Ben Flock, Health & Life Sciences Industry Advisor

How Microsoft HPC and 3D Multi-Touch Visualization capabilities may help save your life…

bmfer — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:23:48 GMT

As we approach the golden age of 50, there are many things to think about. Perhaps the hopes of retirement, or the financial stress of kids in college…with the hope of someday having an empty nest. : ) It also represents the target age for colon cancer screening. Today, the only real option is Optical Colonoscopy screening, an evasive medical procedure that requires extensive preparation, time, and cost. Worse yet, the technical complexities and specialized skills associated with the current procedures only allow screening for 5% of the population, currently 80M people age 50+ in the US. Colon Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths in the US, accounting for 56,000 deaths annually. The sad part…it is 100% treatable if diagnosed in early stages.

Researchers @ Partners Healthcare (PHS) have been working on a “Virtual Colonoscopy” alternative. In a nutshell, here’s how it works…

A CT Scan machine takes multiple thin slice images of your abdomen. These 2D images are run through a series of algorithms to do electronic cleansing and computer aided detection. After, the images are assembled as a 3D object for visual diagnosis. Sounds very simple…its not. To make this work, you need “lightning fast” High Performance Computing (HPC) capabilities and “state of the art” 3D Rendering/Visualization technologies. We are currently working with PHS to advance their research and build out an end to end demonstration that will include a Clinical Grade Cancer Screening Solution based on Virtual Colonoscopy and a high resolution 3D image visualization capability to assist in interactive computer-aided diagnostics. Here’s the technology stack we’re using to deliver the end to end solution;

Imaging for a moment…you just turned 50 and your doctor recommends screening for colon cancer. You begrudgingly schedule the appointment, expecting it to be a long, painful, and costly procedure. To your surprise, the scheduling nurse offers a “Virtual” screening procedure…no prep work required. You go to the office, put on a hospital dress, and slide your body into a CT Scanner machine.

Minutes after scanning your abdomen, a Radiologist shows you the results of your Virtual Colonoscopy, providing a 3D virtual navigation of your entire colon. And here’s the best part…the entire procedure costs ~$350. At this point, I’m just speculating…but, if this research continues to evolve to the scenario I just described, we will have the ability to screen the entire target population for Colon Cancer…and dramatically minimize the effects of the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths in the US…perhaps someday saving your own life.

A technology preview of the solution was showcased @ a 6/15 Healthcare event @ the Microsoft facilities in Waltham, MA…I will be posting presentations and video clips onto our innovation showcase blog shortly. http://blogs.msdn.com//innov8showcase/

Stay Tuned for more about “Virtual Colonoscopy” in the very near future.

HPC in the Cloud for Life Sciences Industry….

bmfer — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:24:35 GMT

Over the last 12 months, I’ve been doing a lot of incubation work in the Cloud Computing space throughout the Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry. The results from these early efforts have been interesting…and are relevant to any Healthcare or Life Sciences organization interested in using the cloud for business application purposes. To get the word out on these efforts, I’m sponsored a series on local Cloud Computing info exchange events. On June 8th, I held a Life Sciences Cloud Computing event @ the Hilton in Iselin, NJ. Close to 50 people from the Life Sciences Industry attended the event…although the event did include a Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform Overview, the bulk of the presentations/demonstration were dedicated to “real world” solutions examples…that I believe will manifest themselves as solution patterns that apply broadly across the entire Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry. The following solutions patterns were showcased at the event;

“HPC in the Cloud”
“Working Securely in the Cloud”
“Giving the Cloud a visually appealing head”

For more information on the content from the event, please visit the Microsoft Pharmaceutical Deployment User Group website: http://MSPDUG.spaces.live.com

So let’s talk about this HPC in a cloud for Life Sciences thing…

“HPC in the Cloud”: High Performance Computing (HPC) is definitely core requirement for the Life Sciences industry…they have lot’s of long running Scientific applications that require on-demand compute resources. Currently, these applications are run on dedicated hardware or on-premise managed Grid facilities. The current approach is suboptimal from a cost, scale, performance, and overall processing/results turnaround time perspective.On average, it takes several hours for many of these applications to run…in many cases they fail to complete due to memory and/or CPU availability. As a rule of thumb, It takes10 years and $1 billion to bring a drug to market…finding ways to shorten research & development timeframes can add hundreds of millions to a drugs overall revenue stream. Everyone is looking to cloud computing as a better way to HPC from a cost, scale, performance, and availability perspective.

