Managing complex responsibilities is a common task for digital leaders. However, for Erik Mayer, transformation chief clinical information officer (CCIO) at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the mix of responsibilities is central to his role.
He spends about 40% of his time in the clinic and the rest helping to define the future of digital healthcare.
“I enjoy both roles because, actually, they should be intertwined,” he says. “I have many conversations with clinical and academic colleagues who say, ‘Can I get access to this data?’ That’s why it should be intertwined, because what you put in is what you get out.”
Mayer’s successful transition from the surgery room to the IT department began during his PhD research from 2006 to 2009, when he analysed data to produce evidence for centralising cancer services and improving patient care. Through his role at the trust, he became involved in technology implementation projects.
“I’ve always been in and around data and producing robust evidence for why we should or shouldn’t do things,” he says.
“Then, at Imperial Trust, I was a surgical trainee and became involved in IT, informatics and data warehouse-type environments. I was heavily involved in the work when we went live with the Cerner electronic patient record in 2014.”
As Mayer’s experience grew, so did the opportunities to move into new areas. In 2018, after a competitive process, he was appointed to his current role. He has continued to expand his compass while working on the healthcare frontline.
“I wanted to be forward-thinking about creating secure environments to support access to data for driving research and innovation,” he says.
“I wear many hats. I’m a practising surgeon, transformation CCIO, clinical social professor in Imperial College, and I head up the directorate of the iCARE Secure Data Environment (SDE), which is a digital collaboration space that spans the university and the trust.”
Fostering collaboration
Looking back on his seven years in the CCIO role, Mayer says the data environment has evolved into today’s cloud-based platform using Microsoft Azure and Snowflake technology. He says the transformation process was accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’d already set up the environment and had some exemplar projects going on where we were supporting healthcare delivery in the trust,” he says.
“Then Covid hit and, suddenly, there was a huge appetite and urgency about accessing data to support basic decision-making around operational processes.”
These processes included monitoring the number of people with the virus and moving patients around the hospital to free up intensive care beds. Through a collaboration with the North West London Integrated Care Board, Mayer and his peers brought together two key datasets, making it possible to track trends across 2.8 million people.
“I wear many hats. I’m a practising surgeon, transformation CCIO, clinical social professor in Imperial College, and I head up the directorate of the iCARE Secure Data Environment”
Erik Mayer, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
“That created a burning platform for data,” he says, looking back on the interest in information that this initiative helped to foster for the longer term. “Today, that data is now fully migrated and held in the same secure environment as the Imperial Trust data, as well as other databases across different tendencies.”
Mayer says having all these databases together in a secure data environment makes it easier for people to link insights. This capability has changed the mindset of people using data. Previously, particularly in the academic world, people and organisations had to set up data-sharing agreements. Now, collaboration is fast becoming the standard way of working.
“This project brought people into the data environment to do their research and innovation. That approach brought academics together with clinicians and data scientists, meaning we could get quick answers around risk prediction and other insights,” he says.
“Our digital transformation was about bringing the right multidisciplinary people together to work collaboratively in a secure way. Fundamentally, of course, by doing that, you maintain the public trust because you’re not selling data off or moving it around.”
Integrating data
Mayer says the implementation of Snowflake technology has been a crucial component of his data-led approach to digital transformation. While it took weeks to ingest data using previous legacy architectures, the Snowflake AI Data Cloud enables data ingestion in days, supporting the work of healthcare professionals in various roles in a secure environment.
“A lot of the projects are research, but we also focus on direct care,” he says. “So, for example, there are several dashboards that are supporting our clinicians in understanding patients and high-risk cohorts. So it’s direct care research, but it’s also about operational decision-making and efficiencies.”
Our digital transformation was about bringing the right multidisciplinary people together to work collaboratively in a secure way Erik Mayer, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
The organisation is also tapping into the Snowflake Marketplace, an online platform where users source third-party data for its use in the AI Data Cloud. Through the marketplace, research and clinical teams have access to additional non-health data for research and clinical care. Potential sources include Ordnance Survey and the Met Office.
“This is an interesting area for us,” says Mayer, referring to the use of marketplace data. “We’re just starting on this journey. With some of the data, for example, you can start to understand where people live, what services they’re accessing, and why.”
This in-depth detail will be crucial as organisations attempt to support the long-term vision of the NHS 10-year health plan for neighbourhood-based healthcare services.
“You have the evidence to show what is happening, so you can start to plan better,” he says. “Bringing together data is now a way to help us support hospitals and the community.”
Mayer and his colleagues are exploring other ways to exploit the platform. One key use case is federation, including how other trusts in north-west London can share primary and secondary care data. Another use case is artificial intelligence (AI). The data team’s AI testbed in its SDE is supported by Snowflake and Accenture, with secure access to Microsoft AI services and models.
