In the sixth episode of MindSea’s new Moving Digital Health podcast, CEO Reuben Hall is joined by Juhan Sonin, Creative Director at GoInvo, a design agency focused on user experience (UX) in the healthcare space. Listeners may be surprised to learn the extent to which Juhan’s work is informed by public policy.
As an experienced systems engineer, Juhan illuminates the importance of designing for users on all sides of a system rather than limiting one’s focus to only the patient’s or the clinician’s perspective. He notes that because patients may sometimes avoid thinking about their health, excellent UX is essential to making that process more palatable, or even enjoyable.
Storytelling is a critical element of design, and as Juhan notes, this means a successful engineer must be capable of making a convincing case. He points out that public policy has a massive impact on healthcare and that GoInvo designers must therefore actively address policy issues in order to help approach particular health outcomes.
Juhan shares some of the specific policy changes he would like to see and elaborates on the impact such changes could effect on the state of healthcare in the United States. In particular, he and Reuben dive into the subject of patient data ownership, and Juhan explains how the lack of a clear story around this issue has impeded progress. He relates his observations of present public opinion regarding data privacy, describes how careful storytelling could help to encourage participation, and gives us a picture of where he sees the data sharing model headed in the future.
On the subject of data, Juhan notes that representation is critical—both for equitability and in order to produce a clear picture of health care. He shares the “All of Us” program from the National Institutes of Health (which GoInvo is currently supporting) and the value of democratized representation.
Juhan’s experience working in UX design, engineering, and public policy in the healthcare space makes this a fascinating and multi-faceted conversation. We thank him for joining us to share his perspective and his expertise, and we hope you’ll enjoy his episode of Moving Digital Health.
Listen to Moving Digital Health on Spotify and Apple Podcast!
