Wearables and Nearables for Health
During the past decade, we have seen the smartphone become mankind’s primary connected device. It has become the one device that we always carry with us, being the device we rely on most for our computing and communication needs. We have seen it absorb entire categories of personal devices – portable music player, point-and-shoot camera, portable alarm clock, GPS navigator, portable DVD player, to name a few.
Relatively recently, however, we are starting to see the rise of new classes of personal connected devices. These devices leverage the miniaturized, high-performance, low-cost, low-power component solutions created by the smartphone industry. Wearables, devices that are attached to our bodies, as well as nearables, devices that are near our bodies, are becoming more ubiquitous.
Health applications are among the key drivers for the rise of the wearables and nearables. Health devices include activity and wellness trackers, personal medical monitors, and environmental monitors. While these devices may not provide the detail and accuracy provided by medical devices at the hospital, they provide frequent, often continuous monitoring of multiple physiological and environmental parameters that can be used to monitor and manage our health.
A number of industries, including, news and entertainment, banking, retail, and transportation have been significantly and permanently transformed by the smartphone. The health industry is poised for a significant transformation as well. Wearables and nearables, in addition to the smartphone, will play a key role in the transformation of the health industry.
Biography
Yong Jin Lee is currently Senior Vice President responsible for developing new devices at Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business, including the development of wearables and nearables for health and wellness. Previously, he was responsible for Samsung’s digital health program. He oversaw the development of the Samsung Health platform and the advanced health-related sensors on smartphones and wearables.
Prior to Samsung, Dr. Lee was the CTO and SVP of Engineering at Salutron. Dr. Lee was the principal investigator for over a dozen research programs on physiological monitoring and wearable devices for NASA, DARPA, Office of Secretary of Defense, US Army Medical Research, Office of Naval Research, and Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Lee was also at Veeco and Texas Instruments.
Dr. Lee holds BS, MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering, AB in Economics, and MS in Engineering management, all from Stanford University. Dr. Lee is a recipient of F.E. Terman Award, and member of Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies.