Wisconsin Tech Council president reflects on what’s next for health tech
Longtime Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still will step down next month as head of the organization that advises policymakers, facilitates networking and supports economic growth.
Still, who’s led the council for 23 years, is proud of its work in boosting awareness about the impact of technology on the state’s economy, a communications effort that he said has yielded policy changes.
“We’ve raised the bar for discussions about technology,” he said.
Still will remain on the council’s board of directors, continue writing a weekly column and advise his successor, Maggie Brickerman.
He talked to Wisconsin Health News about the state’s health tech industry and its challenges, after moderating a discussion on nuclear medicine.
Edited excerpts are below.
WHN: What are the strengths of the health tech industry in Wisconsin?
Still: This panel discussion I was moderating was at NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, a company in Beloit. It was all about the future of nuclear medicine and the ability to use isotopes as conveyors of medicines to more accurately target cancers, in particular, and infections in people, and to do so by killing diseased cells and not harming healthy cells.
Wisconsin has, over time, shown itself to be a leader in certain healthcare technologies. Stem cell research is a great example, mRNA research is another great example and now nuclear medicine. Being a research base and being able to translate those kinds of discoveries into actual practice not only helps people around the world, but helps adoption of those kinds of discoveries on an early basis in healthcare in Wisconsin.
WHN: What are some of the challenges?
Still: The challenges look much like what you would see in other parts of the country. In general, rising costs, especially around pharmaceuticals. The ability to attract and retain trained workforce. Healthcare, in particular, can have some burnout factor among certain professionals, and that can happen here as well as anywhere else.
There’s a need to adapt to regulatory pressures. That’s something you can see in any state.
Adapting to new technologies is the flip side of being able to develop those technologies, so accepting that kind of change is a challenge for some institutions.
WHN: What are ways to further the development of the health tech industry?
Still: More rapid adoption of proven technologies that have been through clinical trials and might be game-changers for patients in the state. Nuclear medicine is a pretty good example. A lot of cancer therapies right now are one-size-fits-all. A patient with a certain type of cancer might get the same treatments as the next patient down the hall. So personalized medicine, I think, is becoming more of reality. The more that can be adopted, the better.
Workforce shortages can be addressed by making sure that training is taking place beyond specialized institutions. The Medical College of Wisconsin, Marquette University and (the University of Wisconsin-Madison) do a great job, but training can be more embedded in other institutions, whether it’s four-year or two-year colleges, that can produce the kind of people who are needed for healthcare.
Most hospitals and clinics have enough problems dealing with federal regulation. I think it’s important that state regulation not pile on the problem.
WHN: Are you concerned about shifting federal support for medical research?
Still: I’m really very concerned about it. Let’s use mRNA funding, for example. The current federal approach has been to not continue research into vaccines. That’s very dangerous … For some people at the federal level to suggest that the research around COVID-19 was done haphazardly or quickly is wrong. There was a strong foundation around this kind of research going back basically 50 years. Research discoveries build on one another. No scientists would ever say that something’s 100 percent effective or free of possible adverse results … I’d like to see that change and more trust of science that has earned that trust, by and large, over time.
WHN: What do you see as the future of the health tech industry?
Still: Healthcare can benefit from artificial intelligence as much as businesses in other sectors. It could speed some research projects. It could speed analytics of clinical trials. That’s one thing that is happening and can be beneficial in healthcare.
I mentioned this earlier — the growth in personalized medicine. Treatments will be increasingly not one-size-fits-all. There’s going to be something that could work for Mr. Smith, but not for Mrs. Jones in a lot of different disciplines. That’s very possible. For example, cancer … in addition to what’s going on in nuclear medicine, there’s great promise for a cancer vaccine, and there’s some work going on in this state around that. So, if federal research is cut off for mRNA projects around the country, that’s something I think would deserve broader public criticism.
This article first appeared in the Wisconsin Health News daily email newsletter. Sign up for your free trial here.
