How wearables are reshaping healthcare

Marco Benitez: [00:00:00] Longevity is a new term, but everything is prevention, right? It’s how can you prevent cancer that you have any type of obesity, diabetes, hypertension. It’s how can we you solve these problems before you already have that problem?

Peter Bowes: [00:00:22] How does access to data biomarker data about our sleep, stress and activity levels help us live healthier, longer lives? Data. That’s the stuff that we record on our smartphones, watches, straps, rings, whatever we choose to attach to ourselves to better understand how the human body is functioning. How do we know that data is accurate, and how can we best use it to improve our lives? Hello again, I’m Peter Bowes. Welcome to the Live Long podcast. This is where we explore the science and stories behind human longevity. Marco Benitez is the co-founder of Rook, a health data integration platform designed with precisely that goal to streamline and share the information that many of us are collecting about ourselves, sometimes without realizing it. Marco, it’s good to talk to you.

Marco Benitez: [00:01:15] Well, thank you so much for this opportunity, Peter. Very, very excited to be here.

Peter Bowes: [00:01:19] Am I right in saying that we have all of this data, but we really don’t know how accurate it is?

Marco Benitez: [00:01:26] I mean, I think today wearables are really, really good, are really accurate. I will say that probably ten years ago we were in a very different moment. But today where we are, it’s like these devices are really, really great, really accurate. We can find very good biomarkers over there and can give you a lot of insights about what you are doing today. But do you need someone who can help you to make more sense of all these data, if you want to translate that information to other places. This, for example, with your doctor. That’s one way. But yeah, to your point, today I think the wearables are really in a very good moment and the future looks amazing. Honestly.

Peter Bowes: [00:02:10] I raise that question in part because I use lots of devices watches, rings, that kind of thing to collect my data. And I think one of the most fundamental that a lot of people use is to just to measure the steps that I do in a particular day. And I’ve noticed on different devices, the number of steps can be quite wildly different according to how I’m recording them.

Marco Benitez: [00:02:33] Yeah, it depends 100%. I agree with you. For example, today I have like four different wearables in my body, right? So I have my Oura, I have my Whoop, I have my Apple Watch. I have other type of things. I have a heart rate chest, but it depends a little bit on the hardware. They have different type of sensors, so some of them are more sensitive to a specific type of movements, so it depends how accurate they are. But also it’s like it depends 100%. That can give you a very good estimate of how many steps you are doing, because the reason that you are looking for steps is because what the Health World Organization told you, like, you have to be around the 12,000 of steps, that it will be equivalent to five kilometers per day, which is like 2.7 miles per per day. So that’s the standard goal or sorry, the gold standard. And then if you are doing this type of exercise, it’s a very good mood to start. Right. So yeah, to your point again, it’s like all wearables probably can give you different numbers, but at the end of the day, that will give you a very good estimate. It doesn’t matter if you reach 12,000 or 12,004, you know, it doesn’t matter.

Peter Bowes: [00:03:55] I want to dive into what your company does in a second. But first, about you. What does piqued your interest? What is your background? What’s your career background, your education to to bring you to this place and make you enthusiastic about, as I’ve just detected, enthusiastic about the technology that we have available to us now?

Marco Benitez: [00:04:14] Yeah. Well, first of all, I’m an immigrant. I’m from Mexico. I’m now living here in the US the last almost three years. I love here. It’s so beautiful to have many cultures. It’s amazing the food, everything. I really I really feel very comfortable living here in the US, with my family. I have two kids, six and almost nine years. My beautiful wife. It’s in the other room. So. Yeah. we are super happy here. but I’m from Mexico. And then I am biomedical engineer. I studied biomedical engineer, and then I have a second degree in biomedical. This is also my second startup. my passion is really on data. I love data because when you have a lot of information, you can create things. But even more important, when you have a lot of data, you can improve people’s lives. Our first company, we built everything on top of a machine learning. We create an algorithm for hospitals that was like 20 years ago. One big franchise bought our company and then we did different type of things. After that, I also was I had two parts on those days. We were working a lot with medical devices, but at the same time we were doing a lot of things with, in the big pharma industry. I was very curious around clinical trials. Clinical trials are amazing. I mean, I know there is a lot of concerns about how the drugs are built, but I can tell you from the heart of this big pharma how difficult it is to create clinical trials from phase one to phase four. Like in your respiratory vaccines, there is a lot of studies. There’s a lot of investments over there. And again, data is the the basics. Because again, when you have to capture all these data from the patients, once they start to using some drugs for oncology, for example, and then you have to analyze everything and you know, you need an hypothesis and then you have results. And then you publish the results. And then you submit everything to the FDA to, to receive the FDA clearance. so that’s my background. And then like four years ago, we started to create a book, which again, is a data component in this world.

