Digital Biomarkers and Immersive Therapeutics in the Age of Virtual Care

This talk will present both opportunities and challenges associated with developing and leveraging emerging digital tools in the age of virtual care. The past 15 years has witnessed pervasive consumer adoption of digital devices. The application of these technologies to health started with the early text-message services, followed by the proliferation of health-related smartphones apps and wearables, chatbots and voice agents, and most recently Extended Reality (XR) based therapies. Meanwhile, clinical research communities are grappling with how to effectively integrate the resulting patient-generated data, digital biomarkers, and digital therapeutics into care. These developments are particularly pertinent today given the increased adoption of virtual care and increasing reliance on recovery and aging in the home setting. 

Dr. Deborah Estrin is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell Tech in NYC where she holds The Robert V. Tishman Founder's Chair, serves as the Associate Dean for Impact, and is an Affiliate Faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine. Estrin's research activities include technologies for caregiving, immersive health, small data, participatory sensing, and Public Interest Technology.