- This is Christos with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,
and Jill will be joined by Dr. Simon off top,
chief Strategy Officer
for Nicholas Children's Health System.
Dr. Off Top, thank you so much for joining us today.
- Thank you for having me.
- Wonderful. Could you please introduce yourself
and tell us a bit about your background?
- Sure. Um, as you just shared, um, my name is Simon Aftab
and I serve as the Chief Strategy Officer
at Nicholas Children's.
Um, I am a physician by training
and I've been with Nicholas Children's
for about seven years.
Um, I've trained as a pediatrician
and then as, as a neonatologist.
And I started out my,
off my career at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
where I did all my training
and I was a faculty member at the
University of Pennsylvania.
And then, uh, after 11 years, I moved to Boston
and I was at the Harvard School of Medicine.
So, uh, you know,
my career was started off in clinical medicine
and, um, you know, education,
the traditional academic track,
and then got into healthcare consulting
and then, uh, healthcare administration.
And I got an MBA
and, uh, over time transitioned into more
of a strategy, business development role.
And, uh, I've been serving in this role at Nicholas
Children's for now seven years.
And, um, I love what I do
and I love the fact
that I can bring both the worlds together,
both my experience at the bedside as well as
that business development, uh, strategy arm
that helps us do a better job, you know, connecting the two,
um, at, at, at our, at our Children's hospital.
- Excellent. Thank you for sharing all of that, doctor.
So given your current role,
technology definitely plays a huge part of that.
So with that in mind, could you let us know
what technology shows the most promise in terms
of its application over the next 12 to 24 months?
And on a related note, everyone is buzzing about AI these
days and pretty much any business or any venture.
And so how would you describe Nicholas
Children's approach to ai?
- Absolutely. I think, uh,
you pretty much hit the nail on the head.
I think everyone's buzzing about ai
and we too, um,
at Nicholas Children's are very excited about the
opportunities it has to offer.
So in the short term, I think in the next 12 to 24 months,
I think obviously, you know, the, the boost
that telemedicine got through covid,
I think is only going to continue.
And at our healthcare system,
really integrating it across the care continuum for patients
and for our children, I think is going to be a priority.
So how does that translate into better home monitoring?
What's our home healthcare strategy?
How do we integrate telemedicine
for managing population health
and keeping our kids healthy at home and in their schools?
And then obviously the other sort of big component
that I think we're excited about in the short term is going
to be the applications for ai.
Um, so I think when we think about that, um, you know,
the central focus for that would be how can we use AI
to improve patient about the quality of patient care as well
as enhancing the experience.
And even today, there's a lot of solutions
for available AI driven solutions that can actually
enhance the, not only the quality of patient care,
but also the experience.
And the, the, the area that we're gonna be focusing on
to start is going to be around imaging
and radiology services.
So we are already doing a pilot where, um, with a,
we're using AI technology to determine bone age,
and that's going to be our first sort of, you know,
dipping our toe in the water, so to speak.
But I think there's countless additional applications
for AI both in the clinical
and non-clinical space that, that we're very excited about.
- Thank you, doctor. So beyond that,
are there other in innovations rather,
that Nicholas Filters is excited about over the next year?
- Absolutely. Um, there's, we're, uh, investing in some, uh,
AR and VR solutions both for medical training,
patient education,
and improving the patient experience
through difficult procedures,
through really creating a very interactive, uh, fun journey.
I think the best part of pediatrics is
that you can have a lot of fun and,
and be creative, um, in, in terms
of using these technologies.
So one of the things that we've started
to implement is using VR technology
and, um, sort of the, the, um,
and ification to sort of get our patients
to be more compliant, um, either through a procedure
as we're guiding them through the different steps
so they don't get anxious, but also with education.
So for kids that, um, have diabetes
and need to manage their own health, um,
in any other chronic complex condition, you know, using AR
and VR to sort of be, um, a very fun interactive tool
for kids to actually learn how to take ownership
of their own health, um, is is very exciting.
- Doctor on that, no, what has the feedback been like
for this, uh, program that you've just described for us?
- Yeah. Feedback for the program has been great.
Um, both our patients, our clinicians
and our staff absolutely love it.
They've been very open to the, the technology
and incorporating it in the workflows.
But beyond that, the data that we've collected so far,
especially for the, the US using virtual reality for, uh,
patients and coming patients through procedure, we found
that not only are we more likely
to be successful in doing the procedure without any
complications, the number of interruptions
or the time to complete the procedure is actually better
with integrating, um, this VR tool.
