Apple has hired more than 40 and up to 50 doctors in recent years, sources say, according to CNBC. They’re “influential, scattered across teams, and helping guide strategy as the company delves into health care,” the article adds.
One example is Stanford pediatrician Rajiv Kumar, who has worked at Apple for several years. He specializes in treating kids with diabetes, reports Fast Company. Kumar made headlines in the fall of 2015 by creating a HealthKit-enabled diabetes monitoring system for young patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University.
Kumar began piloting HealthKit in March 2015 with 10 patients, including Blake, to assess its ability to track blood-sugar levels. Patients wear a continuous glucose monitor that sends 288 blood-sugar readings a day to an Apple mobile device through Bluetooth. The data is securely transmitted via HealthKit into the patient’s electronic medical record at Stanford Children’s Health through the MyChart app.
Another person on Apple’s health team is Dr. Sumbul Desai, the executive director of Stanford Medicine’s center for digital health, who led a telemedicine project there and has been overseeing a project to promote health uses for the Apple Watch. At Standford, she’s responsible for the product strategy, design and deployment of Stanford’s virtual care and digital offerings. Desai also leads Stanford Hospital’s Strategy and Innovation group, which is responsible for organizational strategy and development of Stanford Hospital and Clinics’ innovation efforts.
Two years ago Apple hired Mike Evans (also known as “DocMikeEvans”), a Canadian doctor from a Toronto teaching hospital for an unspecified role involving worldwide health innovation. He’s a former staff physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Apple’s health team also includes Divya Nag, a former biotech entrepreneur, and Mike O’Reilly, an anesthesiologist who runs the ResearchKit platform.
CNBC says it was able to locate 20 physicians at Apple via LinkedIn searches and sources familiar, and other people said as many as 50 doctors work there. For example, Bud Tribble, another doctor, is a vice president of software at Apple and an original member of the Mac design team. Another notable MD, per CNBC, is and Michael O’Reilly, an anesthesiologist who’s been at Apple for almost six years.
What’s more, in February, Apple launched a group of medical clinics called AC Wellness to deliver the “world’s best healthcare experience” to its employees and their families. The initiative includes two clinics in Santa Clara County, California, so far.
Apple has a website, acwellness.com, with more details about its initiative and a careers page listing jobs including primary care doctor, exercise coach, and care navigator, as well as a phlebotomist to administer lab tests on-site. The site is described as “an independent medical practice dedicated to delivering compassionate, effective healthcare to the Apple employee population.”
