Eric Larson explained how he is revolutionizing public and global health access through various smartphone apps that allow remote diagnosis, low cost disease management, and rapid training for health workers on Wednesday morning.
“We’re right in the middle of an unprecedented time in health,” Larson said in an interview before the speech. “Like, how to effectively deliver affordable health care in the U.S. and developing countries.”
Mhealth, or mobile health, has surfaced as the solution to better managed care and preventive treatment without raising costs. Mhealth’s vision is to eliminate doctor visits, allow remote automatic diagnosis, and equalize developing countries. However, of the 30,000 health apps available on the App Store, 95 percent focus on calorie counting and exercise. No app has yet to achieve the mhealth goal.
3 goals of mobile health
Fortunately, Larson is just the man to take on the job. When he’s not working as an assistant professor in Computer Science and Engineering, he’s developing apps to solve universal problems.
All of his apps share one thing in common: a sensor.
His first app aimed to promote water conservation by providing a water sensor that building managers and homeowners could use to detect leaks and save water. Belkin later bought the app and it became WeMo® Water, which won the “Best of CES 2015” award for most forward-thinking iOS product.
WeMo® inspired Larson’s passion to capitalize on data mining and processing to solve problems—in this case, global health access.
He explained the three apps and disruptive technologies he’s developing to monitor health through smartphone sensors.
First, he created Bilicam, which parents can use if they suspect their newborn to have jaundice. Because parents don’t know “how yellow is too yellow,” they often take their babies to the hospital for a blood test. These blood tests estimate the Biliruben levels to determine if the baby needs light therapy for jaundice. However, the tests cost an average of $4000. However, Bilicam can prevent unnecessary medical bills. By taking a photo of the newborn on their smartphone, they receive a jaundice risk-assessment.
In Larson’s test study of 140 newborns, he found a statistically equivalent 0.85 correlation between Bilicam and traditional blood draws. Bilicam ranked only 9 of the 100 babies tested as high risk, and 85 percent of blood draws were avoided.
Although Larson calls jaundice a “medical hassle” in the U.S., it is one of the leading causes of infant mortalities in developing countries.
Larson also created Pupilware, which uses sensors in a smartphone to measure submillimeter pupil dilation. Submillimeter pupil dialation is used to measure cognitive load, and thus context-aware computing, cravings, sympathetic nerve damage (which is important in diabetes), sleep depravation, and concussion screening.
In people with lighter eyes, Pupilware’s accuracy is identical to traditional pupilometer tests.
Finally, Larson created Spirocall, which measures lung function and flow rate by having people breathe into a vortex whistle. Traditional clinical spirometry costs $2000, but Spriocall doesn’t even require a smartphone or an internet connection—only access to a cell tower. This is important in developing countries, where Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is estimated to be the leading cause of death in 10 years.
Larson does not build these apps on his own. In fact, he often recruits students to help.
Seniors Amanda Doyle and Kevin Donahoo, for example, are computer science majors helping Larson create an app to teach public health workers in developing areas how to screen for cancer. The app is centered on bringing health workers face-to-face with a mentor, rather than with a screen.
“Dr. Larson is our mentor,” Doyle said.
The app was used for the first time an hour after the speech.
Larson spoke on behalf of Download@Lyle’s breakfast series, where Lyle faculty members spotlight current research and initiatives in the Lyle school. His speech included a 45 minute presentation, as well as a short Q&A.
