Digital Health Forum, Fall 2025, University of St.Gallen
Keynotes
The keynotes for the Fall Semester 2025 will be announced soon.
Here are the keynotes from the last semester: Spring 2025
Generative AI Chatbot for Mental Health Treatment (NEJM AI, 2025) Mobile health intervention CanRelax reduces distress in people with cancer, (npj Digital Medicine 2025) Therabot for the treatment of mental disorders (Nature Mental Health 2025), A Hybrid Rule- and LLM-based Embodied Voice Assistant for Cognitive Stimulation in Older Adults (JMIR Preprints 2025), Success factors of growth-stage digital health companies (BMC Health Services Research 2025) Next-generation Wearable Sensors for Biopsychosocial Care in Mental Health (BMJ Digital Health and AI 2025) Digital phenotyping of diet, physical activity, and glycemia in adults (npj Digital Medicine, 2024), Predicting postprandial glucose excursions to personalize dietary interventions for type-2 diabetes management (Scientific Reports 2025)
What are the implications and rationale behind the recent developments in digital health technologies?
Digital health technologies (DHT) are used for preventing, managing, and treating disease. DHTs may leverage digital biomarkers, digital coaches and healthcare chatbots, telemedicine, mobile and wearable computing, self‐tracking, personalized medicine, connected health, smart homes, or smart cars.
While the 20th century saw healthcare systems primarily designed around acute care, the 21st century presents a new imperative: addressing the rising burden of chronic diseases. Today, chronic conditions account for approximately 70% of global mortality and 85% of deaths in Europe, with projected economic losses exceeding USD 7 trillion between 2011 and 2025. Unlike acute illnesses, chronic diseases demand a sustained and preventive approach centered on health-promoting behaviors.
Evidence consistently shows that modifiable lifestyle factors—such as nutrition, physical activity, and substance use—play a pivotal role in preventing and managing chronic conditions. Yet, despite this knowledge, effective and lasting lifestyle change is achieved by only a minority of individuals. Contributing factors include inadequate intervention strategies, limited health literacy, and sociocultural barriers. Moreover, traditional one-on-one coaching models, while potentially effective, are neither scalable nor economically viable at the population level.
To this end, the question arises of how DHTs allow medical doctors and other caregivers to scale and tailor long-term treatments to individuals in need at sustainable costs. At the intersection of health economics, information systems research, computer science, and behavioral medicine, this lecture aims to help students and upcoming healthcare executives interested in the DHTs better understand the latest developments in this field.
After the course, students will be able to…
- understand the importance of DHTs for health care management
- describe and understand a specific DHT
- discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a specific DHT
Course Content
To reach the learning objectives, students will assess the most innovative Digital Health Technologies (DHTs) that are currently being discussed (e.g., large language model AI chatbots in healthcare, holographic physiotherapy coaches) from multiple perspectives (e.g., benefits for an aging society, regulatory aspects, ethical aspects, health economics, technology acceptance).
Course structure
The lecture is structured in three parts, with on-site sessions, guest lectures, and complementary online exercises. In the first part, during a kick-off session, an overview of Digital Health Technologies (DHTs) will be provided, and students in groups will pick or propose a specific DHT they will assess. In the second part, national and international experts from industry and academia will provide valuable input via guest lectures (primarily online via Zoom). Complementary learning material and multiple-choice questions are provided online. Moreover, coaching sessions are offered to support the students in preparing their presentations. In the third part, students will present and discuss the results with fellow students.
Specific information, including the instructions for the final group presentations, will be made available via the online learning platform.
Course literature
- Bakoyiannis, I. Therabot for the treatment of mental disorders. Nat. Mental Health 3, 485 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00439-x
- Barth, J., Schläpfer, S., Schneider, F., Santhanam, P., Kowatsch, T., Heinz, P., Held, U., Eicher, M., Witt, C., Mobile health intervention CanRelax reduces distress in people with cancer in a randomized controlled trial, npj Digital Medicine 8, 269 (2025), 10.1038/s41746-025-01688-x
- Goldberg, C. B., Adams, L., Blumenthal, D. et al (2024). To do no harm — and the most good — with AI in health care. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-02853-7
- Jacobson, N., Kowatsch, T., & Marsch, L. (2023). Digital Therapeutics for Mental Health and Addiction: The State of the Science and Vision for the Future (1st ed.). Elsevier, Academic Press. 10.1016/C2020-0-02801-X
- Heinz M., … Jacobson Nicholas, C. (2025). Randomized Trial of a Generative AI Chatbot for Mental Health Treatment. NEJM AI, 2(4), AIoa2400802. https://doi.org/10.1056/AIoa2400802
- Kowatsch, T., & Fleisch, E. (2021). Digital Health Interventions. In O. Gassmann & F. Ferrandina (Eds.), Connected Business: Create Value in a Networked Economy (pp. 71-95). Springer International Publishing. 10.1007/978-3-030-76897-3_4
- Vinay, R., Uetova, E., Tommila, N., Biller-Andorno, N., Kowatsch, T. (2025) GRACE, A Hybrid Rule- and LLM-based Embodied Voice Assistant for Cognitive Stimulation in Older Adults: A Pilot Study Assessing Technical Feasibility, Technology Acceptance, and Working Alliance, JMIR Preprints. 09/05/2025:76489, 10.2196/preprints.76489
- Wang, C., Lee, C., & Shin, H. (2023). Digital therapeutics from bench to bedside. npj Digital Medicine, 6(1), 38. 10.1038/s41746-023-00777-z
Summary
Digital Health Forum (11/12,807), University of St.Gallen, Fall Semester
Lecturer
Teaching Assistant
