Diagram Dialogues

The pandemic has helped mobilise incredible advances in innovation across the public and private sectors. Why is it then, after nearly a decade since the recommendation by WHO that HPV testing should be made the primary cervical screening method, that there is still such a lag to adopt it here in Asia?

For decades, diagnostic tools have contributed to improving patient care by enabling patients and their clinicians to make medical decisions earlier and more accurately. What does the future of diagnostics look like? How can diagnostic tools and digitalisation support the transformation of healthcare? How can innovation help overcome access challenges? 

These are some crucial questions that Dr Durhane Wong-Rieger and Thomas Schinecker are answering in the audio introductory moderated by Vivienne Parry.

In this episode, Dr Katherine Fan joins Diagram Dialogues to share her insights on the current state of heart failure management in Hong Kong.

Dr Fan is a cardiology specialist based in Hong Kong. After graduating from the University of Dundee, Scotland, she received her cardiology training in Hong Kong and completed her fellowship training in cardiac electrophysiology in Stanford University Medical Center. Her specialty interests are cardiac electrophysiology and device therapy for heart failure.  Dr Fan is a lecturer on heart failure management in particular device therapy and cardiac transplantations.

How can patients in Asia take a more proactive role in managing their own health? How can healthcare systems be more patient-centric?

This week on Diagram Dialogues, we share two panel discussions from our Diagram Media Forum 2021. In this session, science editor Kami Navarro leads our panelists to explore these issues.

On the panel:

- Joe Caputo, founder of Vista Health, and president of International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (Singapore)

- Anubha Taneja Mukherjee, member secretary of the Thalassemia Patients Advocacy Group in India

- Professor Woo Yin Ling, consultant gynaecologist and oncologist at the University of Malaya in Malaysia

Is Asia ready to transition from a volume-based healthcare model to value-based healthcare?

This week on Diagram Dialogues, we share two panel discussions from our Diagram Media Forum 2021. In this session, science editor Kami Navarro leads our panelists to answer this question.

On the panel:

- Gerald Kost, Professor of Emeritus of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, at UC Davis.

- Professor David Thomas, Director of The Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Sydney, and the NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, in Melbourne, Australia.

Professor Marion Saville is the Executive Director of VCS Foundation, a leading pathology lab. She has been in this position since 2000.

She joins us today to share about her work in cervical screening in Asia, with the ultimate goal of eliminating cervical cancer.

Marion has served on cervical screening advisory committees in Australia, New Zealand and Ontario, Canada. Most recently, she chaired the working group to review Australia’s Guidelines for the management of screen-detected abnormalities in the National Cervical Screening Program.

Marion has focused on research and implementation projects demonstrating that it is possible to deliver high quality, acceptable cervical screening in a range of resource poor settings including Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Samoa. She is also interested in how culturally safe screening can meet the needs of disadvantaged groups who have poorer cancer outcomes, in Australia and New Zealand.

For her significant service to women’s health through cervical screening initiatives, Marion was appointed as a member (AM) of the Order of Australia on Australia Day in 2020.

Today on the podcast, we explore how digital tools can help reshape cancer care.

Joining us is Dr. Soo Khee Chee. 

Dr. Soo graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Singapore. He completed his surgical training in Sydney and his fellowship training in surgical oncology and head and neck surgery in London and New York. In 1997, Dr. Soo became the Founding Director of the National Cancer Centre Singapore and was in that position for 20 years. Today, Dr. Soo Kee Chee has his own surgical practice in Farrer Park Hospital and Farrer Park Medical Centre with an interest in surgical oncology and head and neck surgery.

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital tools in healthcare by directly connecting providers with patients, and in the process, helping to overcome traditional care delivery challenges – patient overload, not enough doctors, inadequate infrastructure and facilities.

From telehealth to remote monitoring, COVID-19 has normalised the use of digital solutions in healthcare delivery, turning long-held skepticism into a greater willingness to develop and use solutions that, resultantly, are transforming healthcare norms. This growing openness to health tech innovations is a boon to the region’s health systems, addressing immediate needs as well as longstanding problems of access and unequal standards of healthcare.

Patty Lee, CEO and co-founder of Orbit Health, joins us on Diagram Dialogues to share her thoughts on nurturing innovation in digital health, and how her startup is reinventing our approach to treating Parkinson's disease.

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