Ashley Asks: Digital Robotics with Shan Jegatheeswaran

With ChatGPT and other developments in AI dominating the news over the last few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on how new advancements in AI are changing our company and the healthcare industry more generally.

For more insights on this, I turned to Shan J. , Global Head of Digital at Johnson & Johnson MedTech .

Ashley: Shan, can you introduce yourself and talk a bit about your role at J&J MedTech?

Shan: Sure. In my role as Global Head of Digital, I work across the company to help develop a connected digital ecosystem for the benefit of patients and healthcare providers. I help drive the organization to adopting the mentality that digital is cultural and should be embedded in how we do work and consider patient needs.

Ashley: It’s been a big year for data science and AI. How are we utilizing data science and AI to create value for our sectors?

Shan: The future of medical technology is digitally-enabled at its core and as the world’s largest and most broadly based healthcare company we have the opportunity to play a significant role in the future of digital healthcare. That’s why across the business, MedTech has embraced the power of data science.

For example, we are using analytics to further bring together and optimize our supply chain operations. The team is investing in our foundational enterprise resource planning (ERP) capability where systems fragmentation can lead to slower decision execution. As in any case of data-driven decision making, moving to a single foundation will help us move faster with real-time analytics for enhanced operations.

Ashley: How are we using AI and data science to help improve outcomes for patients?

Shan: Digital is going to allow the future of medical technology to be smarter, less invasive, and more personalized, with data-driven intelligence allowing us to achieve better and more personalized patient outcomes, more focused precision and efficiency in the OR, and accelerated innovation across the industry.

In fact, we are already seeing the value of AI in this kind of personalized care coming to shape across the business today. For example, Johnson & Johnson | Vision is deploying an AI-derived eye disease risk alert system to eye care offices, using electronic health records from more than 80M patients to improve patient care and encourage referral of at-risk patients.

Ashley: How do our robotics platforms fit into our overall digital strategy?

Shan: The importance of our robotics strategy centers around increasing operating room efficiencies, reducing risks, and enabling new levels of visibility, mobility, and consistency otherwise not possible in traditional surgical approaches.

As an example, through our Monarch platform, robotically-assisted bronchoscopy has already been used in more than 25,000 procedures.

There’s another big piece of our robotics story from the DePuy Synthes team. The VELYS Digital Surgery program since the 2021 launch has seen more than 20,000 cases performed. 

We look forward to seeing each of our robotics platforms become part of an OR system that generates data and offers the opportunity for insights that can further improve surgical outcomes.

Ashley: Where do you see gaps at J&J, and how are we working to address them?

Shan: As I’ve discussed, there is significant opportunity across the medtech industry to better connect data and use data science to provide insights and enable automation, but addressing it is going to depend on more than technological developments.

In healthcare, we are talking about potentially the most sensitive uses and applications of technology and AI. This requires extreme trust and care in how these technologies are developed and how providers adopt these technologies for the benefit of patients.

So, it’s especially important that we keep reminding people that AI is not new to healthcare and it has already had significant impact on patients and clinicians. Acknowledging AI’s powerful uses can help close this trust gap.

Ashley: Let’s close with a more personal question, what initially sparked your interest in digital and brought you to this field?

Shan: The introduction of new AI technologies and trending discussions on ethical applications of these technologies hint at the fact that this is all still early days. I am energized by that, and I am excited by the prospect of more patient-centered stories, the clinical precision and efficiencies gained, and the acceleration of innovation across the full medtech ecosystem.