Peter Bowes: [00:06:36] It’s interesting, you say just backtracking a little bit, coming to America from Mexico, that the food in this country is one of the things that you like?

Marco Benitez: [00:06:47] I mean, Mexico is so good in the food, really. But also it’s like you have too many cultures and that’s something really good. Because definitely I can find very good restaurants in Mexican restaurants, but also from Peru also, you know, from, I don’t know from India, from China, from I don’t know, there’s too many, too many options also too.

Peter Bowes: [00:07:12] Yeah I agree. Food is good. Mexican food, Indian food that you mentioned especially one of my favorites. So let’s talk about Rook. You mentioned it a second ago in terms of could you just encapsulate to me what is the mission? What is the long term goal?

Marco Benitez: [00:07:27] Yeah, the long term is we are becoming a data science company where we can do insights and predictions with all the data that we have in our in with our clients. what we are doing today, we are the most effective, cost effective company of API that can bring you all the data from the end users that are using wearables. So for instance, if you have a fit, a longevity platform, and you want to customize the experience for the end user and customize the workouts, customize the nutrition and everything, the best way to track the end users is through these devices wearable devices. So we take away the pain that this company has to integrate all the wearables the Apple Watch, the Polar, the Garmin, the Huawei, Withings Sleep. I can continue with that and then keep all these integrations. So instead of do all these integrations, they only have to integrate my API and then immediately will have more than 300 wearables. So now they can pull the data from the end users. And then we our magic is in in our algorithms because we standardize, normalize, harmonize, take out duplicity. And we then we deliver clean and structured data. So now our clients can do I? On top of that, they can do graphics, they can do different type of things. But with this clean information or clean data.

Peter Bowes: [00:08:53] So to be clear, then what you’re offering isn’t an end user technology. It is for the the curator of the companies that gather data on behalf of you and I.

Marco Benitez: [00:09:05] Exactly, exactly. I’m in the middle where I’m the middleware that can. I am a pipe of, let’s say, like that. I’m a pi between the end user and the company that want to use the data and do something for you.

Peter Bowes: [00:09:20] So this is, I think, for a lot of people, a new direction in terms of the fact that we’re getting used to having the rings and the watches, the straps, straps have been around for quite a long time to measure your heart rate, that kind of thing, but we’re getting used to that. I think what is potentially new to people is incorporating a third party to help us curate that information.

Marco Benitez: [00:09:42] The main idea is that, first of all, when you are looking for your information, you only see your information in the, let’s say, Oura application or Whoop app or your Polar app. That’s it. But then if you want to use it for different purposes, like, hey, I want to share this data with you, with the doctors, I want to share this data with my hospitals because they want to create an holistic picture of myself. I want to share my data with my nutritionist. These type of things, we enable those brands to share to or to pull that data from this person that want to share that information. So it’s different ways to start using this information, not only for that application that you are using from your wearable.

Peter Bowes: [00:10:29] And to what extent is the technology being embraced by our care providers, by our physicians, by our doctors, by the the health systems, whether we’re talking here in the United States or indeed around the world, where are we in terms of just the acceptability by the medical establishment that this kind of data can be gathered to benefit people, especially benefit people in a preventative medicine way?

