In an interview at Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine in San Diego, Leslie Saxon, founder and executive director of the USC Center for Body Computing, spoke about the Virtual Care Clinic her team is building.

The concept for the Virtual Care Clinic was created in 2015 and has since been the team’s vision for how to create a better future of virtual patient care.

“Imagine a model of healthcare that’s always available and driven by data so you’re continuously collecting data off your body, about your environment, your nutrition, and activity,” Saxon said. “Then it delivers back to you personalized health care throughout your whole life. You don’t have to be in a brick-and-mortar building to get it, and you have access to the world’s best experts.”

Everyday technologies like cell phones, smartphone sensors, cloud storage, and data analytics are playing a critical role in Saxon’s vision. “We now have technologies that can scale and that are in enough people’s hands. We have analytics that can deliver accurate information to people and collect accurate information from them,” said Saxon.

Saxon is most excited about leveraging technology to increase patient participation and form a partnership between the care provider and patient, which enables more personalized and continuous care. She believes these are critical components to improving our current model of patient care, where patients are often disconnected and uninformed.

Ultimately, her hope is to create a global network of health experts that is accessible to all.

“A basic human right is access to health care, but few people have it,” she said. “If we can use digital tools to provide this, that would be an amazing thing.”

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