We just completed a 30 day Windows Azure HPC PoC with JNJ’s R&D IT organization. For the PoC, we selected a typical Scientific Computation application…2D Molecular structure inputs, algorithmic calculations, 3D Visual output. Intent was to move the existing application .exe into Windows Azure to test cost, availability, scale, and performance.

JNJ representatives presented results from the PoC @ the June 8th Life Sciences Cloud Computing event. Results from the PoC were very positive. They saw a 100X reduction in end to end processing time for a typical request. Cost, although not quantifiable at this stage, will certainly be appreciably less than dedicated resource alternative. I want to err a word of caution…this is a capabilities validation exercise…although initial results are very promising…we still have some work to do before I would consider this to be a turnkey cloud capability. Nevertheless, there is no denying that this is a killer solutions pattern for cloud computing…stay tuned for info on the subject.

“Many Screens and a Cloud for Healthcare”, June 15th, 10am –3pm, 01 Jones Road, Sixth Floor, Waltham, MA 02451

bmfer — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:48:04 GMT

Please join us for the Healthcare Solution Showcase:

“Many Screens and a Cloud”

Tuesday, June 15^th, 2010, 10am-3pm EST

Microsoft Northeast District Office

201 Jones Road, Sixth Floor

Waltham, MA 02451

The Healthcare landscape is dramatically changing. Economic pressures, reform legislation, stimulus funding, and medical/technology advancements are creating a perfect storm for change. Microsoft views cloud computing as a potential catalyst for Healthcare business transformation. We are making significant investments in cloud computing and the ability to create a visually rich, information-driven solution that can be easily deployed across multiple consumer platforms: “Many Screens and a Cloud”. At this event, you’ll learn more about our “Many Screens and a Cloud” strategy and its potential application across the Healthcare industry.

What You Will Take Away:

Ø Microsoft’s “Many Screens and a Cloud” strategy

Ø Insight into Microsoft’s other Healthcare industry solution strategies

Ø A glimpse into how customers and partners are applying/validating cloud computing capabilities

Current Agenda*:

Ø Microsoft Emerging Technologies Overview: “Many Screens and a Cloud”

Ø Microsoft’s Connected Health Experience: Learn how Microsoft is using entertainment and devices to improve Healthcare and patient experience.

Ø Healthcare Solutions Showcase

v “Many Screens and a Cloud”

v “Working Securely in the Cloud”

v “User Experience/Visualization” .

Registration:

Click here to register online, OR

Call 1.877.673.8368 or go to www.msevents.microsoft.com, and reference Event ID 1032453196

“3 Screens and a Cloud”…for Healthcare”

bmfer — Fri, 21 May 2010 03:45:00 GMT

When you think about cloud…what is the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps its the Rolling Stones classic song, “Get off of My Cloud”. Maybe it induces euphoric thoughts…”I’m on Cloud Nine”…or thoughts of despair…”Storm Clouds are approaching”. Metaphorically speaking, it can mean different things to different people. The same thing exists when talking about Cloud Computing. Some see it as a new silver bullet that will immediately revolutionize business operations…others see it as a passing fad…I view it as something in the middle. It is not something new…it is technology evolution dating back to the concepts of grid and utility computing. It’s capabilities, by definition, hold great promise…but, the realization of these capabilities will happen incrementally over time.

Before coming to Microsoft back in 2005, I spent 18+ years working in the Healthcare industry. As a general rule of thumb, I believe Healthcare companies are typically not on the leading edge of early technology adoption. For that to happen, it would require a “perfect storm” of ensuing change. In my current role @ Microsoft, I have a unique opportunity to work across the entire Healthcare and Life Sciences Industry. What I see as approaching trends may not be a perfect storm…but certainly represent a significant amount of change in the very near future. I believe reform legislation, economic concerns, rapid medical/technology advancements, and social media demands will drive the creation of a new consumer-centric virtual Healthcare marketplace. One that will give consumers access to relevant Health information…anyplace, anytime, anywhere.

