Stanford Announces New Program to Discover 'Innovative Uses' for Apple Watch in Healthcare

[MacRumors]

Stanford University has opened up submissions to faculty members for an Apple Watch Seed Grant, an inaugural program "focused on innovative uses of the Apple Watch in healthcare" (via Cult of Mac). The program is designed to "stimulate and support" the creation of new uses for the Apple Watch in the healthcare field, an area that Apple has long been a proponent of since the wearable launched in 2015.

In total, up to 1,000 Apple Watch devices will be offered through the seed grant program, which is being given $10,000 in funding and run through Stanford's all-new Center for Digital Health within the School of Medicine. The CDH's proposal notes mention that while 1,000 Apple Watches will be given out in total, depending on the project proposals that get accepted, a higher or lower allocation of devices may be provided.

Submissions are open to a select group of Stanford faculty members and close February 26, while the study as a whole will run for one year beginning April 2017. The goal of the program is to use either the Apple Watch's activity tracking or communication features to see how the device can make a change in healthcare:

"The Apple Watch must be integrated into an overall program or study design where: 1) the sensing capability of the Watch (activity, heart rate, and/or raw accelerometer data) is used to measure the progress of an endpoint relevant to the study population; or 2) the communication/notification features of the Watch are used to drive behavior change/coaching (investigators must use an iOS app with a Watch app extension or design a workflow where push notifications can be delivered to the Watch).

The Apple Watch has been a representative of Apple's push into health initiatives for nearly two years now, from the debut of the original device and the Activity Rings in 2015 to the announcement of the fitness-focused Apple Watch Series 2 last September. The Apple Watch is just one part of Apple's health initiatives, however, which consists of the Health app, HealthKit and CareKit, and a collection of company acquisitions and talent hires that highlight its desire to merge health and wellness with technology.

On the eve of the Apple Watch's launch Apple CEO Tim Cook described services like ResearchKit and the Health app as "significantly underestimated" sections of the technology market. When asked about the "next frontiers" in product development, Cook described health initiatives, and all of the progress made by Apple to provide detailed analysis of a user's well-being, as "the biggest one of all."

Article Link: Stanford Announces New Program to Discover 'Innovative Uses' for Apple Watch in Healthcare

 

[kemal]

New band colors to level your mood. Lithium orange would be nice.

 

[HappyDude20]

Tim Cook's quote, "Significantly Underestimated" is quite accurate.

Do not forget that the Apple Watch is still in its infancy and there are far more accurate heart rate monitors in the market that connect to iOS.

I love my Apple Watch but do not forget that it's a fashion accessory first and an accurate monitoring device third.

 

[NT1440]

Tim Cook's quote, "Significantly Underestimated" is quite accurate.

Do not forget that the Apple Watch is still in its infancy and there are far more accurate heart rate monitors in the market that connect to iOS.

I love my Apple Watch but do not forget that it's a fashion accessory first and an accurate monitoring device third.

As of last year, it's clearly a health device first (Note: NOT A MEDICAL DEVICE). There was not a peep about fashion at the unveiling of Gen2 in comparison to the huge amount of time devoted to the health tracking updates they outlined.

 

[dantastic]

It really is a solution looking for a problem.

 

[dominiongamma]

Tim Cook's quote, "Significantly Underestimated" is quite accurate.

Do not forget that the Apple Watch is still in its infancy and there are far more accurate heart rate monitors in the market that connect to iOS.

I love my Apple Watch but do not forget that it's a fashion accessory first and an accurate monitoring device third.

Mine is a health device only I use to work out and helps me stay motivated lost already 10 pounds. It's not even an fashion accessory to me at all.

 

[HappyDude20]

Mine is a health device only I use to work out and helps me stay motivated lost already 10 pounds. It's not even an fashion accessory to me at all.

That's great. I'm glad to say I've been so much healthier having the Watch too, but m daily caloric readings are way off. Some days in at 1,500 calories and other days I'm at 2,500 calories or 600 calories. And it's all because of whether I want to devote the battery life to having the green lit sensor on during my walks and runs or if I don't create a workout at all. Fortunately the watch calculates walks regardless if I start a workout in the native app or a third-party app but there is so much variance.

