Apple’s vice president of health Sumbul Desai recently sat down for an interview with the Indian publication Businessline while visiting India. Desai discussed Apple’s health initiatives, glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch, and the company’s partnerships with Indian researchers.
In recent years, Dr. Desai has appeared at Apple’s special events to introduce new Apple Watch health features including the wearable’s oximeter and body temperature sensor. Desai leads several of the company’s healthcare initiatives, including clinical product development and medical research partnerships.
Desai was asked if Apple would be bringing blood sugar tracking sensors to the Apple Watch, she replied that such capabilities are “really important areas, but they require a lot of science behind them.”
While Apple has a functioning prototype of its noninvasive blood glucose monitoring, it is working to slim down the hardware to fit it inside the Apple Watch. Noninvasive blood glucose monitoring uses a laser to shine a light under the skin to determine the concentration of glucose in the body.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman recently said that Apple has hit a milestone in its noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology. However, he believes Apple is still years away from being able to bring the feature to the Apple Watch but says progress is being made.
Desai discussed Apple CEO Tim Cook’s comments that Apple’s biggest contribution will be in the health space, and what that entailed.
“We are laser-focused on making sure that we continue to build on the work that we have done, and really focus on bringing more awareness and empowerment to each individual so that they truly are going to have the driver’s seat of their own health,” said Desai. “If we can touch people’s lives in a way, where we can prevent them from developing diseases, or actually be healthier and feel like they’re empowered and educated to drive their own health care. There’s nothing more impactful than that,” she continued.
Desai says Apple is focused on “the customer as the individual” and how the company can “empower an individual to be holistic about their health” by providing actionable insights. She also said that we are at the “beginning” of health tech, and that will require changing both physicians’ and people’s behavior.
She also discussed the privacy of users’ health data, saying, “We live and breathe privacy. And for us, it’s not just a line. For us being first to market isn’t as important as it is to ensuring privacy features even if that means taking more time to develop the feature.”
Desai also discussed Apple’s partnership with Indian researchers, saying she believes some of the best researchers are in India, saying the company has a world-class research community, and that Apple is “very excited” about India. She considers India her second home, and the company is looking for “really amazing opportunities” in the country.
Desai also discussed several other subjects with Businessline, including the cost of Apple devices, how the Cupertino firm makes decisions on what project to work on, and more. The full interview is available on the Businessline website.