Johnson & Johnson MedTech SVP and Global Head of Digital Shan Jegatheeswaran [Photo courtesy of J&J]
We spoke with J&J MedTech SVP and Global Head of Digital Shan Jegatheeswaran about the new fund and the QuickFire Challenge, which will award funding grants and other support to researchers, developers and a variety of individuals and organizations working on AI.
“Essentially, the team and I are in charge of digital across medtech, so we’ve got to listen to market and external signals from surgeons, hospitals, otherwise, and then marry that up with technology and functional experts within J&J but also in the broader ecosystem, because we typically coalesce to bring innovation to market,” Jegatheeswaran said in a Medical Design & Outsourcing interview. “What we’re hearing loudly is there’s a large space and a value driver for AI to help in surgery and accelerate some of the outcomes that everyone talks about. The big picture is that we really need to accelerate trusted and responsible AI at scale for surgery, not for the sake of tech, but for the sake of solving some of the issues patients and surgeons are feeling today.”
The following has been lightly edited for space and clarity.
MDO: What are are you hoping to do with the Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery?
Jegatheeswaran: “The average OR today has about seven software systems, typically four-plus OEMs or device manufacturers of some sort and at least five data streams. All of that is great as a starting point, because it’s a data-rich environment, but it’s insight-poor. There’s room and a special place for AI to bring all of that together and then serve it up in a simple way, back into the clinical and non-clinical workflow for surgeons, their teams and hospitals. What we wanted to do with the fund is on top of the other things we’re doing — which is building our own AI models through our devices and software — is accelerate innovation wherever that is globally into a way that we can help productize and distribute AI. What I found in the field a lot when I talk to customers is there are lots of great AI models and ways that people are looking at making AI real in surgery. The single biggest issue where people get stuck is how to package it up so it’s trusted at scale and then how to get it into an OR or so it’s used over and over again. That’s really the problem we’re trying to solve for. That’s what this fund is about, and one of the reasons we’ve invited folks like Nvidia and AWS is because we want this to be multidisciplinary — not just clinical — technology.”
How do you explain Polyphonic to people who don’t know what it is?
Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Monarch robotics-assisted bronchoscopy system — seen here in the lab — is designed for Polyphonic connectivity. [Photo courtesy of J&J]
Related: What J&J MedTech’s new Dualto says about the OR of the future — and Ottava
What’s the vision for AI and Ottava?
Jegatheeswaran: “We work closely with the Ottava team. Polyphonic will ship with Ottava, and we expect the experience to be seamless. That’s what customers are going to want. AI will be part of our product plans ubiquitously, and they are already today. We employ them in Monarch, we employ them in our Carto systems, so expect the same from the company.”
Related: J&J MedTech arms its Monarch robot for futuristic lung cancer therapies
What are you looking for with the QuickFire Challenge program?
Jegatheeswaran: “We are looking to connect with the best and brightest in AI and surgery. It’s not just about the algorithm. How that algorithm is managed around things like consent management, application of global regulatory standards, data management, some of the stuff that isn’t often talked about because it’s not as sexy below the waterline. Our hope is we are seen as a partner and a destination of choice when you are working in AI and surgery and really an enabler to getting AI productized and used at scale.”
How does the application process work? Do developers give up any equity to participate?
Jegatheeswaran: “We’ve kept the application and the experience pretty simple and straightforward. How it works is you apply through the online link, there’s triage behind the scenes, and then we’ve got a multidisciplinary committee that selects winners. That committee is made up of folks from our technology partners and otherwise. They’re granted funding, but also access to mentorship expertise from the companies that we’re partnering with, as well as technology if they need compute or some sort of enablement. We want to do whatever is right for that particular team that wins, wherever they are. The diversity of applicants is going to be vast. We’re going to have PhD students in universities all the way up to established companies working on something. We’re not starting with any sort of equity stakes or things like that. This is more truly accelerating innovation. And then if something comes out of it, that will be a different conversation.”
What advice do you have for anyone considering whether to try to get in?
Jegatheeswaran: “Apply. No. 1: Click on the link. Then as you’re explaining what you’re doing, explain what’s the innovation or the angle that you’re taking that makes this different. We’re interested in great science, but also the practicality of that science. What’s your vision to taking it from one OR to 10,000? We’re really interested in the scaling, the productizing. We can help with that, but it always helps when the folks closest to the model or whatever they’re working on are thinking about it as well.”
And any advice for those who are ultimately accepted into the program?
Jegatheeswaran: “Having access to companies like J&J, Nvidia and AWS is — for me, if I was in their shoes — a dream come true. Leveraging what is needed and being specific about where we can help will be important. And keep an open mind. Admittedly, this space — particularly AI in surgery, in many cases — is nascent. While we’ve been in this space for a long time and we have experience, we’re also learning constantly. People that we work with, including the winners, should keep an open mind. With open minds, you’re going to get the best outcome.”
Some challenges that you’re trying to address include data privacy, surgical training, automation and R&D efficiency. What’s it going to take to tackle them?
Jegatheeswaran: “Data management and data engineering and governance are huge unmet needs in terms of movement of data, ownership of data, privacy of data, and more importantly automating and systemizing that so it’s not manual. The second one around training is there’s so much ask and need for training of surgeons and teams. And today, there are great solutions out there, but we can do even better. Anything that folks are working on that accelerates or deepens that learning curve — whether it’s robotic surgery, laparoscopic or otherwise — we’d be interested in. And for R&D efficiency, that’s more from a J&J perspective of how are devices operating in the field, connecting them to patient outcomes, visibility to procedures and complications or no complications, and what are the correlating factors. For us, those are critical and important from an R&D perspective. We do that today as a team. It’s part of how we do business. But knowing how quickly technology is evolving and some of the great innovation that we’re seeing in the space, we’re open to other ideas. We believe in this space, and so we are spending on R&D and anything that can make that even more efficient would be great.”
Any closing thoughts?
Jegatheeswaran: “Our North Star hasn’t changed. We do this in service of patients and those that take care of them. We hear loud and clear from patients and those that take care of them that AI is definitely a tool that can be used in surgery to make it more personalized, make it safer, reduce complications. Our role in this is not just to build devices and software that can enable that, but also lift the sector to be able to do that collectively, because J&J doesn’t win by itself. It wins by lifting the industry around us. We’ll do a few things in this space, and the Polyphonic AI Fund is one of them. This is a no-strings-attached support mechanism to elevate. We simply did this because we felt it’s the right thing to do at an industry level. We need to get digital and AI into ORs in a responsible fashion, in a much more accelerated fashion. That’s what everyone’s asking for. And I think we can enable it and also lead in this space. That’s what we’re hoping to do.”
Look for more from this interview with Jegatheeswaran in the weeks ahead.
