Apple Pirates Endocrinologist, Signals Big Medical Push For Healthcare

When someone carves a name for himself like Dr. Rajiv Kumar, big companies are bound to be watching. And in the case of the pediatric specialist, his role has now been re-categorized on a part-time basis following word that the Apple has hired him.

Though the move is already official, it remains to be seen what capacity Kumar will have over at Apple. But it doesn’t take a genius to note that it will be part of an ambitious push to develop a more comprehensive medical technology that goes beyond the Apple’s famed Apple Watch.

A brief background on Kumar is that he was first medical professional to take advantage of Apple’s HealthKit platform through his ResearchKit study. The study was based on Type 1 diabetes monitoring that operated over at the Stanford hospital.

The trial made use of an iPod touch and a medical device from DexCom to help patients keep track of blood sugar levels throughout the day. With HealthKit and the ResearchKit backbone, trial subjects were able to securely share aggregated data with healthcare professionals.

There is perhaps no other way to explain the new Apple hire even as the Cupertino company is now on the prowl for a lawyer who specializes in U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA). Putting Kumar and that lawyer lookout, it seems obvious that Apple is planning something beyond unregulated devices as the company’s own wearable Apple Watch.

From the looks of it, Apple is continuing a previous plan by the late Steve Jobs who wanted to touch on a disjointed healthcare system. The Apple co-founder believed that technology could resolve that gap between healthcare and professionals, one of the possible reasons why the HealthKit, ResearchKit and Apple Watch came out in the open.

With Kumar on board, Apple gets needed help as far as making solutions aimed at healthcare and imminently improving proper monitoring the medical conditions surrounding individuals.

Apple may still be mum on Kumar’s role though a better insight on what is expected from him may come in the form of future devices and/or solutions that the Cupertino company will be coming out with. That could include a new wearable or vast improvements to the Apple Watch – assuming the smart device can handle it.