Can medical Alexas make us more healthy? (The New York Times, April 2021), Wearables as a tool for measuring therapeutic adherence in behavioral health (npj Digital Medicine, May 2021), Improving community healthcare screenings with smartphone‐based AI technologies (The Lancet Digital Health, May 2021), Predictive analytics and tailored interventions improve clinical outcomes (npj Digital Medicine, June 2021), H1 2021 secured $14.7B in digital health funding, already surpassing all of 2020ʹs funding (Rock Health, 2021)

What are the implications and rationale behind the recent developments in the field of digital health?

With a clear focus on the prevention and management of non-communicable physical and mental illness, the ETH CAS in Digital Health equips participants with relevant knowledge and skills in engaging with Digital Health research, business models, and targeted applications.

Parts of the ETH CAS in Digital Health are nominated for the prestigious KITE Award 2022, which is dedicated to teaching projects and initiatives developed at ETH during its semesters of remote teaching, and which further aims at recognising the exceptional commitment of lecturers during these challenging times and honours outstanding examples.

The Problem:

1. We face a health and economic burden of chronic and mental health conditions.
2. Today’s intervention paradigm does not appropriately target chronic and mental health conditions.
3. Personalized human-delivered behavioural interventions are neither scalable nor financially sustainable.

The overall goal of this CAS is to support individuals interested in Digital Health to better understand the need, design, implementation and assessment of digital health interventions for chronic and mental health conditions that allow caregivers to scale and tailor long-term treatments to individuals at sustainable costs.

After the course, participants will be able to…

1. to understand the relevance of digital health for the prevention and management of chronic and mental conditions
2. to understand the key concepts of digital health interventions (e.g., states of vulnerability and receptivity, digital biomarker, health care chatbot and voice assistants)
3. to name design and evaluation frameworks for digital health interventions
4. to understand digital health business models
5. to critically assess digital health interventions
6. to design and validate a digital biomarker
7. to design, implement and evaluate a smartphone-based and chatbot-delivered just-in-time adaptive intervention
8. to discuss the opportunities and challenges of digital health interventions

4 Modules

1. Introduction to Digital Health

Start date: 7 February 2022

Duration: 12 months part-time

Teaching language: English

Time commitment: 15 ECTS: This reflects the overall workload of participants and corresponds to a weekly workload of around 8 hours. One ECTS credit represents 25 to 30 working hours. For details on ECTS credits, please visit: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).

Hybrid Delivery of Teaching: 

1 Online Teaching: The majority of content is delivered remotely in synchronous and asynchronous formats, with recordings enabling catching up on missed live sessions. This allows for flexibility and individual tailoring of learning to other commitments. Learning material and exercises are provided online via a virtual learning environment and a virtual meeting application is used to connect in real time. Live teaching sessions include time for interaction and Q&A and regular coaching sessions support participants with putting the learning into practice.

2 Workshops: The CAS features two 2-​day workshops, at the start and at the end of the programme, providing networking, tailored support, and lectures from industry leaders in real time. Depending on the epidemiological situation in Switzerland and relevant public health regulations, these workshops will take place either in-person, or in an online / hybrid format.

Interdisciplinary exchange: Group work and discussions form an integral part of the course. Group work projects include developing an individual digital biomarker, as well as working out a business idea for a specific target group in order to develop a smartphone-based and chatbot-delivered health intervention with MobileCoach (www.mobile-coach.eu), an open‐source software platform for digital interventions and ecological momentary assessments. At the end of the course, each group will pitch their business idea and digital health intervention at a second workshop.

The title awarded to graduates of the programme will be “Certificate in Advanced Studies ETH in Digital Health”.

1. A completed Master-level degree in a relevant field such as social sciences, medicine, economics, or technological sciences.
2. At least two years of postgraduate work experience in a relevant field.
3. Advanced English language skills.
4. The ability to understand and discuss scientific publications.
5. Willingness and ability to cover the programme fees and additional costs.
6. Ability to travel to the on-site workshops in Switzerland *
7. Access to a computer with a large (external) display (15” or larger recommended) and Internet access that allows video and audio streaming (for online sessions).
8. Access to a smartphone with either iOS 12 (or higher) or Android Version 8 (or higher).

*Unless the epidemiological situation in Switzerland or personal health reasons do not allow this. In such circumstances, an alternative online solution will be provided for individuals or for the entire cohort.

Programme Fees:

• Programme Costs: CHF 13’170.-
• Tuition Fees: CHF 730.- (paid to ETH)
• Total fees charged: CHF 13’900.-

Additional costs:

The below costs cannot be included in the tuition fees and will need to be paid by participants in addition to the tuition fees. Please note that these are approximate costs and are subject to change. Further updates will be provided.

• Two in-person workshops at a seminar hotel in Switzerland (subject to the format): Approximately CHF 800.- in total
• Wearable device: Approximately CHF 250.-

If you have any further questions regarding the CAS in Digital Health or want to book your individual call for discussing the CAS in Digital Health, please contact Olivia Keller.

CAS ETH in Digital Health, ETH Zurich, Start: February 2022. Completion: February 2023.

Blended Learning, 15 ECTS credits