By Shannon Cuthrell, WRAL Techwire | November 12, 2018

DURHAM – Marking its growing presence in the Triangle and efforts to expand across North Carolina, Digital Health Impact Transformation (DHIT Global) is hosting an inaugural summit to convene local digital health stakeholders for a day of discourse about advancing this sector.

The event, scheduled Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at American Tobacco Bay 7, will be attended by tech startups, incubators and investors, together with clinical directors, payors, providers, big pharma executives, as well as government representatives from the Department of Commerce and the Department of Health and Social Services.

Speakers include Charlene Foley of Blue Cross Blue Shield NC, Sara Imhof of NC Biotechnology Center’s precision medicine initiative, Bluedoor CEO and DHIT Co-Founder Michael Levy, 23andme Co-Founder and Precise.ly CEO Linda Avey, Lemhi Ventures Managing Director Jodi Hubler, Onboard Health Founder and CEO Andre Blackman, Dr. Geoffrey Ginsburg of Duke’s Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine, Jen Zuckerman of World Food Policy Center, Medable Founder and CEO Dr. Michelle Longmire, Health Design Lab @JeffInnovation Founding Director Robert Pugliese and Dr. Alisahah Cole of Atrium Health.

The keynote address will be delivered by author, advisor and speaker Dr. Archelle Georgiou, who formerly served as chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare for 13 years before starting her own consulting group, Georgiou Consulting.

A series of four panel discussions will cover healthy communities, consumer and patient engagement, precision health and impact innovation. The summit also includes a workshop aiming guide participants through the design-thinking process in mapping the future of health.

DHIT launched last year in Chapel Hill as a hub and resource for startups and research projects in the local health sector. It offers a host of tools and strategies, a database of health startup programs and funding options, industry news and insights, and has gained a member base of Triangle stakeholders including organizations such as American Underground, RIoT, UNC’s Center for Health Innovation and RTI International, as well as local health-industry companies such as K4Connect, Pattern Health and Valencell.

The organization hosts monthly happy hours, each centered around a different theme. Participation in these events has been steadily growing over the course of this year.

Last year, DHIT and Bluedoor produced a 16-page whitepaper on the State of Digital Health in the Triangle, a market research survey of more than 350 stakeholders in the field. The study sought to take note of stakeholders’ thoughts on digital health definitions, applications, market trends and forecasts, opportunities for testing and validation, investments, partners and talent. The study found that while the Triangle has the resources and interests to increase digital health activity, there needed to be a more connected collaboration between the relevant stakeholders in a shared move toward enhancing innovation.

These findings confirmed DHIT’s goals in pursuing this action—providing an outlet for Triangle stakeholders, both new and established, to join together as partners.

DHIT Co-Founder Lee Phillips says North Carolina’s tech sector is a unique incubator for innovations that move 20th century medicine delivery into the digital age.

“Given that digital health represents the convergence of technology, life sciences, healthcare delivery and consumer experience design, we have the unique opportunity with the institutions, facilities and talent at our disposal here in North Carolina to reimagine how healthcare can be better designed, delivered and experienced in the digital age and create the most advanced model of care in the world,” Phillips said.

The upcoming summit is the latest rendering of DHIT’s mission. Phillips adds, “Our vision for this inaugural DHIT Summit is to leverage our powerful ecosystem and begin the process of collaboration and open innovation to make this the healthiest place to live, work and raise a family.”

The timing of the event is near to DHIT’s new partnership with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, announced in late-October. The partnership will allow the organization to expand its programming geographically beyond the Triangle.

“Following our recently announced strategic partnership with NC Biotechnology Center, we will be expanding our reach to communities across North Carolina, including Charlotte, Asheville, Winston Salem and others,” Phillips said. “Our intention is to create an environment which brings together the entrepreneurial ecosystem to solve problems in healthcare.”

More information about the partnership will be shared at this week’s summit.

If you’re interested in attending the event, you can register on Eventbrite here. Tickets are $295.