Apple job listing points to continued focus on heart health

The job listing, posted to LinkedIn on Wednesday and subsequently spotted by MyHealthyApple, notes the ideal candidate is an MD with "deep expertise" in cardiology who has experience with health product and technology.

Apple says knowledge of regulated medical products and digital health products, as well as experience in the clinical development process for regulated health products, "including pivotal clinical studies," is preferred.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for a clinician to demonstrate their medical expertise and passion to assist in building health focused technologies," the listing reads.

It appears that Apple is looking for someone who can navigate complex government regulations related to medical devices. In addition to defining clinical feature definitions and specifications for the development of heart health products, the job also plays a role in "clinical study design and protocol development for regulatory submissions."

Apple has quickly become a major player in the consumer health industry thanks to innovative biometric monitoring features built into the Apple Watch platform. The wearable initially integrated basic heart rate and activity monitoring, but became a full-fledged health platform with the introduction of hardware capable of capturing ECG and blood oxygen data.

Some features, like the ECG function, require regulatory approval, meaning Apple must submit clinical studies and adhere to strict protocols. This week's job listing appears to hint at future hardware capabilities that call for such approval.

Apple is known to have a number of medical specialists, including at least two highly experienced cardiologists, on its health division roster. The team is led by VP of Health Dr. Sumbul Desai, the former executive director of Stanford Medicine's digital health program.

Apple's LinkedIn listing has drawn eight applicants as of this writing.