Team Final Frontier Medical Devices
Final Frontier Medical Devices was formed specifically for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE by Basil Harris.
Team Final Frontier Medical Devices
Final Frontier Medical Devices was formed specifically for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE by Basil Harris, an experienced emergency department physician with a doctorate in engineering. Harris’ years in emergency medicine convinced him that the American healthcare system “is on an unsustainable course, rife with disjointed, uncoordinated care, added costs from unnecessary or duplicative medical testing, and little opportunity for patients to be meaningfully engaged in their own health.” Harsh words, but ones that have had a motivating effect. Harris decided to fill the gap.
To do that, he and his teammates, all members of Basil Leaf Technologies (Paoli, PA, USA), are developing a portable device called DxtER (pronounced “Dexter”) to relieve pressure on the healthcare system. “Once you strip away the action part of an ED – the trauma, hemorrhaging, and cardiac arrests,” Basil Leaf Tech’s website reads, “you are left with the other 90 percent of patients who may not have an ‘emergency’ or be in imminent danger, but are looking for a timely diagnosis and a course of action. A surprising number of people today have nowhere else to get this help.” DxtER is based on the same diagnostic processes used in clinical medicine, and is capable of identifying numerous medical conditions. The algorithms it uses were written with Harris’ emergency department experience in mind, refined based on actual patient charts, and then verified in a matched case-control study that evaluated DxtER’s ability to independently diagnose 16 different conditions. The next step? A prospective, multi-round, pilot clinical diagnostic trial in the emergency room itself.
DxtER’s creators include not only physicians, but also engineers, designers, health policy experts, and mobile technology and sensor professionals. The members of team Final Frontier believe that their tricorder will revolutionize the way healthcare is delivered – freeing up emergency departments for patients with truly critical needs and giving individual users the ability to take appropriate action on their own health. “Our company is at the forefront of a new era of consumer medical technology,” says Harris. “An entirely new market is emerging that engages consumers and puts them in the driver’s seat. Our device is smart and simple, giving people the help and answers they need when they need them the most.”
While obtaining degrees in biology from the University of Alberta and biochemistry from Penn State College of Medicine, I worked as a freelance science and medical writer. I was able to hone my skills in research, presentation and scientific writing by assembling grants and journal articles, speaking at international conferences, and consulting on topics ranging from medical education to comic book science. As much as I’ve enjoyed designing new bacteria and plausible superheroes, though, I’m more pleased than ever to be at Texere, using my writing and editing skills to create great content for a professional audience.
