SXSW2024. Younger and Healthier for longer. Take control of your health and longevity!
At SXSW2024, you could explore 51 Conference sessions driving the healthcare frontier forward( in the Health & MedTech track).
Odile Roujol, founder of the global FaB community, and GP founding partner of Fab Ventures — seed stage (investing in Beauty/wellness), attended a few of them. Let’s try to share the takeaway.
HEALTH AND LONGEVITY.
First, we could engage with women looking to advance their whole life health. Women are revolutionizing the economy and increasing their longevity by investing in their health and well-being. Responsible for 85% of the day-to-day spending decisions, women are channeling their resources into innovative health products and services to age with grace and confidence. With the aid of groundbreaking technology & an increase of women’s health coverage in media, the health & wellness space has become increasingly more accessible, and more lucrative.
What panelists said: Education, fighting with misinformation.
Let’s democratize the information! Half of the people on the planet are women. They will one-day experience menopause.
What we need: Good information. Education. Science and technology.
Women’s health is not just reproduction and fertility ! We should change the conversation, and talk better about the menopause.
- We need to better explain Peri menopause and post menopause.
- Understand replacing hormones.
Whatever pharmaceutical companies claim, we are not the same.
Don’t waste your time, waiting for someone taking care of your health, no one will. Know yourself. Track your body signals (epigenetic tests, blood biomarkers…, etc.).
- Your journey is in your own hands. You are in charge! No one will keep you safe. Doctors meet you 15 mn every few months. You know yourself far better than anyone self.
- Your lifestyle matters. We all have habits. Understand the benefits of new habits. Behavioral changes are tough. Sleep +8% in 10 years for young people
- Data: Know yourself! Measure Fasting, sleep, activities, diets, and supplements. What works for you may not work for someone else. Take Small steps every day. Don’t think you need to spend two hours in a sports room! But have a program to improve.
- How do you feel? Don’t ruin 10 years of your life suffering in silence.
- Did you check your Hormonal balance? Vital! Start when you are young!
- Your Sleep cycle? Hours of deep sleep? (how much did you move)
- Do you use a Glucose monitor? (Blood glucose monitor: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor March 5)
- Did you measure your gut health? (limit sugar, have fibers in your diet, take the supplements you need, and make your mitochondria work at the best)
- « Maybe you will skip the glass of wine at the dinner; the cold plunge is not for you! »
The future of health? AI-powered, but human!
- Lab analysis: In the future, it will be 200 dollars instead of 500 dollars. Access to a doctor or guidance with a machine learning-trained tool/ AI tool.
- « AI-enabled human »: Instead of 5 doctor visits as a patient, « Don’t use AI for treatment, use the combination .»
- Life span. In our 80s and 90s. « Health span » Dying young as late as possible!
- « Falling and breaking a bone is the beginning of the end. Having enough muscles helps, meaning exercise, have activities»
- «screening for cancer and cardiovascular risks »
- «social connections, the thing you do everyday. Routines. Socializing. It’s protective! ». Meaningful connections.
Risk for the society?
Disparities in health: Income, ethnicities, gender.
Biohacking your recovery: a conversation with Damar Hamlin.
Without warning, sometimes the body needs a break. Taking time to recover from an unexpected injury, prolonged stress, a medical emergency, or a mental health event is paramount to your overall well-being. But after something happens to your body or your mind, how do you recover, and what tools can make that recovery easier? The wearable device experts from Oura, medical experts on stress, and Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin to discuss the impacts of stress on the body, actionable steps towards recovery, and how wearables can help you biohack yourself back to your baseline — or even better.
- Have simple metrics to improve yourself. Have a program, a routine.
- Know yourself, track your own data, and conduct experiments.
- All people are aware, and fairly educated (sleep, diet, activity, …) but take actions!
- Sleep is so important! Take some magnesium, take care of your gut health (licking guts can alter your deep sleep)
Is the wellness industry well?
As the $4.5 trillion wellness category explodes, the value of science has never been greater. But misinformation continues to fuel a culture of confusion and exclusion. As an industry long-shrouded in vague claims and pretty packaging, we’ve treated “wellness” as a unicorn — unattainable within our daily realities — breeding a (at best) confusing or (at worst) dangerous situation for consumers. The truth is: Evidence-based science, accessibility and inclusion make for not only healthier people, but a trusted healthier reputation for this rapidly growing industry.