I see this social Health marketplace manifesting itself in three logical phases. #1 Externalize Customer Relationship – Establish a social connection with your customer delivering contextually filtered public and private information via a custom web portal. #2 Expand Consumer Touch Points – Build out information driven applications that can run on many consumer platforms (web, pc, mobile, entertainment, gaming…). #3 Establish Marketplace capabilities – Create a collaborative virtual healthcare ecosystem (users, data, services, applications). Ok…so why do I need the cloud computing to do this? What I have outlined is very disruptive business change. It demands business agility and responsive IT capabilities. What Cloud Computing offers is a low cost way to rapidly configure compute & storage…IT agility.

Getting back to the main subject of this blog… “3 Screens and a Cloud”…for Healthcare. In the new Social Health Marketplace, consumers will demand personalized health information…with an expectation that is will be available everywhere…in the hospital, at the pharmacy, in your car, on the TV, inside your games, on the moon. You get the picture. : )

Microsoft's “3 Screens and a Cloud” vision includes a common development tool suite (Visual studio/.NET) that allows you to write applications once and run them everywhere (web, pc, mobile, and more) integrated with the cloud to provide lights on compute and storage (Windows Azure), social community connectivity (xbox, zune, live), and integrated access to managed & unmanaged data sources.

Here’s a real world example from A.D.A.M, a leading provider of consumer health information and benefits technology solutions to 500+ Hospitals in the US. The following video demonstration was shot @ the Cloud Computing Expo in NYC. Here’s some interesting facts to consider as you view the video;

It took 15 days, 2 developers to complete work
Client application ran on web, PC, and Windows Phone with no changes
Cloud App Engine is 100% reusable
Application (look and feel) and data (questions, branching logic, and content) can be modified/reconfigured without programmer changes.

Social Media is powerful. I believe its effects on the future on Healthcare will be revolutionary…and the cloud will be the “silver lining” IT delivery foundation.

Stay tuned for more insights and solutions examples in the future.

Ben Flock

Microsoft Health and Life Sciences Industry Council - China Healthcare Perspectives Thursday, December 11, 2008 2:00pm – 6:00pm, Microsoft Office – 74 Batterson Park Road Farmington, CT 06032

bmfer — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:18:39 GMT

Recently, I had an opportunity to do a 2 month work rotation in China. My primary work assignment was to experience China Healthcare first hand, exchanging best practices and industry experiences with the local Microsoft teams. It was definitely an eye opening experience. Prior to the engagement, I assumed that China operated under a pure socialized Healthcare model. What I learned is that there actually operating under an emerging hybrid model that includes employer based insurance, tiered procedure based pricing, social service supplements, and incomplete population coverage models…very much like ours. Every US based Healthcare & Insurance company is current doing business in China or will be over the next year. Over the next few years, China will become a global focal point for Healthcare business and technology advancement. I believe the effects of these advancements will have a long tail on how Healthcare operates here in the states.

I’d like to share these learning’s and experiences with our Healthcare and Insurance customers/partners in an informal, interactive forum. James Chen, Director Business Development Microsoft China, is flying all the way from Beijing to Hartford to speak @ this event. James is a SME on China’s Healthcare and Insurance model. Additionally, we will be doing an executive overview of Azure Platform Services & S+S, tying it to relevant Healthcare and Insurance Industry solution scenarios. Please join us for this unique event.

Event Overview

What was once a model based on pure social services, China’s Healthcare is evolving into a hybrid blend approach that includes a mix of government price controls, fee for service disparities, social security coverage gaps/limitations, and emerging “western oriented” privatized healthcare insurance. China is in the midst of a Healthcare Reform…essentially a breakaway from traditional social service towards a new model that will better serve China’s population from a cost, quality, and availability perspective. Currently, China’s total Healthcare spending is 4.8% of the GDP, essentially the largest country (1.3B) has the lowest total spend. But, China is committed to significantly increasing its total spend…or, potential reversing the model making China a Healthcare leader vs. laggard. In this session, US & China based Microsoft representatives will share perspectives and insights on what we believe will rapidly became the next epicenter for Healthcare innovation.

