Daniel Kraft, MD, on Predicting the Future of Technology and Healthcare - and Helping to Create It
Prescription medications are fairly controversial these days – cost, insurance coverage, efficacy, and too often, medications are dosed incorrectly, cause toxic side effects or just don't work. But what if we could change how we prescribe drugs, what if there was a 3D printer that could design pills that adapt to an individual’s needs, and maybe print-on-demand the medications tailored to the patient? Or what if there was a real-world device that worked like the diagnostic Tricorder we imagined watching Star Trek? How about AI-infused antiviral discoveries and laboratory-level diagnostic tools accessible via your smartphone? These ideas and technologies, and many more, are paving the way to a more democratized, connected and data-driven future of medicine, and personalized care. And this is the world where Dr. Daniel Kraft thrives. Daniel is a Stanford and Harvard trained physician-scientist with more than 25 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research, and innovation. He is Founder and Chair for NextMed.Health, a program which explores convergent, rapidly developing technologies and their potential to reshape the future of health and biomedicine, and he is the Faculty Chair for Medicine at Singularity University. I’m not sure if we can call Daniel a medical futurist, as he seems to be a co-creator of that future, but I asked about what some of the various technologies transforming patient care in the next decade may be, as well as some of the exciting innovations he’s seen in regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies recently. Daniel had a great deal to say about his thoughts on that vis-à-vis personalized medicine. We wrapped up with Daniel sharing who’s influenced you him and his work, and the various mentors he had in his various areas of interest. He also shared advice for young medical professionals interested in innovation and entrepreneurship. Daniel’s work and life are a testament to the benefit that cross-disciplinary approaches, augmented by technological innovations, can bring to medicine and healthcare. While Daniel’s work saves lives, he also serves as an inspiration for all of us to live our lives more fully.