Verily’s Commitment to Improving Global Health

Fireside Chat with Dr. Jessica Mega at the StartUp Health Festival

Unity Stoakes
StartUp Health

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“We grew out of Google and Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information,” said Jessica Mega, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, Verily Life Sciences. “But there’s a whole sector of life science and health that has its own environment, and there was a small group thinking about what information in healthcare would we need to collect differently, organize and activate.”

Dr. Mega joined me in a discussion at the 2018 StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco, California. We began our conversation learning more about her journey as a doctorpreneur, and then dove into the healthcare and life science-based company’s moonshot, and how Verily is using next-generation tools and technologies to take on significant challenges impacting global health.

“We have, in the span of three years, progressed tremendously,” said Mega. “I see so much energy and enthusiasm behind the work of taking technology, but understanding the realities of healthcare and life science. So we are now Verily. ”

“We’re all about hitting big problems using new science and technology.” said Jessica Mega, MD, MPH, (left)

Partnering with companies like GSK on electroceuticals, looking closely at robotic surgery with Johnson & Johnson, and working closely with Sanofi in the development of solutions for diabetes patients, Verily is developing new tools to collect and organize health data, and bringing technology and health together in a fascinating way. StartUp Health is excited about large organizations such as Verily and Google, who, like our Health Transformers, are committed to tackling moonshots and working collectively on a global mission to improve health and wellness for everyone

“I think we’re really trying to improve life. Not only can we improve healthcare outcomes, but can we improve the quality of someone’s life as well?” asked Mega. “So that we understand how whatever you’re working on is truly making someone’s life better. It may be extending life, it may be improving quality of life, but all of these things are going to be metrics that we, no pun intended, live and die by. So this, to me, is how we know that we’re making a difference.”

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