesday 17 May where our panel of leading clinical directors, technology CEOs and consultants discussed trends in digital health. How do new technologies lead to better health outcomes? How can the financial services sector - health and life insurers particularly - leverage big data to improve services to customers and opportunities in our NZ market?

Watch the discussion below:

Speakers

Dr. Stephen Child

CMO of Southern Cross, Chair of the Auckland Division of the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA)

Dr. Stephen Child is a Canadian-trained General Physician with a respiratory medicine interest who immigrated to New Zealand in late 1991.

He has authored or co-authored more than 50 articles on medical workforce / medical education and heads the Clinical Education & Training Unit at ADHB.

He was a member of the DHB National Workforce Strategy Group from 2001 – 2009 and the Minister of Health’s Medical Training Board from 2007 – 2009. He was a board member of the Northern Clinical Training Network from 2001 – 2006 and was a Clinical Advisor to Health Workforce New Zealand (2011-2012).

Dr. Child is the current Chair of the Auckland Division of the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) and is an elected member of the NZMA Board. He is also a member of the NZ Telehealth Leadership Forum and Clinical Governance group for ProCare. Dr. Child is currently on the Medical Council of NZ and CMO of Southern Cross Health Society.

Karen Blake

Digital Health Leader, PWC

Karen is passionate about improving health and wellbeing outcomes enabled through data, information and technology. She enjoys the challenge of achieving better design, development and implementation of digital capabilities so all New Zealanders can live their best lives.

As Digital Health Leader for the Hauora practice, Karen brings a clinical and equity lens to digital health in her pursuit to transform the delivery of healthcare. She specialises in health data and information strategy, digital identity, service design and workforce development.

A proud Kāi Tahu wahine, Karen brings over 25 years of health sector experience in both Australia and New Zealand. She is a registered midwife and has also worked in government, management and education. She has held various governance roles, and is currently a board member of Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ).

Dr. Will Reedy

CEO, Spark Health

Will specialised in Digital Health 20 years ago with a handful of other pioneering clinical colleagues. Since then he has worked in Digital Health and Life Sciences Consulting and Solution roles across the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia before returning home to NZ a few years ago.

After being the first of the Spark Health whanau online each day after starting his day with an F45 class, Will is excited about looking at options for a Consumer Solution to be delivered to Spark customers to improve their health and wellness. One of the solutions uses precision medicine (your DNA and other biomarkers) to improve your health and wellness.

It's no surprise then that his favourite app is the Oura App which provides daily insights into his health and wellness.

Dr. Reza Jarral

Clinical Director of CareHQ, Clinical Director for Equity at ProCare

Dr. Jarral leads the national telehealth platform CareHQ and is the newly appointed Clinical Director for Equity at ProCare, New Zealand’s largest primary health organisation. Dr. Jarral is an Auckland-based GP and Edmund Hillary Fellow, with a masters in the application of ethical AI for health, and says he is “all about people, empathy and the highest quality of clinical care”.

Dr. Jarral is based out of an inner-city practice serving high needs populations with very low-cost access, which informs his work around innovation, ethical AI and responsible technology. He guest lectures at Tech Futures Lab and collaborates in teams at the WHO, The Impact Collective and IEEE, where he hopes to shape a better and brighter collective future, using technology.

In 2021 Dr. Jarral was one of five alumni who received an Emerging Alumni Leaders Award from Imperial College London, in recognition for his humanitarian work and leadership in responsible innovation.