Discussion Topics

China Healthcare Overview – “The world is flat”

“The world is flat”… a cliché that people use to illustrate broad commonalities. It is often backed with very little evidence to prove its truth in a real world context. But use in relation to Healthcare, and we believe it has real meaning. In this session, we will do a contrast/compare of Healthcare in the US to Healthcare in China and put the cliché’ to the test.

A Real World China Healthcare Example…

Zhoungshan City Hospital is one of China’s highest ranked Healthcare facilities from an overall quality and patient satisfaction perspective. In this session we will do a detailed walkthrough of their population coverage, operating principles, business workflows, and technology solution augmentations, giving you a birds-eye view of how Healthcare really works in China.

Emerging Technologies Sneak Peak: Microsoft Azure Platform Services

In this session, we will give a “hot off the presses” high level overview of Azure Platform Services providing perspectives and insights to how they might be leveraged to improve Global Healthcare.

Speakers

James Chen, Director Business Development, Microsoft China: As an experienced senior professional with 28 years who works in multi-national large corporations such as Microsoft, BellSouth and NEC. Strong experiences in strategic planning, investment, mergers and acquisitions, also in government relations, regulatory affairs, corporate communications and business development. Prior to Microsoft, he was a senior consultant for the President of NEC Mobility that has setup 3G wireless trial project in Shanghai. Before then James served 16 years for BellSouth in different management positions. Also, James has run two startups in USA, NetCommerce Company and the prototerra.com. James holds a MBIS degree in Business Information Systems, a MBA degree in Marketing and Finance, also a BS degree of Oceanic Biological Engineering. James was serving as a Board of Director of Atlanta China Round Table Meeting includes BellSouth, Coca Cola, UPS, Home Depot, Delta Airline, and Scientific Atlanta.

Ben Flock, Health & Life Sciences Industry Advisor: Ben is a technology leader and Healthcare Industry subject matter expert with over 21 years experience building architectural teams, technology practices, and business solutions delivery organizations. Prior to Joining Microsoft in 2005, he was responsible for leveraging advancements in business applications and technology for many of the nation's largest health care insurers including CIGNA, United Health Group, Aetna, and The Travelers. He has a BS in Computer Science from SUNY at Oswego, NY and an MBA from the Lally School of Business at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Hong Chong, Architect Advisor: Mr. Choing is a business and IT leader with 18+ years of business and technology implementation experience with proven results. He has worked in Health & Life Sciences industry, financial services, and professional services organizations leading strategy and architecture groups. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2004, Mr. Choing was the Manager and Solutions Architect for a business unit of Merck & Co., Inc. Prior to Merck in 2001, Mr. Choing was the Director of IT and Chief Architect at ProCaveo, Inc. In 1999, Mr. Choing was the Founder and Principle Consultant of LeviTron Consulting, a professional services IT consulting company for the Financial Services and Pharmaceutical Industry. In his role as Industry Architect Advisor, Mr. Choing serves as trusted technology and business advisor to Health & Life Sciences industry customers from Fortune 200 companies. He has a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA - USA.

Location

Date & Time

Registration

Microsoft Office – Farmington, CT

74 Batterson Park Road

Farmington, CT 06032

December 11, 2008

2:00 PM–6:00 PM

Register

Event ID: 1032395880

Shining a Red Light on Software Piracy...

bmfer — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:28:50 GMT

In Technology Circles, we use acronyms like B2B, B2G and B2C and they are generally understood by most people...In China there's a acronym widely discussed called "C2C"...or, Copy to China. Perhaps in a jokingly sort of way...but, If you stop to think about it, it has very profound meaning, especially when you're talking about software. Everything can be copied here in China...and its nearly impossible to distinguish between the copy and the real thing.

In terms of technology/software, its important to put things into perspective. Total IT spending in China is approximately 1.5B, with software spending in the order of $200M. Essentially, the largest country in the world has the lowest IT spend...but things are changing at a very rapid pace. That also includes legalized software percentages...2 years ago software piracy rates were well north of 90%...today, they are in the high 80's and continually improving.

