Joshua ElkingtonFounder and General Partner at Axial

Anne Wojcicki, Healthcare as a last frontier for tech

Name: Anne Wojcicki, Healthcare as a last frontier for tech
Uploaded: 2024-04-30T18:28:54+00:00
Duration: 59 s
Channel: Joshua Elkington
Description: In this interview excerpt, Anne Wojcicki explains why healthcare remains the "last frontier" for technology adoption. She argues that the sector is…

30 Apr 2024 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, Anne Wojcicki explains why healthcare remains the "last frontier" for technology adoption. She argues that the sector is fundamentally different from other tech‑driven industries because it is highly fragmented and operates under misaligned incentives: patients receive care but are not the direct paying customers, making revenue generation indirect. Consequently, new technologies that spread quickly elsewhere—such as machine learning frameworks like TensorFlow—are adopted far more slowly in healthcare. Wojcicki cites the sequencing of the human genome two decades ago as an example of a breakthrough that has yet to translate into widespread clinical impact, underscoring the systemic barriers that impede rapid innovation in the health arena.

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The tech world has really come from here, and there's all kinds of areas that have been really revolutionized, but healthcare is this last frontier that has not really been evolved. And the reality is, like, it's not just like it's this frontier, it's like kind of like a different solar system. Healthcare doesn't operate in the same way. Like, it's not, you know, we all use healthcare, but none of us are the customers. Like you're just the means for generating revenue, but somebody else is paying the bill. So it's really challenging to change, and it's also incredibly fragmented. So in the tech world, when there's a new technology that comes out, it's usually rapidly adopted. You look at what's happened with machine learning and TensorFlow and all these things that Google puts out, it gets adopted relatively fast. And the human genome was sequenced you know, 20 years ago. And I would say, Nick, how many people have had their