Digi-Bridges GmbH is a boutique consulting firm established in 2016 to help unleash the potential of Digital Technologies in healthcare.
Founder
With over 20 years of industry experience and a PhD in Technology Adoption in Healthcare, the founder and managing director, Dr. Christine Jacob is a seasoned healthcare executive that held several leading international positions in major Pharma companies such as Roche and Novartis. Her career encompassed several Digital Strategy roles, where her aim was to help her stakeholders to adopt creative and innovative user engagement strategies, successfully connecting with their key stakeholders to create relevant and sustainable digital health solutions and implementation strategies.
Her research and consulting work focuses on Healthcare Technology adoption and implementation, looking into the social, organisational, and technical factors impacting user acceptance of novel digital health tools. She led several research projects involving Pharma, digital health start-ups, and diverse clinics and hospitals across Europe.
She is a lecturer and health tech researcher at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, and a senior business consultant and strategy advisor to several major players in the healthcare industry, in addition to her work with Digital Health start-ups. She also serves as a member of the Editorial board of JMIR Human Factors.
In her role as an Innosuisse Expert (the Swiss Innovation Agency), she assists the Innovation Council with examining applications for funding and during accompanying projects. It is her job to endorse, or oppose, applications for innovation projects in the eHealth area.
PATIENT ADVISOR
Steven (Steve) Bourke MPhil. MSc. is Digi-Bridges’ patient advisor of choice and our go-to-expert in projects that require patient engagement and/or partnership. He is a dynamic advocate for empowering people who are patients. Founder and CEO of PersonalPulse GmbH, he is passionate about driving transformation in citizen-led healthcare innovation, working with stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem to co-create relevant, usable, and sustainable results.
He guides partners in developing mutual value-based pillars through co-creation with patients in digital health. Co-creates with global ecosystem partners, including European Patient Forum, FNIH, global and regional patient advocacy groups, Global Skin-Europe, Project PINK BLUE, academic partners FHNW, EthZ, Harvard Schold of BioEthethics, and pharma partners. He has also been instrumental in developing the DayOne HealthHack, Switzerland’s first patient-centred hackathon. Coordinator of the patient advisory group for the multi-stakeholder IMI Pharmaledger project. He co-founded the RheumaCura Foundation, a member of EUPATI CH and EUPATI fellow. A published peer-reviewed author, he holds a BSc. Applied Sports Science, MPhil. Molecular Physiology, MSc. Health Communications.
MARKET ACCESS ADVISOR
Mayella Favre is Digi-Bridges’ advisor of choice and our go-to-expert in projects that require reimbursement or market access know-how for the Swiss healthcare ecosystem. She is an adept healthcare expert with over 25 years of experience in various marketing, quality management, project management, and management positions in private and public hospitals as well as in outpatient medical practices.
Founder and Managing Director of F+R Services GmbH, she has been working in the medical technology industry since 2008, dealing with market access and reimbursement issues in Switzerland (e.g. the mechanisms of the inpatient tariff SwissDRG or of the TARMED outpatient tariff are also one of the everyday questions; the coordination and creation of HTA applications, MiGeL and annex 1 of ordinance of health services). Having been a member of the management team of the Swiss branch of an international medtech company as well as chairing the market access working group of the medtech industry umbrella organisation Swiss Medtech, her knowledge of the Swiss healthcare system, politics and stakeholders is counted on to incorporate these aspects into the local business strategy.