So what needs to happen to continue progress...or better yet, dramatically effect how people/businesses in china use/acquire software. I start with the notion of Software + Services...something that Microsoft is making a big strategic bet on. Simply put, it means you get value beyond the software you get in the box...this value could be realized in many ways, including flexible hosting, multi-platform/device support, add-on applications, information subscriptions/services... If people (anywhere in the world) see value in something beyond the advertised/basic service, I believe they will be willing to pay for it...perhaps, pay for the legal/licensed version instead of the copy.

Something to think about...

China is an amazing Country...this has, and continues to be an eye opening life experience for me...I will continue to share my thoughts and observations with all of you. Your comments are welcome.

Big Brother Says Hello...

bmfer — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:31:23 GMT

While doing a rotation in Beijing China, I was able to purchase a local SIM card from China Mobile for local cell and email. As we traveled from city to city, I kept getting these strange text messages...

Same number with boxes every time. I asked a few locals what this meant...actually, China Mobile (Government owned company) is sending me a text message. If my phone supported Chinese characters (and I could read them) this message would say welcome to Zhongshan City. The message includes local information/tourism links. The point of interest here is that they know where I am at all times. I did a little research...I believe this is accomplished via Assisted GPS (see diagram below). Cell towers throughout China with GPS receivers...those receivers are constantly pulling down Satellite info and computing the data. Every unlocked phone has A-GPS capability.

http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/gps_vs_agps_a_quick_tutorial.html

At first, the notion of someone knowing where I am at all times is a bit unsettling...But, the commercial/consumer embedded mobile application possibilities are intriguing. For instance, emergency response units knowing someone's exact location would have a profound effect on their ability to save lives. I'm certainly not a mobility expert...so I welcome comments from those that can shed much more light on the subject. BTW, I've been told they can also listen in on your phone conversations...Let's not talk about that subject. :)

xie xie,

Ben

Greetings from the Great Wall of China...

bmfer — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:44:42 GMT

Emergence of Healthcare Insurance in China...

bmfer — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:43:04 GMT

Ni Hao

From a distance, you would assume that China has a socialized Healthcare model that covers the entire population...similar to the UK or France. Actually, their Insurance model is somewhat similar to ours here in the states. Prior to China's social reform in the mid 1980's every citizen was covered under a centralized government model. Social Reform changes removed this coverage and created a privatized employer based insurance model similar to ours in the states. Unless you were a government official prior to the reform shift, you were required to get coverage from your employer or pay for Healthcare services out of your own pocket. At first glance, this seems like a pretty harsh change. But through conversations with many people here, it seems that the cost for most basic Healthcare services is minimal, in comparison to ours. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to delve into this topic much further and provide more insight on how Health Insurance or service delivery really works here in China.

Xie Xie,

Ben

Coffee and Health/Wellness consciousness in Beijing

bmfer — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:22:43 GMT

I've been here a little over 24 hours and I'm dying for a good cup of coffee, Instant seems to be the only viable option. Coming from the northeast of the United States, we're all very addicted to caffeine and can't throw a rock without hitting a Starbucks, I found it odd having difficulty finding a coffee shop...or even buying it in the store for that matter. So how does a country of 1.3 billion people wake up without coffee in the mourning? Here's what I observed...

I awoke bright and early today 5:30am and decided to wander around and take in the sites. Directly across from my apartment building, there was a park called Chaoyang. As I walked through the gates, I noticed that it was bustling with people of all ages...some were walking/jogging...others were doing tai chi, dancing,aerobics, weightlifting, and a variety of stretching/slapping of hands exercises. The park included well over 400 acres of trails through picturesque views of trees and lakes. I walked slowly trying to take it all in...

I was taken back by the thousands of people engaging in various forms of exercise so early in the mourning. I get the sense that this is a daily ritual for many throughout China...very different to what we do in the states. Perhaps I'm having difficultly finding a coffee shop because people here don't need it...instead of coffee, the use exercise and peaceful rituals to wake up and energize themselves. Over the next six weeks I'm going to delve much further into the subject of Health & Wellness here in China and throughout the far east.

Getting back to that cup of coffee...I'm currently sitting in a nice restaurant eating breakfast...and the coffee I ordered...you guessed it...instant...Starbucks, I need you badly. :)

-ben