High Tech Health: Revolutionizing How We Track, Treat and Prevent Disease

About the Lecture:

Advances in wearable technology, virtual reality (VR) and integrative imaging hold the promise of revolutionizing how we monitor, control, and prevent disease. Join us as world-renowned physician-scientist, prolific inventor and industry leader Dr. Marv Slepian provides an exclusive look at the intersection of science, engineering and medicine.

Far from the early days when it might be seen as a consumer fad or novelty product, wearable technology is making a bold, dramatic, and visible entrance into our lives and the healthcare sector.  One in six consumers use a wearable device today.  Smartwatches and fitness trackers collectively represent the most popular category; however, smart clothing, smart skin patches and an entirely new class of materials called stretchable electronics are becoming available. In addition, advances in imaging and simulation such as virtual reality are being utilized to relieve surgical pain, administer physical therapy and cognitive rehabilitation, and complement surgical training and planning, among other uses. 

These technologies present exciting avenues to attack unprecedented challenges facing our modern healthcare system. Wearable technology is estimated to yield a global cost savings of $200 billion in the healthcare sector over the next 25 years, due in part to the increasingly accurate predictive capabilities of these devices.

From life-saving detection of abnormal heart rhythms, to the monitoring of gait, stability and potential movement disorders, to the continuous collection of critical data on blood pressure and respiratory rate, these technologies are revolutionizing how we track, treat and prevent disease.

About the Presenter:

Marvin J. Slepian, MD
Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson
Professor of Medical Imaging, Department of Medical Imaging,
UA College of Medicine – Tucson
Member, UA Sarver Heart Center and UA BIO5 Institute
Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, UA College of Engineering
Professor and Associate Department Head, Clinical & Industrial Affairs, Biomedical Engineering, UA College of Engineering
McGuire Scholar, UA Eller College of Management
Director, Arizona Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation, University of Arizona

Dr. Slepian earned his bachelor's degree in Biochemical Sciences and Science in Human Affairs from Princeton in 1977 and received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1981.  He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at New York University–Bellevue Hospital, where he served as Chief Resident.  He went on to clinical and research fellowships in Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and clinical and research fellowships in Interventional Cardiology and a research fellowship in Artificial Organs at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.  In addition, Dr. Slepian received post-doctoral training in Chemical Engineering and Polymer Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He is a Professor of Medicine, Professor and Associate Department Head of Biomedical Engineering and a McGuire Scholar in the Eller College of Management, all at the University of Arizona. He is the Director of the newly-created Arizona Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation (ACABI) – a “creativity engine,” focused on novel solution development for unmet medical needs.

Dr. Slepian is the author or co-author of more than 250 articles, textbook chapters and abstracts, published in journals such as Science and the New England Journal of Medicine, and serves on several editorial review boards. He is a prolific inventor with more than 55 issued and filed patents, has founded numerous medical device companies, and has been involved with bringing many new devices through the FDA regulatory process into clinical use - most notably the total artificial heart.