Digital Health Resources

Digital Health (dHealth) encompasses everything from healthcare IT to Mobile Health. Mobile Health (mHealth) refers more specifically to the use of mobile communication devices (phones, iPads, etc) in conjunction with biosensors and/or internet and social media to improve and manage health.

UCSF Digital Health Group

This informal working group aims to:

• Provide a unified approach, architecture, online branding, and technical services for developing digital health applications at UCSF
• Lay the foundation and facilitate the development of creative digital applications for our patients for both health-related, research, and training purposes

Join the Digital Health Group

Send an email to join the Digital Health Group (leave the subject line of the email blank).

• You'll receive announcements about activity in the Digital Health field at UCSF and beyond.
• Join us at our monthly Brown Bag lunchtime meetings.
• Digital Health Group Members (pdf 86KB)
• Direct questions to Aenor Sawyer or Jeff Jorgenson
• Tip: to identify yourself as a researcher in the Digital Health field, describe your interest (using the term "Digital Health") in your narrative on UCSF Profiles. Potential collaborators will then be able to find you by searching with keyword "Digital Health". Many researchers also identify themselves with the terms "Mobile Health" or "mHealth."

Back to top

RAP Funding

The UCSF Resource Allocation Program (RAP) provides intramural funding for Digital Health research:

• Digital Health Research
• Catalyst Awards for the Development of Diagnostics, Devices, Therapeutics and Digital Health
  Learn more  |  Apply
• Previous Digital Health Awardees

Applicants may use the Digital Health Innovators Forum, below, to ask questions and discuss potential projects.

Join the UCSF Digital Health Group to receive announcements of extramural Digital Health funding opportunities.

Back to top

Digital Health Innovators Forum

This forum engages members of the UCSF Community to improve the overall quality of Digital Health grant proposals submitted for RAP funding. It is available for:

• Open sharing of questions, ideas and information;
• Increasing the general level of science on the topic of Digital Health;
• Accessing answers, opinions, and comments from colleagues and topic experts across campus on Digital Health-related issues.

• Digital Health Innovators Forum

Back to top

Digital Health Consultation Service

Get expert advice from UCSF faculty that will guide you in the development of your Digital Health research project:

• Current trends & design ideas in health apps
• Advice on technical issues (e.g., privacy, connectivity to EHRs)
• Evaluation methods
• Usage patterns of mobile technology (e.g., digital divide)
• Referral to technical and legal services

Request Consultation

Back to top

Additional Resources

UCSF Resources

• Center for Digital Health Innovation: Focus on digital technology development and the creation of technology platforms for precision medicine
• UCSF mHealth Group: Technical support for UCSF mHealth projects
  • OpenPATH: iPad application that can be used by researchers to design and deploy state-of-the-art mHealth mobile applications without a programmer
• Choosing a Mobile Data Collection Tool by Nicolas Sheon, PhD
• Office of Innovation, Technology & Alliances (ITA): Intellectual property (IP) management services to help you commercialize and build your ideas in digital health
  • Protection of your ideas via patents and copyright IP oversight
  • Marketing your ideas to relevant companies
  • Commercialization of your ideas through Technology Licensing agreements
  • Contract negotiation
  • Alliance and partnership management
  • Referral to external business partners
  • Developer partnerships for mHealth and eHealth applications
  • Venture capital and angel funding opportunities
  • Assistance with technology spin-outs
  • Campus signature authority for sponsored research and licensing agreements
  • Please contact Tuhin Sunha with questions
• Quantitative Image Processing Center in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging: Mobile application development and deployment support; expertise in database-backed application development and prototype production on iOS.
• Telemedicine: Learn about UCSF's progress in the electronic exchange of medical information
• Campus License Income Distribution Plans for Unpatented Software and Publications Distributed as Apps (pdf 30KB)
  For more information, contact Joel Kirschbaum

External Resources

• Android Developers Meetup Groups: developers may be willing to do a free mockup
• TechShop: a membership-based workshop that provides members with access to tools and equipment, instruction, and community support
• Health Innovation Events: global events list provided by Wireless Health Strategies
• HealthIT.gov: The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) hosts a roundtable with the public, industry, and subject matter experts to discuss how to better safeguard health information while using mobile devices
• The Entrepreneur & the FDA: Good high-level overview of FDA regulation and oversight of mobile health (courtesy of Rock Health)
• Journal of Medical Internet Research
  • JMIR mhealth and uhealth journal
  • Research Protocols in eHealth/mHealth Development

Back to top

Digital Health Application Brown Bag