CVM Explores Innovation During Third VIS
The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) welcomed more than 450 guests on April 5-7 for the third annual Veterinary Innovation Summit (VIS).
Attendees from seven countries—including Australia, Canada, Chad, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.—came to Texas A&M to celebrate the profession as it forges ahead in working to solve some of the greatest challenges veterinarians are currently facing, as well as some we aren’t even considering yet.
Speakers represented some of the most forward-thinking minds in the realm of medical innovation, all working to integrate technologies currently used in human medicine into animal medicine.
Scott Echols, co-founder of Avian Mobile Surgical Services; Mark Lenox, chief technology officer at QT Ultrasound; and Michael Morehead, co-founder and CEO of spyglass demonstrated to audiences the possibilities of imaging through augmented and virtual reality.
Attendees learned that not only are their technologies advancing medicine to the point that we’re able to map portions of the animal and human bodies that have, until this point, been unimaginable, but a priority is being placed on making that technology affordable, and therefore accessible, to all practitioners.
In the area of telemedicine, speakers discussed virtual care, regulatory concerns, and its global potential. The CVM’s Lori Teller, the first full-time telehealth veterinarian in academia, and Matthew Rumbaugh, co-founder of VetNOW, announced that the CVM is one step closer to bringing our program to fruition with the selection of VetNOW as our veterinary telehealth platform of choice.
A highlight of this year’s Veterinary Innovation Summit was a discussion on “Exponential Veterinary Medicine,” led by Dr. Daniel Kraft, chair of the medicine track for Singularity University and founder of exponential medicine, who is dedicated to transforming the way we think about the world’s health.
Kraft’s discussion continued the theme of how the acceleration of technology is making medicine cheaper, faster, and better, while also helping veterinarians rethink and reshape the health care paradigm.
One of his most actionable points was in the areas of health and prevention and how veterinarians can harness technology that is already available but use the data produced in new and innovative ways. For example, the tracking of behavior through wearables has huge implications for the veterinary field.
“Fitbits are getting more and more powerful, well beyond the accelerometer on your wrist or collar to sensors that can fit inside a pill, to digital tattoos that you can put on a human or pet for a dollar a day,” Kraft said. “With these new wearables, we can start to measure every element of physiology, well beyond steps and sleep and food intake.
“As this technology is moving into the pet world, it’s amazing to see the quick translation,” he said. “We can now tell the state of your pet—if it is happy, if it is sad, if it is eating, if it is scratching.”
Fitbits, he said, can be used both before and following an orthopedic surgery so that doctors can track recovery by monitoring how much patients are walking and through other vitals.
“You can establish a baseline and then see trends that can give you an opportunity to intervene and bring that patient back for a visit before there are complications; that is simple data,” Kraft said. “All of these things are integrating into the pet world; it’s all about what you do with that data—how you turn that data into information and that information into action.”
Among our startup company exhibitors, the CVM was thrilled when two Aggies—third-year veterinary student Brianna Boyle and sophomore animal science major Stephanie Young—won the Startup Pitch Competition, bringing home the top prize of $10,000 to help fund the next level of development for their product SKYPaws, LLC.
SKYPaws is a patent-pending vital monitoring device that will allow veterinarians to monitor their patients’ heart rate, respiration, temperature, and other vital signs by placing the sensor against an animal’s skin.
Knowing what others are working to accomplish, while also seeing all of the great work happening at the CVM as the college harnesses technology and embraces discovery through research, clinical trials, education, and more, you can’t help but be wowed by the endless possibilities in veterinary medicine.
A special thanks goes to alumnus Tim Turner, who sponsored 11 CVM students, allowing them to attend VIS for free.
To see more pictures from VIS, visit the CVM Flickr page.
The fourth annual Veterinary Innovation Summit is scheduled for April 3-5, 2020.