“If you can leave the source data in the separate SDEs and then federate to allow algorithms to run across those sources, you’re not duplicating the cost and resources,” he says.
“So, that’s the piece we’re just developing across environments, which will support, again, operational efficiency, direct care and, of course, research.”
“The interoperability piece for sharing information on individual patients across healthcare providers is critical,” he says. “Just in terms of time savings, you’re not having to sit there trying to understand what’s happened so far – it’s all linked up. And I’m seeing that in my practice now, it’s happening. That kind of federation is a game-changer.”
“These initiatives have gone a long way already to providing a front door for access to data with an explanation around what it is, the clinical definitions and the metadata,” he says.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need to build on what we’ve got so far, because that effort has been developing well over the last three or four years.”
This progress includes work in his own organisation. “Within the iCARE SDE, we have built the London analytics platform,” he says.
“We are one half of the London Secure Data Environment, so we are providing that architecture, and the data will start flowing soon. This effort is not just about our trust. It’s a framework that will support the national agenda.”
The NHS has a chequered history when it comes to IT initiatives. However, Mayer says the progress that’s been made recently in data-led projects is impressive. While digital transformation across large-scale organisations can be a challenging process, he’s positive about the opportunities ahead for UK healthcare.
“Now, I think there’s a requirement for a careful thought piece around how local NHS trusts fund, resource and keep up with change, and thinking about business intelligence units, and how those areas start to shape up,” he says.
Leading transformation
Mayer reflects on the pace of change. He suggests the speed of transformation continues to quicken and that AI will play a crucial role in the future of healthcare.
From optimising schedules to reducing the administrative burden by automating clinician note-taking, emerging technologies can have a big impact. However, the key to success is identifying the right, trusted technological solutions for the business challenges.
“We need to think about the problem and the opportunity, and then look at the technology to support us, as opposed to going, ‘AI is going to solve everything’,” he says.
“We’ve got to maintain the public trust around this transformation. They’re starting to engage with these technologies, so we must consider the digital literacy piece.”
This rapid pace of change can bring new and unexpected challenges to healthcare technologists. Mayer says effective digital leaders will develop professional resilience and respect by building a sense of social capital.
“It’s about being clear about the benefits and impact of what everyone’s doing as a multi-disciplinary team,” he says. “Our team includes data engineers, data scientists, clinicians and nurses. If they can feel, metaphorically, the impact and see the effect on care delivery, then they know they’re making a difference.”
Mayer says those results also inspire him. “As a leader, I see that impact, and that’s what gets me out of bed every day,” he says. “Essentially, successful delivery is about that team environment – it’s having a clear message and clear social capital where you say, ‘This is what we’re trying to do and why’.”
Same as the Five Senses deck above, this scratch-off card set happens in sequence, with optional “level up” cards to really push intimacy, and separate cards for each partner with secret directions. For this date, you’ll both bring a red item that you show at certain points to signify that you’re open to physical touch. Then you’ll go out to dinner and have intentional conversation, and every time a partner pulls out the red item, you’ll follow the prompts to initiate increasingly intimate physical acts, ranging from hand holding to neck kisses. So there we were, at Illegal Taqueria, edging each other over al pastor tacos (I kid).
Many of the cards urged a partner not to interrupt or solve problems, but ask questions and talk dirty. My date said, “I think this may be for couples who hate each other.” I had to agree. The second part of the date involved driving and stoplights, but since we were in Brooklyn, we walked down the trash-filled sidewalk and pretended to be a suburban couple on the fritz instead.
The rest of the date included buying things for sexy time, like whipped cream and blindfolds. I’m vegan and had no desire to lick cream from chest hair, so we came home, stripped, and did our best to keep our eyes closed (in lieu of a blindfold). It was overall a strange experience for us both, I think. If you and your partner need a lot of prompting to connect, compliment, and be physical, this set is for you.
Date: Greg, 10/10 (Note: I didn’t find this man on Hinge; I met him the old-fashioned way, in a bar at 2 am.)
Valentine’s Day is a sneaky one. It’s easy to let grabbing fun and unique Valentine’s Day gifts fall to the wayside while you recover from the Christmas holidays, but it’s not one to miss if you have a partner you want to shower with a little extra love.
If you’re feeling too wiped to shop, good news: I’ve got you covered. I’ve rounded up some of our favorite ideas for the year’s most romantic holiday, from Lego sets you can build as a date and date boxes filled with ideas to last you all year long to gorgeous flowers you can get delivered in a snap and cozy robes you’ll want to lounge in together. This guide all the Valentine’s Day gifts we’re excited to give this year.
