HumanITcare’s CEO Nuria Pastor shares her highlights and lessons from 2022.
HumanITcare provides a personalized medical care at home with a unique and flexible solution. We all dream of a world where health can be provided from home or anywhere, providing early treatment and where patients receive the most appropriate option of care. HumanITcare aims to improve the lives of millions of people globally with their unique solution.
How did it all start and where are you in your mission for the company?
At HumanITcare we aim to bring health to every patient by radically improving access to healthcare. Our integrated platform uses artificial intelligence for tele-monitoring patients through smart medical devices. Unai Sanchez and I initiated this journey 4 years ago with the dream of a world where health can be provided at home or anywhere. We created the first product that we recently validated using the EIT Health grant.
What motivates you to engage in this mission?
We strive for impact. Our platform was conceived to assess health remotely, allowing early treatment and reducing relapses of disease for millions of people globally. While I was working as a mental health scientist, I realized the complexity of monitoring patients outside the health center. Digital solutions are rapidly entering the healthcare arena and with HumanITcare, we want to use this opportunity to impact people’s lives by offering remote access to healthcare.
What was the highlight of 2022 for your company?
In 2022, we have seen that the need for a more accessible healthcare system using eHealth solutions is no longer just a trend; it is the present and future of healthcare. In 2021, we were awarded the EIC Accelerator from the European Commission which allowed us to grow the team with excellent technical professionals this year. We have brought our platform to a next level of robustness and obtained different certificates, and we are already serving thousands of patients. The EIC Accelerator has also contributed to increasing the visibility of HumanITcare. We are ready to make healthcare accessible to many more patients in the coming years.
Which lesson(s) can you share that you have learned as CEO of HumanITcare?
The most valuable lesson is the importance of having a highly qualified team. At the start-up phase of a venture, the team is an unbelievably valuable asset. Surrounding yourself with the right people will make it possible to accomplish our mission. Another important lesson is the importance of analyzing every idea carefully and then validate it. One could develop many things, but whether they are truly relevant to create impact will define whether they should be pursued. For that, we have an extensive network of key opinion leaders, we perform exhaustive market research, and we use a multi-stakeholder approach involving doctors and patients when evaluating new eHealth applications at HumanITcare.
Within your area of expertise, what innovations or developments did you see in 2022 that you expect will make impact on the health sector and/or the landscape for companies like your own in the future?
The number of digital solutions in the healthcare sector have grown dramatically during the last few years, accelerated by the pandemic. During the pandemic, healthcare systems worldwide were overwhelmed. In order to alleviate immediate pressures, eHealth solutions started to gain attention. Now, the situation is different: care providers and patients have accepted these solutions and eHealth innovators are looking to fill the gaps in the healthcare system. It is now the time for policy makers and care providers to define a roadmap towards implementation of the existing and upcoming eHealth solutions in the healthcare systems to broaden impact.