Apple job listing points to continued focus on heart health

Apple is seeking an experienced cardiologist to join its health technology team, with the new hire likely to help the tech giant clear regulatory hurdles associated with bringing consumer medical devices to market.

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.

1 Comment

GeorgeBMac 8 Years · 11421 comments

About 3 years ago

This has positive ramifications for the nation as well as for Apple and its customers.

The American health care system is both inefficient and, at over $3.5 Trillion a year, bankrupting the nation.

Any efforts at reining in those costs is met with the question: "So what healthcare services are you willing to do without?"

So, there is only one answer: Improve Productivity.

And, telemedicine appears that it can do that: You receive healthcare without the cost of the physician having to maintain an office filled with clerks and instead pay only for the healthcare rather than all the overhead. Plus, a physician can do that anytime and from anywhere in the country.

But, the piece that's missing from that scenario is critical to his diagnosis: the physical (heigth, weight, blood pressure, temp, SpO2, etc...

But, the Apple Watch and things like it can do that and supply the physician with the necessary information in a timely manner.

I can see all of this coming together to both improve healthcare while reducing its cost. That's a win-win.