My husband and I are planning our fourth or fifth year of our favorite Valentine’s Day Date: building Lego sets together. We’ve done this for years, and then we get to enjoy the fruits (well, flowers) of our labor around the home forevermore. These sets serve as both the gift and the activity. Building the dried-flower centerpiece together was probably my all-time favorite, since you can each simultaneously work on one half and then click it together at the end, followed by each building a different-color bonsai tree.
Building on the idea of date activities that involve gifts, this multi-person paddleboard is a fun way to spend time outdoors while staying together the entire time. It’s massive, almost raftlike, so that it can support the weight of up to three adults, but once we got the hang of the size, it wasn’t hard to maneuver. Sometimes we’d both row together, sometimes I’d let my husband do all the work. It made for a lovely daytime adventure together, and I can’t wait for the next warm day for my husband and me to take this out on our local harbor again. It’s big enough that we could bring our son, though it’s much more peaceful as a date activity. It’s inflatable, and I’d recommend grabbing an electric filler since it takes a lot of manual pumping otherwise.
For Flowers on Demand
Photograph: Boutayna Chokrane
The classic go-to for Valentine’s Day is, of course, flowers. WIRED reviewer Boutayna Chokrane tested several flower delivery services to find the best one to get sent to your home, and her favorite is the Ode à la Rose, specifically the Edith arrangements. The business was created by two former French bankers, and the arrangements’ design choices feel distinctly chic in a way only French romance can. The Edith bouquet is entirely Columbus double tulips from Holland, and come hand-tied in a travel vase a fun pink box. The flowers ship nationwide, and there’s same-day shipping in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, Miami, and Washington, DC.
For a Jewelry Upgrade
Maybe you’ve already exchanged rings, or maybe you’re looking for your first set without committing to I do. Either way, the most popular fitness tracker to get these days is a smart ring, and Oura is the ruler of the space. The latest model is the Ring 4, and it comes in both metallic and ceramic finishes. Many of my friends love theirs. I wish I had one, but they don’t make sense for my husband and me since we’re an aerialist and rock climber duo. Live my dreams for me and get this for your valentine (and yourself)!
For Your Fave Photographer
Aura
Aspen Digital Photo Frame
If your romantic partner loves to capture photos, a digital photo frame is the perfect gift (and you’ll benefit, too, as likely the number one fan of their photography!). I’m the photographer of our house, and our Aura frame is my husband’s favorite gadget because it showcases photos I’ve captured of our son and life together over the years. Our wedding photos can be found on there too, as well as the occasional good photo of me that he’s captured. It’s a monthly ritual for me to go through my camera roll and add my latest favorites. Aura’s my favorite because the range of frames is beautiful, and the storage is unlimited with no fees or subscriptions.
For the Cozy Couple
L.L. Bean
Scotch Plaid Flannel Robe
One of my favorite souvenirs I have around the house is a matching robe set that my husband and I bought on our honeymoon. Our all-cotton robes are from the Ten Thousand Waves Japanese spa in New Mexico (the final destination of a Southwestern US road trip) and are great for taking to the pool or using after a shower on a hot day. But I still love a good fluffy robe during the colder season, especially since it can double as a towel. Get your partner one of these cozy robes to give them something luxurious to use after their next everything shower or quick rinse-off. Cozy Earth’s robe is crazy-soft thanks to its blend of cotton and bamboo viscose, while this flannel robe from L.L.Bean is one of our favorites for anyone who works from home.
For Your Inner Theater Kids
If your partner loves to sing along to the Wicked soundtrack and is regularly suggesting karaoke as a group activity, then give them the gift of making karaoke happen anywhere with these gadgets. The Bonaok Karaoke Microphone is one of our favorite karaoke microphones, letting you sing anywhere without lugging bulky equipment. The Ikarao Shell S2 is a portable device with two mics, a built-in screen, and support for streaming services, so you can sing along to your favorite songs on Spotify.
For the Fitness Couple
Bombshell Sportswear
Workout Set
After the Christmas season, I saw a video on my For You page that roasted how every mom had clearly gotten a matching workout outfit set for Christmas and was out wearing it on Boxing Day. As a mom myself, all I could think of was how much I would love another matching workout set. I’m serious. They’re great for workouts, quick errands, and day care or school drop-off. My latest favorite set is from Bombshell Sportswear. The set is both super soft and fits securely without any annoying squeezing. It’s getting the most compliments of all my sets. I wish I’d sized up with the bolero, but as an aerialist, my lat muscles are a little bulkier than an everyday person’s.
Have a partner who doesn’t need a matching set? Try some fantastic running shoes instead, which are even more useful for both workouts and daily life. WIRED reviewer Adrienne So says these R.A.D. shoes are fantastic for a range of uses, as they’re designed for gym, HIIT, CrossFit, and hybrid workouts and are soft enough for treadmill running. They look fantastic, too.
