Personalized Health Tech & AI Innovation (With Richard Kedziora)-Ep #214

What kind of impacts are we gonna be expecting when we get this personalized healthcare? It will improve. And I think we referenced it,

it's a sociological approach to making these changes at multiple levels. But even like if you look at diabetes, losing as little as 10% of your body weight

makes a significant difference. That is a quantifiable improvement in health for individuals. We're going through something absolutely historic.

Technologies across the board are growing exponentially. It's a disruption that's going to completely redefine the way businesses compete. The next decade we're going to lose 40% of these Fortune 500 companies. The exponential growth of computing is continuing.

AI is no where near its full potential. Whether you like it or not, that the future cannot be stopped by anyone. Welcome back to the Future Tech and Foresight podcast. I'm your AI host Mark Verbenkoff's Deep Fake Avatar, and this is episode number 214.

This episode explores the rapid evolution of personal health technology and how AI is revolutionizing preventive care, wellness, and chronic disease management. From wearables and continuous glucose monitoring to data-driven health insights, the discussion highlights the tools and approaches empowering individuals to take control of their health

while also emphasizing the importance of training healthcare providers to leverage these technologies effectively. Listeners will gain insight into the intersection of technology, real-world evidence, and medical research, including the challenges of translating innovative ideas into clinical trials and

scalable solutions. The conversation also covers emerging applications such as anosmia detection for early disease identification, rare disease treatment using AI, and the creation of global data repositories to normalize and compare research findings.

Richard shares forward-looking perspectives on how AI and data aggregation will improve patient outcomes, streamline healthcare delivery, and accelerate innovation in the coming years. This episode offers a thought-provoking look at the transition from reactive sick care to proactive personalized health management.

Additionally, listeners will hear about practical steps for improving personal wellness, including leveraging existing technologies to track lifestyle, nutrition, and sleep. Richard's Insights underscore the value of combining individual accountability with societal level changes while exploring how AI can uncover patterns in health data that would

otherwise remain hidden. This discussion provides actionable ideas for anyone interested in improving their health, developing new medical technologies or understanding the future of healthcare innovation.

Now a little bit about today's guest, Richard Kedziora is the co-founder of Estenda Solutions, a leading company specializing in custom software development, data analysis and AI for healthcare and medical companies.

With a remarkable journey spanning over 30 years, he possesses a deep understanding of designing, developing and deploying successful projects. Mr. Kedziora received his MBA from West Chester

University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Duquesne University, where he received the Excellence in Computer Science Award. His work with clients has won multiple awards, including a Hymns Davies Award in 2017, and he recently received the Health 2.0 Outstanding Leadership Award.

Well, RJ, thank you very much for coming onto the podcast today. Looking forward to the discussion. Yeah, likewise. Looking forward to it. So the way that I start every episode is asking a little bit about your journey into the work

that you're doing now. So was there kind of an event? Was there some momentous occasion or was it just kind of an organic natural life path that brought you into the work that you're doing?

I guess it goes, it depends on how far back you go. I didn't go get lucky in seventh grade back in the 80s. My parents bought me an IBM PC Junior personal computer, played lots of games and definitely had the Atari as well,

played lots of games, but I was always fascinated with the idea of what I could make the computer do. So I started programming at a very, very early age,

went on, got a comp side degree in college and came up through the programming software development ranks. But I've always loved problem solving. of figuring out the next solution.

And what's that challenge? And as the early 2000s came around and everyone realized the world didn't end in the year 2000, it's like, okay, what am I gonna do next?

Where do I wanna apply my talent? What problems do I wanna solve? How can I make a difference in the world? I developed accounting systems

and inventory management systems even somewhere along the line to railroad car scheduling system. It's great to, you know, hey, you need that railroad car to pick up the steel.

I was working for US Steel at the time. In healthcare is really what rang true to me. It's the last industry to really embrace the idea of data. Lots of technology in healthcare and pharma from a drug development perspective.

But it's the last industry to really embrace the idea of data. So that was the impetus, the driving force behind starting ASTENDA, a current company back in 2003. We've been going strong ever since then.

Awesome. Could you, I mean, that's a perfect natural segue into what you're doing. I do maybe want to talk about the context of your industry. So I'm putting, but maybe just a quick introduction to your company

and what you guys are doing for the... Yeah. So, Extender Solutions is a professional services company focused on custom software development, data and AI projects.

Everything revolves around AIVs, data, of course. But digital health is a very broad category. So what is digital health and where do we focus? We focus on patient care solutions, things that help improve the health and wellness

of our fellow humans. So diabetes, chronic health conditions, weight loss management, new algorithm development, a lot of work in wearables.