In an attempt to revolutionize the field of personalized medicine, Scripps Health has partnered with the Gary and Mary West Foundation and Qualcomm to found the West Wireless Health Institute (www.westwirelesshealth.org), a sister institute to the STSI. The WWHI mission is to advance global health and well-being by identifying, validating, and accelerating the use of innovative and cost-effective personal remote-use wireless solutions for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in critical and as-of-yet unmet medical and community needs.
The world-wide rate of chronic disease is increasing dramatically. In parallel, chronic diseases largely attributable to our lifestyle choices (e.g., diet, exercise, smoking, and substance abuse) are also on the rise. Aging of the global population is also making elderly care management a priority. As a result, the health care industry is facing an increased financial burden in dealing with increased hospitalization and treatment costs.
WWHI research will focus on:
As a founding partner of the WWHI, Scripps will head the development of wireless (i.e., wearable, implantable, ingestible) sensors for use in health and wellness management. STSI will draw on the expertise of the clinical staff at Scripps Health and its affiliates to work with biomedical engineers to develop and optimize these technologies for use in ambulatory and clinical settings. STSI will also oversee the validation of these devices through randomized clinical trials in multicenter networks.