Marco Benitez: [00:10:56] That’s the perfect question. And I will say that’s a big struggle honestly, because new wave of doctors, they probably are more engaged with the wearables and they want to use it. The problem is that there is a lot of data. And now probably they don’t know what to do with all this information because let’s say like medical devices, a medical device can give you data but also give you like an idea what’s going on with your if you have a tumor, if you have any type of thing. Right. So that gives you like a almost a prescription can give you like a result. The problem with the wearables is that it’s too many information. You have steps, you have a blood pressure, you have, you know, glucose levels, you have stress levels, you have blood. I don’t know, you have too many information over there. The problem is when you are a doctor and you are looking for, I don’t know, every single day you see like probably 20,40 patients per day and receive all these data. It’s like, what can I do with all this data? So you need another platform that can help you to make a translation of this information. So that’s one of the reasons that the doctors are not using all this information. Probably they want to use it because again, that can give you an holistic picture of the patient and probably can give you more information about if you are doing exercise, you are doing workouts. How is your nutrition, how your stress levels, how much you use sleep? You can find a lot of very good information over there, but again, it’s too many Data points over there. at the same time, it’s like a some of the oldest doctors, let’s say, like that doesn’t want to use the wearables because they don’t feel confident that they are very accurate. But now we have FDA that we are receiving FDA clearance from some devices like the Apple Watch or different devices like Garmin or I don’t know. So there’s a lot of new wearables that are starting to receive FDA clearance. And that’s huge. It’s we are living in a very different moment.

Peter Bowes: [00:13:13] It’s a very different world. You’re absolutely right. What about the concerns of people that we are essentially giving away our information? And this is a security question. It’s a question that I think goes to the heart and soul of people, that the data that we’re providing is very personal. And it seems, I think, according to some people, that it’s maybe just going into a vacuum and they’re not quite sure who has access to it and who can use it and perhaps use it to our disadvantage, especially when we’re talking about health insurance, especially here in the United States, those issues that have financial implications for us.

Marco Benitez: [00:13:50] Yeah, definitely. That’s the other important question. And that’s why we are HIPAA compliant, GDPR compliant ISO. It’s like everything it’s around anonymity. Identify the information. So for us the security is really important. In fact is one of our biggest points every single time with all of our clients, all of our contracts, all the things that we are building, it’s on top of security and it’s like we will never know who is behind that wearable. We tokenize the information, so now we can use it for different purposes, and we can do different like correlations between all these data that we have. But to your point, the end user is always, always the the property of all these data. They are the owners. We as end users, I as an end user. I’m the owner of the information of my aura from my group. I Apple watch everything. So yeah, generally speaking, we can go more profound, but it’s like, generally speaking, our company, one of the biggest, biggest thing and all the things that we are investing is in cybersecurity and how we are going to use this data. We are very transparent how we are how we are using the data, how we anonymize, how we standardize, normalize, harmonize. We are super transparent with our all of our clients. And every single time that our end user is sharing all this data, we have a disclaimer over there and terms and conditions how we are going to use that information.

Peter Bowes: [00:15:33] This is the Live Long podcast. Our guest is Marco Benitez, the co-founder of Rook. Tell me in terms of your own personal activity, your own life. I know you’re very sporty. You’re very physically active and you have been for a long time. Which data is the most important to you in terms of the the metrics that you gather? And you’ve mentioned all the devices that you use. What do you look at every day?

Marco Benitez: [00:15:58] That’s a really good one. Sleep data. For me, it’s the basics. Stress levels too. So I do correlations between my sleep data with the stress levels. Because in the night, if I have a very good sleep, the stress levels are very, very low. My heart rate me. Me my heart rate is very low. So that’s how I measure my stress levels and how well I feel the next day. That for me is one of the most important. I do workouts every single day from Monday to Monday. It’s for me, it’s really important because it’s one way to, you know, we are in a startup and I have a family, so it’s two things at the same time, which I it’s very stressful. Everything. Right. So so I do a lot of workouts, I do meditation, I do different type of things. So so my stress levels can be low. I don’t like to drink a lot. I love of course, of course I want tequila or a cup of Mezcal during the weekends. Definitely yes. This is something that I do with my wife, but it’s like a at the end of the day for me, the the biomarkers, the most important biomarkers is my sleep data and my stress levels. Hrt probably is the other one, but it’s a correlation between, again, a stress level.

