HP Innovation Issue 17: Spring 2021 | Page 12

THE OUTLOOK : Q & A

Diagnosis : Healthy Growth

Dr . Trevor L . Hawkins on leading the new HP 200A organization and the potential for microfluidics technology to disrupt the health and wellness industry .
OINING HP JUST AS a global pandemic caused a

J global lockdown was a challenge Dr . Trevor L . Hawkins did not see coming , but leading HP ’ s brand-new health technology group was also an unexpected turn in his long career . After running the Human Genome Project for the US Department of Energy in the 1990s , working at a series of multinational corporations like GE , Philips , and Siemens , and starting and selling his own healthcare diagnostics company , he was content sitting on a few boards and consulting . He thought he was done with corporate life , he says , when HP came calling .

1 / What brought you to HP at this point in your career ? It took Glen [ Hopkins , then Interim Chief Technology Officer ] about four months to convince me to even talk . When we finally had coffee , my eyes were opened to the fact that HP had some very neat technologies , specifically the microfluidics skill sets , that could be applied , potentially , to healthcare . It was the people , the technology , the skills , and the attitude and culture of HP that made me change my mind . I joined as a part-time consultant ; that very quickly morphed into being a full-time consultant , and then a full-time employee . And it was really based on the power of the technology .
2 / The famous HP200A ( a low distortion audio oscillator ) was the first product made in Dave Packard ’ s garage in Palo Alto in 1939 . Why is that your team ’ s name ? Calling it HP 200A was symbolic . It got people excited and inspired to create new breakthroughs . And in many cases , it brought us back to where our founders began . We have people across the company who have literally been doing research and development in their own garages because we were all working from home . Much of our early development was done by people building and testing systems , using 3D printing systems and so on . One of our engineers used a VR headset to turn his garage into a lab so that he could actually experience the environment he was building for . The teams really took on how Hewlett and Packard started this company , and the way in which they have worked and interacted is incredible .
3 / What are some of the big trends shaping the future of health technology ? You are going to see the entire health and wellness sector transformed in the coming years . Big shifts were already under way , and they have been accelerated by COVID-19 . Diagnostic testing is one example . People want technologies that are simple , easy , and cheap and can be used in different locations . They don ’ t want to go into a hospital to get a test , and they want to be able to get as many tests as they need . Being able to manufacture at a scale that meets the demand is really important . Then there is the issue of trust . People want their data to be secure and only shared with the right groups that allow them to make the right decisions . All these things will drive entirely new solutions that make testing more distributed , accessible , and consumer-friendly .
4 / How will it change the way testing is done ? We see a future where healthcare diagnostics are as pervasive as Starbucks , and there are examples of that already . You can go to a pharmacy and buy over-the-counter diagnostic tests for a growing list of chronic diseases and infectious diseases . Once you have a platform capable of rapid , low-cost , easy-to-use testing , it can be applied to a number of different sectors , such as infectious disease , oncology , and wellness . We also are looking at the emerging area of personalized medicine . There is a growing list of drugs on the market that require
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