For the Beloved Bookworms
Amazon
Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation)
PopSockets
PopCase Kindle and PopGrip
A Kindle is always a great gift for anyone who reads in any format. Funny enough, my siblings and I are about to buy one for my dad for his birthday (two weeks before Valentine’s Day), and I recommended my favorite pick, the Kindle Paperwhite, since the standard Kindle is a little too small for his 6-foot-4 frame to hunch down over, and he doesn’t read enough illustrated books to make the Colorsoft the right jump for him. If they already have a Kindle, I’m still in love with my matching PopSockets Kindle case and grip, and they’ve since launched a new Bookish collection with beautiful designs.
For Some Bedroom Spice
The Adventure Challenge
… In Bed
The Fantasy Box
Yes, I Would
Looking to spice things up? These adventure boxes can add more fun to the bedroom without creating additional mental work for you and your partner. An offshoot from the Adventure Challenge, “The Adventure Challenge … In Bed” scratch-off date book has 50 date ideas designed specifically to help facilitate fun and connection in the bedroom. The dates are categorized by activity type in sections like food, dancing, “sexploration,” and more. Each date is covered by a black box, with only icons indicating required fields such as duration, cost, and more. Meanwhile, the Fantasy Box is a date-night box service offering a range of themes, from sexy wine tasting to a kinky poker night, all designed to help couples communicate and connect more intimately. Before opening the box, each partner will fill out a questionnaire of potential intimate acts, and this box comes with everything needed for a truly kinky night in: a satin blindfold, pleather paddle, lingerie, lube, massage gel, feather wand, mini vibrator, and silky wrist restraints. —Molly Higgins
In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 3, the roar of bombs dropping from the sky announced the US military attack on Venezuela, waking the sleeping residents of La Carlota, in Caracas, a neighborhood adjacent to the air base that was a target of Operation Absolute Resolve.
Marina G.’s first thought, as the floors, walls, and windows of her second-story apartment shook, was that it was an earthquake. Her cat scrambled and hid for hours, while the neighbors’ dogs began to bark incessantly. But the persistence of the strange hum of engines (military aircraft flying low over the city, she would later learn), as well as seeing a group of cadets in T-shirts and shorts fleeing the Army headquarters, were signs that this was not an earthquake.
Marina couldn’t rely on the typical media outlets that are easily accessible in most other countries to learn more. She didn’t bother to turn on the television or radio in search of information about the attacks that began simultaneously at 11 military installations in Caracas and three other states. The government-run television station Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) was broadcasting a report on the minister of culture’s visit to Russia as the attack was taking place. Her cell phone, however, still had a signal and she began to receive dozens of messages on WhatsApp: “They’re bombing Caracas!”
During the darkest moments of that confusing morning, there was no team of independent reporters able to go out and record what was happening on the streets. After years of harassment, censorship, and imprisonment of journalists by the government, there were instead only empty newsrooms, decimated resources, and a complete lack of security, which made it impossible to keep the public informed as the crisis was unfolding.
The fears felt by journalists were shared by many Venezuelans: the fears of arbitrary detention, of being imprisoned without cause, tortured, and extorted. These are fears that have led citizens in Venezuela to adopt some digital safeguards in order to survive. They have learned to restrict chats, move sensitive material to hidden folders, and automatically delete any “compromising” messages. Whenever possible, they leave their cell phones at home. If they have to take their phones with them, then before going out, they delete all photos, stickers, and memes that could possibly be interpreted as subversive. This state of collective paranoia has also, however, allowed Venezuelans to stay informed and not succumb to the dictatorship.
It is, largely, ordinary citizens who have created this information network. Soon after the bombs fell on January 3, the first videos began to circulate, recorded by people who had witnessed the explosions from their windows and balconies, or from the beach, where some were still celebrating the New Year. Even hikers camping at the summit of Cerro Ávila, in Waraira Repano National Park, managed to capture panoramic shots of the bombs exploding over the Caracas Valley. Shortly afterwards, international networks confirmed the news.
In the interior of the country, connectivity is even more complicated. In San Rafael de Mucuchíes, a peaceful village in the Andes in the state of Mérida, a group of hikers tried to keep up with the frantic pace of events with intermittent internet access at 10,300 feet above sea level. They learned the news from telephone calls via operators such as Movistar (Telefónica) and Digitel, not from the instant messaging app WhatsApp. They also overcame the challenges of the information desert they were in by using a portable Starlink satellite internet antenna that one of the travelers had in their luggage. During the crisis, the service developed by SpaceX was provided free to Venezuelans.
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