Peter Bowes: [00:17:16] And it’s interesting you should mention alcohol because it’s something that I’ve monitored over the years. And many people do, especially with the Oura ring, the impact of alcohol, especially on your sleep and as you say, your level of stress as well. It’s quite marked, isn’t it?

Marco Benitez: [00:17:31] It’s. It’s fantastic. Now that you can see this very crystal clear, how the alcohol impact your stress levels in the night. And also it’s like a it’s completely different situation. I’m doing a study around because we have a lot of data with persons that they do some drink, they drink alcohol. And then in the night how different change the HRV everything. It’s, it’s sooner we are going to show that information. So now everyone can see the impact on that. And I’m going to do a video. I do a lot of videos in TikTok, in YouTube and everything, so I can show the impact or with a bad habit. I mean, alcohol is really. I love alcohol, honestly, because I love it is really good when you are taking, I don’t know, a glass of wine with, with a steak or you are, I don’t know. Taking a Mezcal. Having a very good chat with your wife, your partner, whatever. It’s it’s it’s really good. But the problem is when you are having too much. Right? So everything too much. Is is the problem.

Peter Bowes: [00:18:42] More broadly let me ask you this. Where is your passion in terms of longevity, and how does that weave into the technical expertise that you have? Again, looking at your own life, looking at the decades ahead and your aspirations for the future.

Marco Benitez: [00:18:58] I mean, I’m on my 40s. It’s like, for me, longevity is really, really, really seriously. I, I was thinking the last week I was in the beach with my kids in on Saturday, on Sunday, Saturday. I was on Saturday and I was playing with them. You know, we were wrestling and we were in the beach and we were playing a lot and these type of things I want to continue doing when they have like 19, 20. That’s for me, longevity. It’s like, how can I do? Like, how can I be my best in the next years? So for me, it’s that’s my passion. That’s why we are doing what we are doing with all these data that we can bring more information. We are in a very interesting ages. We are in a very interesting years where now longevity is becoming something. Longevity is a new term, but it’s everything is prevention, right? So it’s prevention basically it’s how can you prevent that. You have cancer that you have any type of obesity, diabetes, hypertension. It’s how can you solve these problems before you already have that problem. so for me, it’s, it’s it’s something very seriously and and will impact how beautiful could be being in your 60s, 70s. Very healthy. My grandfather. He has 100 years. He’s perfect in his mind. He’s perfect. He. You can have a very good conversation with him. The problem is, he has a lot of troubles to work. And that’s because he needs to be more strong. You know, muscle, muscles. It’s everything. At the end of the day. So you have to build your muscles. So workouts. Great. You know, it’s really, really important.

Peter Bowes: [00:21:00] And you use the word prevention. And I think that is the the great hurdle that we still need to get over that. The balance between disease treatment that I still think it is fair to say that most health systems are focused on and shifting that balance, that balance over to prevention and data is right at the heart of that is the gathering of the data and utilizing the data to shift the emphasis of our health providers, the carers, onto prevention. And also, I think coupled with that education, prevention and education of of everyone, of the importance of catching diseases before they happen.

Marco Benitez: [00:21:40] I 100% agree with you. definitely. It’s the first time that I’m looking at what I have. I have a very good conversations with insurance companies. I know insurance companies. Every single time someone hears something around the insurance companies, it’s like, these guys will not care about anything about health. They want to be profitable, they want to make money, and that’s it. Right? So but sometimes with the people that I have these conversations, they are looking really for prevention. They’re really trying to impact on people’s lives. Because at the end of the day, yes, we are talking with people. It’s not the institution. We are talking with people that really cares about other people. At least with the people that I have this conversation, they are looking and trying to find ways where they can predict things and they can improve people’s lives. And again, they are doing like some programs around prevention and they are doing everything that they can because again, they have kept the codes and the CPT codes need to change and all these type of things. But to your point, it’s like we are in these years where prevention is everything, and now we can focus on the basics, which is again is nutrition, workouts, sleep well and that’s it. Of course you have to take care of your stress levels, but it’s one one step and then the other one. I don’t know. It’s it’s really fascinating.

