Improving medical treatments with health data

Moritz Göldner is a new professor at TU Hamburg

21.12.2022

Digitization is on everyone's lips - but in healthcare, the systematic evaluation of health data is still a scarcely used resource in everyday life, even though it has the potential to make medical care more individualized and thus better. "For example, the data can be used to determine the optimal dosage of a drug, or to predict side effects of a treatment," explains Moritz Göldner, Junior Professor of Data-Driven Innovation at TU Hamburg. "In the future - if patients want it - all relevant health data will be stored in a trusted location. It is important that patients retain control over their data. This requires special structures, such as a fiduciary administration of the data," says the medical engineer. In this way, diseases can not only be treated better, but also detected at an early stage or even avoided altogether. 

Collecting and collating data

This is precisely what Göldner is working on, collecting health data to improve medical treatments. For example, an algorithm could be used to additionally integrate data from a smartwatch to calculate the optimal insulin dose for diabetics with an insulin pump, thus helping to better assess their athletic activity - which is still a major problem today. "New combinations of existing data sources hold tremendous potential for new and better medicine," says the engineer. Since October 2020, medical apps that have undergone an elaborate review process for digital health applications (DiGA) can be prescribed by doctors and psychotherapists in Germany - a world first. 

With the help of patients

Moritz Göldner already conducted research on the topic of medical apps as part of his doctoral thesis - back then he also had the developers in mind. "Our results show that apps developed by patients, relatives and medical professionals are rated significantly better by customers than those developed by professional software companies," explains Göldner. "It is therefore all the more important to involve all relevant stakeholders in the development process of digital medical products." 

In addition, Moritz Göldner conducts research on the interactions between sustainability and healthcare and examines the relevant data sets that link these two important topics. Prior to his professorship at TU Hamburg, he worked as an innovation consultant for user-centered innovation in healthcare (Innovatinghealth.care). However, the medical engineer from the south of Germany has never turned his back on Hamburg; in fact, the Hanseatic city has now become the new home of the father of two and his family. At the TU, he also holds the office of representative for students with disabilities.

TUHH - Public Relations Office
Elke Schulze
E-Mail: elke.schulze@tuhh.de