Improving clinical assessment and patient treatment with custom solutions

Associate Professor Ross Clark discusses his two-decade collaboration with Singapore General Hospital, revealing how clinician-driven research and innovation transforms patient care through technology.

SGH Hospital of the Future podcast guest Associate Professor Ross Clark, and Dr Pua Yong Hao with different versions of SCREENii, and Dr Goh Su-Yen in the SGH Studio.

His work has potential impact on population health and how we bring healthcare closer to our patient communities. Associate Professor Clark has a passion for developing technology for assessing physical capacity and has developed hardware and software ranging from assessing breathing patterns in people with chronic neck pain to standing balance and strength in people with acquired brain injury.

Having collaborated with Singapore General Hospital for almost 20 years, Professor Ross catches up with long time collaborator Dr Pua Yong Hao, Physiotherapist, Singapore General Hospital (SGH), together with fellow podcast host Associate Professor Goh Su-Yen, on this SGH Hospital of the Future podcast.

Professor Clark shares his knowledge on the journey from concept to commercialisation of SCREENii, an SGH co-designed and commercially licenced screening device for frailty and sarcopenia, that he co-developed with Dr Pua. Learn how clinician-driven ideas evolve from research prototypes into practical, scalable tools, and ways to validate, fund and commercialise innovative new ideas:

-          Understand the innovation pathway from identifying a clinical problem to developing a validated solution

-          Explore how AI, automation, and sensor technologies can enhance patient care and clinical workflows, and how design thinking and rapid prototyping can be enabled by accessible AI tools
 

About Associate Professor Ross Clark

Ross Clark, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, a Visiting Research Scientist at the Rehabilitation Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and a member of the OpenAI Higher Education Guild. With over 230 published research articles, mostly focused on technology innovations for assessing human performance, he was the most read researcher in the world in the journal field “Rehabilitation” from 2010-2019. He completed his undergraduate and PhD degrees at Central Queensland University and undertook a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at University of Melbourne.

He has created a range of systems that have been used in hospitals throughout Australia and the world, including tools for assessing gait, balance and strength in Singapore General Hospital, University of Rochester Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He also has a background in elite sport, having created systems used by professional rugby league and Australian Football League teams in Australia and worked as the international product tester for ASICS Oceania sports apparel.

About SGH Hospital of the Future Podcast Hosts

Dr Goh Su-Yen is Senior Consultant,  Endocrinology at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Head and Senior Consultant, SingHealth Duke-NUS Diabetes Centre, and Group Director, Innovation and Transformation, SingHealth, with an interest in innovation and transformation. 

Dr Pua Yong Hao has served as a research mentor to several students and allied health professionals. He is an Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, an Associate Editor for the Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare, and Research Lead at the SGH Allied Health Division. His research focuses on using technology and analytics to assess, predict, and improve physical function – particularly in patients with knee osteoarthritis. He has over 130 peer-reviewed publications and he is a recipient of the NMRC Transition Award in 2018, NMRC NHIC I2D grant in 2022, and NMRC HPHSR Clinician Scientist Award in 2024. 

Tune in to the full podcast on:

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About the SGH Hospital of the Future Podcast

What comes to mind when you think about the hospital of the future? How will rapidly-evolving technology enhance the human touch which is so essential in reshaping healthcare?

Join us as we dive into emerging medical technologies and trends, and significant healthtech innovations making an impact on integrated future health systems and new models of care. We bring you industry experts and luminaries from across the globe and their exclusive insights, as we explore how to unlock new value and better outcomes while looking after both patients and healthcare workers.

Whether you're a healthcare professional, tech enthusiast, or curious about the future of medicine, our healthcare innovation podcast keeps you ahead of the curve in the advancing world of healthcare.
 

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