Faces of Digital Health

1 view Mar 19, 2026 In-person video interviewsThe European Health Data Space (EHDS) isn't just a new regulation—it’s a "Magna Carta" for healthcare innovation. In this interview from the Smart Bridges Event, we sit down with industry expert Dennis Geisthardt, Head of digital.lab, to break down the implementation timeline (2025–2031) and what it means for the pharmaceutical industry, medtech, and patients across Europe.

We dive into the "Countdown to 2027," the challenges of intellectual property vs. data sharing, and how opening up access to clinical data could finally unlock breakthroughs for rare diseases and personalized medicine.

In this video, you’ll learn:

The 3 major milestones of EHDS implementation (2027, 2029, 2031).

Why "Primary Use" vs. "Secondary Use" of data matters for your healthcare.

The risks and rewards for the private sector and Big Pharma.

How EHDS could revolutionize market access (AMNOG) and AI-driven drug discovery.

00:30 – Introduction: The Smart Bridges Event
03:45 – Why EHDS is a 100-year milestone for healthcare
04:30 – The role of the private sector in co-creating the framework
04:10 – What is EHDS? Primary vs. Secondary data use explained
05:00 – The Timeline: The "Countdown" to 2027, 2029, and 2031
06:30 – Who is a "Data Holder"? (Hospitals, Pharma, & MedTech)
07:45 – Industry Challenges: IP Rights, Trade Secrets, and Competition
08:50 – Revolutionizing Market Access (AMNOG) through data
09:40 – A "Magna Carta" for Rare Diseases and AI Research
10:30 – Identifying why therapies work (or fail) using broader datasets
11:20 – Closing: Why EHDS requires a "European Village" to succeed

Are we overhyping AI in healthcare before building the foundations? In this interview from the HIMSS Global Conference, Anne Snowden (Chief Scientific Research Officer, HIMSS) breaks down the latest data on global digital health maturity.

We discuss why "Person-Enabled Health" is lagging, how countries like Germany are using data to transform their hospital systems, and why the shift from disease management to proactive prevention is the only way to save our healthcare economy.

Topics covered:
- The 4 dimensions of digital health transformation.
- Why AI requires better data governance and interoperability.
- Comparing digital progress in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
- The role of "Agentic AI" in supporting patients at home.

Video: https://youtu.be/6e8pzH_VslE?si=y6b6y89IoTgtw5at

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How is AI actually changing the day-to-day life of a clinician? In this episode, we sit down at the Smart Bridges GmbH Digital Health Excellence Forum in Frankfurt with Dimitri Varsamis PhD, Senior Programme Manager, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Georgi Nalbantov, PhD, Chief AI Officer at Hospital Zdraveto. They covered the impact of AI on the clinical workforce:

🎯 The Administrative "Wraparound": How AI is tackling the PDF-heavy burden of patient record review.

🎯 The Shadow AI Trend: Why doctors are using ChatGPT "under the table" and how hospitals should respond.

🎯 Vibe Coding: Can a doctor build an app without knowing how to code?

🎯 The Intelligence Debate: Is AI de-skilling the medical profession or just evolving it?

🎯 The Data Dilemma: Why 97% of healthcare data is still unused and how AI might finally fix it.

Video episode: https://lnkd.in/dzpMuvrU

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Newsletter: http://fodh.substack.com/

Denmark has been a digital health frontrunner for over two decades. In this episode, recorded live in Barcelona, Morten Elbæk Petersen, CEO of sundhed.dk, shares how Denmark launched its national patient portal in 2002 — long before most European countries began digitizing patient access.

Now, as Denmark prepares for a major health reform culminating in the establishment of Digital Health Denmark in 2027, the country is modernizing legacy systems, strengthening cybersecurity, integrating secondary data, and shifting care from hospitals to homes.

This conversation explores what long-term digital maturity really means — the benefits, the legacy challenges, and the governance reforms shaping Denmark’s next chapter.

In this episode of Faces of Digital Health, Tjaša Zajc speaks with Dale Atkinson, a stage 4 oesophageal cancer patient who was told he had 11.5 months to live—and who is still alive today. Dale shares how he applied his compliance and investigation skills to healthcare: reading thousands of research papers, building a research-grounded AI workflow to sense-check drug interactions and pathways, and learning how to communicate with clinicians to be taken seriously.

We discuss patient agency, the doctor–patient relationship, the promise (and risks) of AI for patients, the digital divide in healthcare, and why quality of life must be central to care decisions. Dale also shares how his journey led to new work in patient advocacy, the Beyond the Standard foundation, and the Clear Path Clinic vision for integrative oncology and wellness.

Topics include: patient empowerment, AI in patient journeys, evidence-based complementary approaches, healthcare equity, clinician workload, prognosis anxiety, and new patient-led models of care.

TIMESTAMPS (CHAPTER-STYLE)

* 00:01 Intro: why patient agency matters more as systems strain
* 04:12 Dale’s story begins: diagnosis after wife’s lung cancer + mother’s death
* 07:22 Stage 4, inoperable, palliative care: the emotional impact
* 08:31 Asking for a timeline: why Dale wanted prognosis data
* 09:18 How a financial crime investigator becomes a “patient investigator”
* 10:55 The deep dive: thousands of papers, books, and expert conversations
* 12:09 Where AI enters: building a research-grounded model for sense-checking
* 15:00 Standard of care + complementary approach (not “alternative”)
* 16:08 Friction with clinical advice; nutrition and chemo trade-offs
* 17:48 Choosing treatments based on quality of life and realistic benefit
* 20:06 When Dale felt the trajectory could change: from survival to stability
* 21:11 Anxiety, recurrence risk, and “no evidence of disease” vs remission
* 24:46 Missed symptoms, dismissal, and why patient agency is learned the hard way
* 28:32 “Love-hate” to collaborative: a new model for doctor–patient dynamics
* 32:16 How to communicate to be heard: bite-sized, stakeholder-specific info
* 35:28 Clinicians under pressure: emotional load and “factory line” care reality
* 37:58 AI impact in the patient community—and why it’s accelerating
* 40:27 Digital divide concerns: will digital skills determine outcomes?
* 42:36 AI and emotion: pessimism loops, “horror statistics,” and mental safety
* 45:02 A new career: Beyond the Standard, Clear Path Clinic, book, advisory work
* 49:25 Closing reflections and thanks

Video: https://youtu.be/VeIZkRraxWc

www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/