Not to mention the I have two iPhones and The SE doesn't track steps like the 7 does. Plus I discovered that steps are not counted on my SE when I'm walking and using the phone, which is not the case with the 7. It'll count steps when I'm waking and browsing safari.

 

[now i see it]

Seems like Apple has run out of ideas how to market this thing.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

For me, it's part of a medical device system, as I use it for an easy way to monitor my blood sugar using the Dexcom CGM. Their new complication with the actual value and the trend is nice for when I'm working out.

Apple really needs to have the workout app allow complications like that, and not limit it to the clock faces.

 

[i.mac]

It really is a solution looking for a problem.

Graphene.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

As of last year, it's clearly a health device first (Note: NOT A MEDICAL DEVICE). There was not a peep about fashion at the unveiling of Gen2 in comparison to the huge amount of time devoted to the health tracking updates they outlined.

I agree. But I also admit that my opinion is tainted in that I WANT it to be designed with that in mind. I would like it to be a fitness/health device 1st, a smartwatch 2nd, and a fashion device 3rd. To me the fashion/accessory aspect is only important in that it's good "enough". Apple seems to be moving in that direction.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

This iis a good thing.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

That's great. I'm glad to say I've been so much healthier having the Watch too, but m daily caloric readings are way off. Some days in at 1,500 calories and other days I'm at 2,500 calories or 600 calories. And it's all because of whether I want to devote the battery life to having the green lit sensor on during my walks and runs or if I don't create a workout at all. Fortunately the watch calculates walks regardless if I start a workout in the native app or a third-party app but there is so much variance.



Not to mention the I have two iPhones and The SE doesn't track steps like the 7 does. Plus I discovered that steps are not counted on my SE when I'm walking and using the phone, which is not the case with the 7. It'll count steps when I'm waking and browsing safari.

Does the SE really not track steps?.... iPhones have been doing that back to the 5s... Regardless, I don't understand why you would use that anyway when you apparently have an apple watch??

I have never seen that amount of variance before (assuming comparable days 600cal to 2,500cal seems ludicrous).... But I always record my workouts and don't record walking. You'll definitely always want to track a workout for anything using elevated HR, otherwise no way will it be accurate. For walking, I would think it wouldn't make a significant difference, but I've never compared.

Regardless, what Apple watch series 3 really needs is continuous HR monitoring and autostart workouts. Fitbit has both of these features.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It's more accurate than the Garmin vivodumb HR+ that I got months ago.

 

[atomic.flip]

The watch is simply not accurate enough to constitute medical grade disagnostics so any conclusions drawn from watch data are quickly panned over by most medical practitioners. Beef up the sensors and get it endorsed by something like the FDA and now you're talking.

You can use the watch to diagnose some very obscure and some very common cardiological illnesses. Tachycardia, POstural orthostatic Hypertension Syndrome

But we need more sensors to truly understand more. Also compliance with wearing the watch all day is a concern. That's where the real value comes in. You want continuous health metrics to understand trends and identify illness early. This is simply not possible with a device that can ONLY be worn on your wrist and must be charged every 18 hours.

Right now the watch is a fashion accessory with some intelligence but not enough ability to execute on more demanding medical diagnostic tasks.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

It's more accurate than the Garmin vivodumb HR+ that I got months ago.

You really think so? From everything I've read the Garmin devices have the best optical HR sensors and that the Apple Watch's sensor is very mediocre.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

You really think so? From everything I've read the Garmin devices have the best optical HR sensors and that the Apple Watch's sensor is very mediocre.

One ride I did on a stationary bike showed my heart rate (HR) as being over 170, yet both the Apple Wathc and the bike itself said I was in the 120's. And the Garmin actually went HIGHER. I sat watching it climb, until it peaked near 190, before plummeting to the 120 range.

That was just once of MANY examples.

I think that the device is too skinny, and the sensor can't stay flat enough to get good readings. The Apple Watch I have *has* had some bad readings, but no where near as much as the Garmin. Not even close.

I thought about taking it back a couple days after the time span elapsed for Best Buy. :-( It pays to return things on time...

I imagine the more watch sized Garmins would do a substantially better job on HR...