After the summer school, students will be able to …

1. evaluate specific healthcare challenges presented by clinical experts within the Swiss healthcare system to detect opportunities for PDTx,
2. design a PDTx prototype that deals with a defined clinical issue, incorporating feedback from medical professionals, patients, and technical experts,
3. craft an innovative PDTx with PRECIOUS, UMZH’s design and trial service for PDTx, including patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and ecological momentary assessments (EMAs), and AI tools, supported by lectures and practical advice from experts, and
4. demonstrate a PDTx prototype to a panel of clinical experts, patients, and investors to showcase its potential for business success and societal impact within the healthcare landscape of Switzerland.

Fundamentals of PDTx

• Definition and scope of PDTx
• Differences between traditional Digital Therapeutics (DTx) and PDTx
• Role of PDTx in modern healthcare systems

Design and Development of PDTx Prototypes

• Rapid prototyping techniques for PDTx
• Incorporating clinical input and patient feedback
• Practical sessions using state-of-the-art PDTx tools

GenAI in PDTx

• Applications of GenAI for personalizing interventions
• Practical workshops on leveraging GenAI tools in PDTx development
• Ethical considerations in AI-driven healthcare solutions

Scaling of PDTx

• Strategies for incorporating PDTx into the Swiss healthcare system
• Overcoming barriers and ensuring user engagement
• Developing sustainable business models for PDTx

Commercialization and Societal Impact of PDTx

• Develop sustainable business models for PDTx in healthcare markets
• Evaluate the potential societal benefits and healthcare system impacts of PDTx frameworks
• The alignment of business potential with positive social outcomes in digital health innovation

We are looking for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in public health, care, nursing, medicine, engineering, computer, business, and management science.

Applications will open in Spring 2026. Stay tuned!

Participants will benefit from:

1. lectures and substantial hands-on experience with PDTx, incl. PDTx software and generative AI tools
2. a social network of like-minded individuals eager to improve health care with PDTx
3. a confirmation of attendance with a detailed overview of the schedule and efforts
4. a set of highly relevant scientific papers on PDTx and the following textbook: Digital Therapeutics for Mental Health and Addiction by Jacobson, Kowatsch & Marsch

The PDTx Master Class is structured according to the five phases of the rigorous and methodology-guided design and evaluation framework for digital health interventions outlined below:

1. Preparation Phase: (a) gathering requirements for a PDTx; (b) developing a first PDTx prototype based on patient-centered and value-sensitive design methods; (c) conducting a feasibility study; (d) determining an optimization criterion based on a market analysis and focus group discussions with relevant stakeholders
2. Optimization Phase: Determining the optimized intervention package with the help of optimization trials (e.g., micro-randomized trials or (fractional) factorial experiments)
3. Evaluation Phase: Determining the effectiveness of a PDTx with randomized controlled trials
4. Implementation Phase: Implementing the PDTx into a healthcare ecosystem with a sustainable reimbursement model
5. Scale Phase: Scaling up PDTx and implementing it in several healthcare ecosystems

For more details, please read:

1. Schlieter, H., Gand, K., Marsch, L. A., Chan, W. S., & Kowatsch, T. (2024). Editorial: Scaling-up health-IT—sustainable digital health implementation and diffusion. Frontiers in Digital Health, 6. 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1296495 
2. Kowatsch, T., Otto, L., Harperink, S., Cotti, A., & Schlieter, H. (2019). A design and evaluation framework for digital health interventions. it – Information Technology, 61(5-6), 253-263. 10.1515/itit-2019-0019
3. Collins, L. M. (2018). Optimization of Behavioral, Biobehavioral, and Biomedical Interventions: The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST). Springer. 10.1007/978-3-319-72206-1 

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3. BAG (2025) Die obligatorische Krankenversicherung (Ratgeber) (PDF 07.03.2025)
4. SNHTA – Swiss Network for Health Technology Assessment, URL, accessed 25 June 2025
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6. Barth, J., Schläpfer, S., Schneider, F., Santhanam, P., Kowatsch, T., Heinz, P., Held, U., Eicher, M., Witt, C. (2025) Mobile health intervention CanRelax reduces distress in people with cancer in a randomized controlled trial, npj Digital Medicine 8, 269, 10.1038/s41746-025-01688-x
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9. Digital Therapeutics Alliance (2023) DTx Evaluation Toolkit, https://dtxalliance.org/understanding-dtx/dtx-evaluation-toolkit/
10. Heinz M.V., Mackin D.M., Trudeau B., M., Bhattacharya, S., Wang, Y., Banta H. A., Jewett A. D., Salzhauer A. J., Griffin T. Z., & Jacobson N. C. (2025) Randomized Trial of a Generative AI Chatbot for Mental Health Treatment. NEJM AI, 2(4), AIoa2400802. 10.1056/AIoa2400802
11. Jacobson, N., Kowatsch, T., & Marsch, L. (Eds.). (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
12. 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
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