Leslie Saxon

Dr. Saxon is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias in patients with congestive heart failure. In addition to using state-of-the-art resynchronization devices in patients with arrhythmias, such as modified pacemakers and implantable defibrillators, Dr. Saxon also collaborates with medical device companies to evaluate the latest, most innovative interventional gadgets for patients with difficult-to-treat heart failure. In 2010, Dr. Saxon formed the USC Center for Body Computing. The Center aims to accelerate the successful development of ideas and innovative products in the wireless health space through cross-disciplinary work with various USC programs in partnership with industry leaders and venture capitalists in biotechnology, telecommunications, entertainment and design. The Center collaborates with USC schools and programs including the Keck School of Medicine, Viterbi School of Engineering, School of Cinematic Arts, and the Marshall School of Business, as well as USC Stevens Institute for Innovation and the Institute for Creative Technologies. The USC Center for Body Computing is one of the most comprehensive centers for wireless health in academia. Dr. Saxon also hosts an annual Body Computing Conference which brings together leading authors and futurists as well as leaders from the fields of medicine, design, entertainment, the FDA, investment banking, and pharmaceuticals for a day of intense discussions about the nascent but exciting field of wireless physiologic monitoring. Dr. Saxon has completed over 180 publications in various medical journals and is an active member of a multitude of organizations, including the American College of Cardiology, the Heart Rhythm Society, The American Heart Association, and the Heart Failure Society of America and serves as associate editor of the Journal of Cardiac Electrophysiology.

Talks
Science Kits

17:29

Can we get 8-billion heartbeats on speed dial?

Leslie Saxon

2012

Can we get 8-billion heartbeats on speed dial? (Leslie Saxon)

Science Kit for Leslie Saxon

My talk is about how wireless health monitoring + Big Data can help billions of people. Imagine your doctor calling you to schedule an appointment because she knows the condition of your body, rather than vice versa. Our studies show that if you open up continuous health data to the network, people live longer, and we believe there are a lot of advantages to Big (Health) Data. With this information we can study life patterns, identify disease, solve endemic health problems, and give you control over your health. There are several papers and media articles about health monitoring on our site, www.uscbodycomputing.org, which we continuously update.

Many people ask me about continuous health monitoring and if it can really bring better medical results—here is an academic paper that we authored studying this issue: http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/long/122/23/2359. One of our many follow-up ALTITUDE studies comparing survival to pacing therapy can be found here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1547527111004760.

During my talk, I briefly mentioned our work at the University of Southern California’s Center for Body Computing.

At the CBC we are interested in synthesizing different disciplines, including story telling (http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678217/the-future-of-medical-technology-is-apps-games-and-movies), sports (http://nyti.ms/HC6Q7j), and gaming (http://bit.ly/tU30ul) because we feel that it takes an interdisciplinary approach to really create innovation in this area; a real paradigm shift will come from an organization that can synthesize and simplify several different disciplines.

I also mentioned everyheartbeat.org, our group that is working on creating the Internet of You. We have an on-going study in which we have recorded millions of heart beats, and we just conducted a study that we presented at the March 2012 American College of Cardiology in which we studied an iPhone ECG case: http://medgadget.com?p=36309.

EveryHeartBeat is our effort to create a platform that is sensor and phone agnostic. We want to capture billions of heartbeats (and eventually other vital signs) to better understand world health trends. We are also interested in creating a platform for everyone to have their own Health Narrative. Just like the Internet has given the power of information to individuals, we are interested in providing health information to everyone, especially the 2 billion people in the world who lack access to healthcare.

Thank you!

Leslie