New and unique program applies knowledge from high-tech to the world of practical medicine

A new program from the 8400 Network will bring together engineers, data analysts and program developers and will expose them to basic concepts in clinical medicine and the real needs of hospitals and the medical community. 

This February, the first program of its kind, "Med4Tech", will be launched. It aims at providing background and fundamental concepts in medicine to professionals who develop technologies for the health worlds. The program will include theoretical and experiential learning for participants at leading Israeli medical centers, and is designed to deepen the medical knowledge of high-tech personnel so that they can develop technologies that meet the real needs of the health system, improve patient care, and provide technological solutions to medical staff challenges.

The program was created as part of the 8400 Leadership Program and will be held in collaboration with Holon Institute of Technology - HIT by 8400 Network members: Hadas Bitran. Head of Microsoft Health & Life Sciences Israel; Shiko Hershtik Medical Devices Commercial & Operational Leader; Shoshi Friedman Global Vice President, Clinical Operations at Teva Pharmaceutical  and Dr. Refael Barkan, Vice President for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Internationalization at HIT. 

The program was developed based on the understanding that there is a real need for technologists to develop familiarity and a deeper understanding of basic clinical terms, language and principles, and to forge seamless connections between technologists and medical teams so they can better understand the needs and challenges of clinical work and pinpoint the relevant technological development processes required. The unique connections that will be created as a result of this new ‘common language’ will serve as the foundation for continued collaborations between medical centers and industry and will provide mutual benefits and value for medical staff, Israeli HealthTech companies and patients. 

The first round will include about 20 participants from a variety of companies and startups in the high-tech and HealthTech worlds. Participants will be exposed to content delivered by clinicians, researchers and regulators on such issues as anatomy, physiology; biochemistry; and drug therapy.  They will meet with the care teams, and will see first-hand the working methods and the most urgent needs the teams encounter in the field.

The8400  Health Network is a non-profit organization established four years ago with the aim of promoting an Israeli growth engine in the field of health technologies (HealthTech) and devising and accelerating healing, treatment and wellbeing solutions - from R&D to industry and market - for patients in Israel and around the world. 

8400 currently leads more than 15 infrastructure programs and projects initiated in response to the needs and challenges of the HealthTech ecosystem in Israel.

These programs aim to catalyze the growth of Israeli HealthTech by focusing on the development of well-trained human capital and the recruitment of new forces to the worlds of HealthTech; creating interdisciplinary connections between industry, academia and health organizations; and building infrastructures for collaborations and knowledge sharing.

The 8400 flagship initiative is a cross-sectoral leadership program that aims to produce a network of 400 leaders in the field of healthcare technologies within 8 years, working together, continuously to identify gaps and opportunities and create infrastructure solutions and projects to maximize the ecosystem's growth potential. 

Members come from positions of influence and lead change in industry, government, applied-research academic institutions, hospitals and HMO’s. 8400 operates in cooperation and with the support of the Israel Innovation Authority, the Ministry of Health, the Digital Israel Headquarters in the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the JDC.

Dr. Refael Barkan: "This activity within Med4Tech on behalf of the 8400 network, is another step in building the important bridge between the worlds of clinical medicine and technology, by addressing a target audience of experienced technologists.

HIT is continually working to build this bridge, to nurture future generations of physicians and imbue them with in-depth knowledge of information technology while simultaneously training technological graduates to better understand biomedical content for the MedTech/HealthTech industry.  These are the objectives of HIT’s singular academic degree in Digital Medical Technologies.”
 

Posted: 14/01/2022