Peter Bowes: [00:23:07] It is fascinating. And it certainly is one step at a time as well, just to use that phrase, one step at a time. It’s very appropriate for this. But in terms of your company, just give me an idea of which other companies are using your services and the scale of your operation, and also maybe what your aspirations are for the future.

Marco Benitez: [00:23:26] At the very beginning, we were working a lot with fitness industry, fitness wellness industry. Then insurance companies also were very interested in what we were building on the prevention side, creating these programs around prevention, and they were working a lot hand-in-hand with longevity platforms. That’s when I started to work more with longevity apps. There is a lot of longevity applications that want to improve people’s lives. So we were digging a little bit more about these companies, and they were trying to customize experience for the end users. They want to customize again, the next step the next day. How can they improve the workout? How can they improve the nutrition? How can they improve the the sleep data? Today we are more focused with Are longevity platforms that also they it’s really interesting because I think longevity, it’s a natural evolution from wellness and fitness is a natural evolution. So it’s fitness at the beginning, then wellness and then longevity, which is very close to the healthcare industry. So it’s like we are in this momentum. Again, we are working with all of them at the same time. We are starting to work with the healthcare industry. Some hospitals are they have their own prevention programs. So we are working a lot with these, health care, healthcare, hospitals, programs who are only focused on prevention. So those are some of our clients in the future, our main goal, because we want to become and we want to be more a data science company. We want to work with the healthcare industry. Big Pharma is also for me is very interesting. They are doing interesting things with all these data biomarkers and different types of things. So that’s my my main goal to work and become more a data science company.

Peter Bowes: [00:25:30] It’s interesting to me, unlike quite a lot of the other guests that I speak to, you don’t dismiss Big Pharma in terms of its global importance. You embrace Big Pharma for what it could potentially do.

Marco Benitez: [00:25:44] Yeah. I mean, Big Pharma needs. I started in Big pharma. I know the roots. I know I was really in the nitty gritty of these clinical trials. Building the clinical trials know the impact. And I know that there is I mean, it’s a really big industry. Also they are trying to do some a lot of drugs for prevention. so definitely I want to work more closely with them. that’s one of my goals. I do believe I know that every single drug can solve a specific problem, but then also you can identify different types of things. So Big Pharma is not only investing in drugs, they are also investing in how to prevent those diseases or these problems. So that part I’m really keen and really interesting to still working with.

Peter Bowes: [00:26:43] Just in closing, you’re clearly a busy guy. You have a company to run, you’ve got a family which you’ve mentioned. And you, you say you work out every day. You’re extremely fit. I’m just curious what your day looks like in terms of morning to night. How do you fit everything in and especially as it applies to your fitness?

Marco Benitez: [00:27:02] I can show you my calendar. I’m very obsessive with my calendar. I mean, everything is in my calendar. I have early mornings workouts, Then we breakfast with the kids. Then go I. I drop off the kids in the bus, then start.

Peter Bowes: [00:27:23] What time does the day start?

Marco Benitez: [00:27:25] Like, 5:30 6.00 A.m. more or less. Yeah.

Peter Bowes: [00:27:29] So a good early start?

Marco Benitez: [00:27:31] Yeah, yeah.

Marco Benitez: [00:27:32] Then I read, then, I start my day all days with, you know, a lot of meetings. I have a space for lunch. Then when the kids arrive, sometimes I need to go with them to the karate. Or they do different type of. They do also exercise. Then I do the homework with them and then, you know, work again and then dinner. Go to sleep. You know, all the processes with the kids. And then in the night I spend some time with my wife or I, if I need to work something, that’s it. And yeah. And the time with my wife is we have every single week. We have a date tonight where we are both together and share all the things that we are missing during the whole week. And, and and yeah, that’s my normal day.

Peter Bowes: [00:28:25] Marco I wish you all the best with the company. It’s a fascinating area that you’re in, and I think one that is only going to grow clearly in the future. Thank you very much indeed.

Marco Benitez: [00:28:36] Thank you so much for this opportunity again. And thank you.

Peter Bowes: [00:28:40] The Live Long podcast is a Healthspan Media production. I’m Peter Bowes. You can contact me through our website, Live Long podcast where you’ll also find show notes for this episode.