So the feedback has been excellent across the board.
- Excellent. Thank you, doctor. So taking a little bit
of a different direction here.
So I understand that Nicholas Re's last year, November
specifically joined a coalition dedicated to advocacy
for underserved populations around the world.
This is definitely a noteworthy goal that any health system
and should have, but
how do you see your own health system role in this effort,
and how would you encourage others to get involved?
- Absolutely. So Nicholas Children's, um,
we're formerly known as Miami Children's,
so we're the largest freestanding children's
hospital in South Florida.
And we also have the privilege of taking care
of kids not only in our local community,
but a sizable number of kids
that are coming from the Caribbean, from the South Americas
and from all over the world.
So we truly consider ourselves an advocate globally
for pediatric healthcare.
Um, so Nicholas Children's, um,
and our roles as a part of this coalition would be
to really be that advocate
and that void for, for the health
of children all over the world.
I think we are uniquely positioned through our experience
with our patients that come from a very broad part
of the globe for us to be, you know, um, closely keyed into
what those issues are for children globally.
They may be a little bit different from
what we experience here at home in the US
but I think there's many common themes.
So, um, advocacy around, uh, prevention
of communicable diseases, you know, vaccinations,
clean water, but,
but again, mental health is a theme
that we're seeing both not only in our local
community but also globally.
So a lot of advocacy efforts are going to be focused around
recognizing de-stigmatizing and,
and really getting kids the, the mental health, uh,
support services needed quickly and easily.
So I think, you know, we're excited about, um, you know,
participating in this amazing coalition
and providing, you know, a contribution and, and
and providing thought leadership in that space.
- Lastly, doctor, I wanted to ask you, so
what issue in pediatric care do you think deserves a
brighter spotlight this year and beyond?
- I think this year and beyond, I think behavioral health
or mental health is, I think, the, the most pressing
an important issue that we are facing in pediatrics.
I think, um, you know, COVID-19, the pandemic
really exacerbated, um, mental health
challenges in our children, in our, in our, our youth.
Um, there's many contributing factors.
I mean, overall, I think year over year, even
before the pandemic, we had seen rising rates
of mental health disorders among children and adolescents,
but then adding the isolation, distress
and fear from, um, uh, uh,
potentially lethal viral infection, um,
and then add that with social separation, academic pressure,
and then the sort of the, the negative effects
of social media with bullying trauma
and then also the stress of family dynamics.
And, um, at the time of the pandemic,
I think really brought things to a boiling point.
And not only were it really uncovered the fact
that our healthcare systems not only, uh, were ill-equipped
and Ill staffed to take care of this,
but also really recognizing the whole continuum
of mental health illness.
I think it became very important.
So really a focus on primary prevention.
You know, talking about mental health
and wellness with parents and having school teachers and,
and school systems to recognize their role
integrating mental health services in primary care offices
or pediatricians offices,
and then really up building capacity for telemedicine
and inpatient services for mental health.
So it's going to need a complete overhaul for us
to really make a sustainable impact,
and it won't be made possible without really looking at
where technology fits in
and how we can do better in terms
of policy change and advocacy.
Um, so I think that that's just the single biggest, I think,
challenge for pediatric healthcare.
And I think a close second would be childhood obesity.
I think obesity, you know, overall
for us remains a significant public health concern.
I think, um, you know, the, the statistics about only 20%
of Americans were considered obese, um, in the 19, in 1960s,
but now about 40% of Americans are, are,
are in that category.
And it's particularly alarming
because we're seeing similar rates in our children as well.
And as you can imagine, the morbidities and,
and the side effects that come with childhood obesity,
including diabetes, uh, depression, social isolation,
cardiovascular disease, um, and other illnesses.
I think, you know, we're setting our kids up for a lifetime
of poor health, poor mental health, lack
of social relationships, lack of poor,
a lack of self-esteem.
So I think this in my mind, is another one of those really
hot topics that I think we all need to sort
of collaborate on and find creative solutions
to address in a, in a significant and sustainable way.
- Dr. Thank you so much for being so generous
with your time and your insights.
I know we've covered a lot of ground in this short period
of time and we cannot wait to share all your insights
with our audience that we look forward
to connecting with you soon.
- I appreciate the opportunity
and thank you so much for taking the time
and, uh, as you can tell, I'm very excited personally about,
you know, all these new technologies
and the opportunities that it, it has to offer
that's gonna help our kids.
So I appreciate the opportunity to come
and speak with you all.