HOPKINTON, Mass., September 6, 2012 -- Dr. Joseph Kvedar of Harvard Medical School and founder and director of Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health, has been named the recipient of the 2012 Future of Health Technology Award for his pioneering work in connected health, it was announced today.
Dr. Kvedar, a dermatologist, is internationally known for his work in bringing information technology to bear on health care. In 1995 he founded what has become the Center for Connected Health, working with Harvard University teaching hospitals, including Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General hospitals, among others.
The Center’s programs that provide patients with technology-based feedback on heart failure, high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic conditions, are now being integrated across the Partners HealthCare network.
In 2010, based on the technology platform developed at the Center, Healthrageous, a personal health technology company, was founded. Dr. Kvedar is a co-founder and serves as chair of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. Healthrageous launched the first-of-its-kind hypertension self-management employee benefit program to help employees make healthy lifestyle choices and improve blood pressure. Another novel program developed at the Center, Partners’ Step It Up, is an activity program that incorporates technology, educational feedback and a team-oriented virtual foot race, helps inner-city Boston school children to be more aware of the importance of daily activity, nutrition and good health, while tracking daily activity. Step It Up was launched in 2011 at two Boston Public Schools and this year was expanded to six additional elementary schools.
Dr. Kvedar also launched the first physician-to-physician online consultation service, Partners Online Specialty Consultations, which links patients all over the world and their health providers with leading specialists at the Harvard-affiliated hospitals. He has written more than 70 publications on the subject of connected health and the application of communications technologies to improve patient care.
The Center also provides enhanced medical training and virtual visits.
Based on the technology platform developed at the Center, Dr. Kvedar was a co-founder of the personal health technology company, Healthrageous, in 2010, and serves as chair of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. The company has launched the first-of-its-kind hypertension self-management employee benefit program to help employees make healthy lifestyle choices and improve blood pressure.
He has written more than 70 publications on the subject of connected health and the application of communications technologies to improve patient care.
“Dr. Kvedar is a pioneer in moving medicine from the strict confines of the hospital or doctor’s office and into the lives of patients, allowing them to take a far more active role in their own health care,” said Renata Bushko, founder of FHTI. “There is just too much to know and the information grows and changes too quickly for humans to keep up. The Future of Health Technology Award is given annually to breakthrough thinkers whose work can help reduce suffering, maximize the potential for self-realization and extend human potential with technology. The award will be presented Oct. 1 during the annual Future of Health Technology Summit™ at the MIT Faculty Club.
Previous winners include Craig Feied in 2011, Ben Miller 2010, Rosalind Picard 2009, Sandy Pentland 2008, Raymond Kurzweil 2007, Eric Dishman 2006, Kevin Warwick 2002 and Marvin Minsky 1998.
About The Future of Health Technology Institute
The Future of Health Technology Institute in Hopkinton, Mass., is the leading health technology think tank dedicated to defining the health technology agenda for the 21st century. The institute was established to identify the most promising technologies to improve the quality of health care and to define promising health technology research areas needed to meet future health challenges. Renata Bushko (Bushko@fhti.org) has chaired annual Future of Health Technology summits since founding the institute in 1996. These summits engage creative minds from the technology and health fields in envisioning the future of technology for global healthcare and happier, longer lives. For further information, visit the Web site at www.fhti.org.
