Aster to Set Up Innovation and Research hub in GCC

Dubai: To improve the ultimate health outcomes for patients and enhance their overall experience at all its facilities, Aster DM Healthcare is setting up Aster Innovation and Research Centre in GCC and India. Aster DM Healthcare is one of the first private healthcare organisations in the UAE to set up a dedicated innovation and research centre. This is in alignment with UAE Vision 2021 and the UAE National Innovation Strategy, of which health is a key priority.

Over the next three years, the Centre will aim to achieve key milestones like the introduction of innovative solutions for home healthcare with a focus on digital primary care, establishing a rich eco-system of digital health partners from start-ups to academia and starting digital health, informatics and medicine as a stream for future healthcare workers.

Joining as the Chief of Innovation, Dr. Satish Prasad Rath, MD will be spearheading the innovation projects, that will aim to leverage the advances in digital health research like AI, cognitive psychology, blockchain, IoT and behavioural economics, while onboarding start-ups which can drive innovation. The Centre will also work in a collaborative manner focusing on applied research with academia, startups and industry partners.

Aster DM Healthcare has the unique positioning of providing an integrated service offering that ranges from primary care (Aster clinics and pharmacy) to quaternary care, along with an in-house research centre as MIMS Research Foundation and a medical college as DM Wayanad Institute of Medical Sciences (DMWIMS). The new centre will accelerate various ongoing innovation projects being led by different units, like diabetes, sepsis and dialysis projects; and will be working to introduce an interdisciplinary subject on digital health/medicine at DMWIMS.

“Our main objective as an organization has been to ensure that quality and affordable healthcare is easily available at the doorsteps of our patients. With evolving patient needs, it is essential to focus on the digital transformation of healthcare because of advances being made in various areas like AI, genomics and molecular biology which is likely to produce a quantum leap. We are confident that under the leadership of Dr. Satish, Aster Innovation and Research Centre will play a major role in introducing the most advanced and unique patient care solutions and enable our organization to become one of the most technologically progressive healthcare providers in the world,”said Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare.

Dr. Satish Prasad Rath, a post-graduate medical doctor and a digital health scientist with multiple patents, comes with rich experience of leading research and innovation labs at Xerox Innovation Group, Wipro Technologies, Intel labs and Philips Research. He is also an advisor to several start-ups and incubators.

Commenting on the occasion, Dr. Satish said, “Today, there are many inefficiencies being experienced by the healthcare industry. We are now able to reach far more people who have previously been unable to access the health system due to geography, knowledge or affordability constraints. Leveraging AI, IoT, blockchain, cognitive computing we can address these difficult segments in a sustainable way. We will be tapping into the rich evolving entrepreneurship culture of start-ups and academia using a collaborative model that we can curate and co-create for a better future.  Simultaneously, we will be preparing the digital health aware workforce in collaboration with the government and teaching institutions.