2 billion people make requests on Google for their hair and skin’s issues. Tech platforms (YouTube, etc.) need to show emerging trends while protecting users. This is a balance to find.
The bad and the ugly. Trends on TikTok that are not benefiting customers, and put their health at risk (for instance “bone smashing” is not only not working but dangerous)
Platforms: responsibility to check that the content of creators is safe for the life of users.
- during COVID: CDC information and authoritative information vs misleading sources,
- eating disorders: avoid imitable behaviors, if testimonials filter by age, to protect users.
Billions of hours of content. Tough job to be right every time.
Solutions?
Covid was showing a big change in behaviors. More awareness. There is no comeback.
Partnerships with influencers: YouTube and dr Mike. Encouraging people to check sources.
Information is needed for health.
Future?
Millennials : think of their health holistic way.
People are asking proofs, reason to believe brands.
« Science-washing » misinformation.
Building Community in Climate Biotech.
The need for innovative climate biotech is dire, but our ability to rapidly develop and deploy those solutions is hampered by a lack of community, collaboration, and incentives. Private companies, governments, and academia all have a role to play, but they need to come together to move with speed and precision.
In the panel, experts in biotech across industry and academia have discussed the ways that climate biotech scientists, funders, and other companies can build a culture of collaboration and community that embraces science risk, drives breakthroughs, and scales them.
Definition of biotech?
The use of biology to address big problems, develop new products, methods, and organisms intended to improve human heatlh and society.
“It’s anything linked to life. Cancer therapies. Food. Environment. Industries. Remember: Soil. Earth. Oceans are filled with microbes. Nature recycles (trees /leaves). As a comparison, everybody talks about AI: not all people understand it, but it’s impacting every person, and they care.
It should be the same for biotech! We should care and not think it’s only concerning Ph. D.s!”
“We need easy-to-understand articles. We come back to the role of media to educate people and keep them informed.”
What do we need to work together better?
-Infrastructure
-and Data
-Training and education: there are not a lot of biological engineering programs offered by universities. Less on devices, more on gene therapies, engineering cells to do important things.
Investments: The government has a research budget, but industries also have to help finance (as pharmaceuticals did).
Recommendations of the panelists?
Sharing what we work on (PhD) with the research community as it can be applied to other spaces.
-What problem we try to fix
-Who’s working on it
-What could be other fields impacted
A Coalition. Come together: “Say loudly, we need to do XYZ.” Raise your voice, helping the government prioritize.
Be aware. Be part of the conversation. Check your sources!
And here under a few contacts if you are focusing on the topics:
The NeuroTech revolution is here, What now?
We are living in the midst of the Neurotech Revolution. Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the amount of resources dedicated to the development of “neural interfaces,” devices that interact with the brain or nervous system of an individual.
As our capabilities increase, what opportunities and challenges does this new technology create? How much is hype and what is real? What can we do today to ensure this new technology is adopted in an ethical way that protects user agency and what it means to be human?
A panel with Amy Kruse at Satori Neuro and:
A groundbreaking panel interview bringing together the trailblazing founders of three remarkable startups — Betty’s Co, Gabbi, and Marani Health — who are reshaping the face of women’s healthcare. Interviewed by the head of innovation of the largest health system in Georgia, this discussion delved into the innovative approaches and transformative visions that these female entrepreneurs have brought to the forefront of the healthcare industry. From re-envisioning care delivery for Gen Z women to leveraging AI-powered maternal healthcare platforms, this panel was informing and inspiring. Sharing their contacts if you want to know more about what they are building, women supporting women.
We hope you enjoyed the quick read and found some insights. All of us need to read about bioscience, and care about our health data.
Preventive medicine is on its way, and there could be a shift in the way people handle their health in the Western World. Inspired by Eastern behaviors for their health (more holistic, taking actions every day, not just fixing a problem).
As one of the speakers said “You are not Michael Jordan, but between doing nothing, and being an athlete, there is room for each of us!”
Don’t forget to subscribe to the FaB newsletter to have access to the meetings’ takeaway, and some exclusive content such as this short article about health and longevity trends.
It’s free, and quarterly, I am grateful for the support of your chapter leaders in 19 cities, guest speakers and partners.
https://www.beautytechcommunity.com/
Have a great week!
Odile
