Center for Digital Health Mission Statement
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing limitations in the healthcare delivery system, and in particular, highlighted longstanding health-related disparities. The rise of digital-health technologies (DHTs), ranging from advanced, wearable health-monitoring sensors to customized apps that facilitate novel health-intervention strategies, provides a unique opportunity to mitigate gaps in the delivery system and extend the reach of the healthcare system for both clinicians and clients alike. However, continued development and eventual implementation of DHTs must be done in a manner that incorporates input from a range of stakeholders with complementary areas of expertise, including but not limited to, technologists, medical professionals, public health experts, health insurers, data scientists and privacy experts. Equally important, is to incorporate feedback from diverse communities for all stages of the DHT pipeline, especially from vulnerable populations that are subject to health disparities and adverse health outcomes.
The mission of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health (CDH) is to facilitate the development, validation, and implementation of digital health technologies that advance health equitably.
We aim to achieve this by:
(1) Establishing a framework for which digital health technology development and implementation can be carried out through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, and with input from Rhode Island stakeholder communities.
(2) Seeding collaborations between digital health researchers, technologists, medical professionals, and public health experts.
(3) Identifying pathways to clinical or commercial translation for the Brown-Lifespan digital health innovation community.
(4) Developing a clinically relevant platform for digital health innovators to simulate and test their technologies and strategies.
By achieving these goals, and keeping to our mission, the CDH will realize its vision to advance the future of healthcare by bringing digital health technologies to everyone, anywhere.