Over the last five years, the healthcare industry has witnessed an explosive surge in digital health services, revolutionizing the way we access medical care. Patients today are taking charge of their health journey by using different digital tools to stay on top of their preventative screenings, implement dietary and lifestyle changes, access mental health resources, and so much more. In this conversation, patient advocates and industry leaders from Noom, Thrive, and Pfizer, dive into the potential power of artificial intelligence and the anticipated transformation in personalized health plans. They share real-world examples that highlight how digital technologies are helping patients feel empowered and shape the future of healthcare.
Over the last five years, the healthcare industry has witnessed an explosive surge in digital health services, revolutionizing the way we access medical care. Patients today are taking charge of their health journey by using different digital tools to stay on top of their preventative screenings, implement dietary and lifestyle changes, access mental health resources, and so much more. In this conversation, patient advocates and industry leaders from Noom, Thrive, and Pfizer, dive into the potential power of artificial intelligence and the anticipated transformation in personalized health plans. They share real-world examples that highlight how digital technologies are helping patients feel empowered and shape the future of healthcare.
Through this conversation you heard Lidia Fonseca reference Health Answers by Pfizer. In February 2025, the Pfizer team launched this new platform, powered by generative AI that provides clear, relevant answers to your health & wellness questions and helps you take action for yourself and your loved ones. To learn more, visit healthanswers.pfizer.com.
Moderator:
Stephanie Agresta, Managing Director, Ascendancy Events
Featured experts:
-Karin Bilich, Head of Content, Noom
-Lidia Fonseca, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Pfizer
-MT Grant, SVP & GM, Thrive for Health
This episode was recorded live in Austin, TX on Monday, March 10, as part of Pfizer’s takeover of the South by Southwest podcasting lounge.
Please fill out our short survey so we can get to know our listeners better: pfizer.com/podcastsurvey
Edie Allard:
The healthcare industry is witnessing a surge in digital health services, revolutionizing the way we access medical care. Today, patients are taking charge of their health journey by using cutting-edge digital tools to stay on top of their preventative screenings, implement dietary and lifestyle changes, access mental health resources, and so much more.
On this special episode of Science Will Win, we’re sharing one of a series of conversations recorded live at the Pfizer podcasting lounge at South by Southwest.
This panel features a holistic conversation between patient advocates and industry leaders: Karin Bilich of Noom, MT Grant of Thrive Health, and Lidia Fonseca of Pfizer. Moderated by marketing and PR-pro Stephanie Agresta, they dive into the potential power of AI and the transformation they’re seeing in personalized health plans. They also share real-world stories that highlight how digital tools are being used for patient empowerment, shaping the future of healthcare as we know it.
We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Stephanie Agresta:
Thank you all for coming to the Pfizer Podcasting Lounge today. We're very excited to have you, and we're very excited to have this incredible panel of rockstar speakers, thought leaders, and doers in the healthcare space. We're gonna start by having everyone just introduce themselves and tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do. So we'll start over here with MT.
MT Grant:
Hi everyone. My name is MT Grant and I lead health partnerships at Thrive Global. We are a behavior change technology company that was founded in 2016 by Arianna Huffington. And our goal is to improve the world's health and productivity through science backed behavior change.
Karin Bilich:
Wonderful. Hi all. I am Karin Bilich. I am head of content at Noom. I am a health communication specialist and a storyteller who works to drive behavior change and Noomis really working to bring together clinical care and psychology and behavior change to help people live better longer.
Lidia Fonseca:
Hi everyone. Lidia Fonseca. I have the honor to serve as Pfizer's Chief Digital and Technology Officer, and additionally, I serve on the board of directors of Medtronic in the U.S.-Japan Business Council. To give a bit of background, I was born in Mexico. I am the classic immigrant story of leaving everything behind for the, a better future and the promise of America. So at 10 years old, I—my family moved to Los Angeles where I learned how to speak English by watching the news and television shows, especially those where the main character uses feats of engineering to get themselves outta trouble. I was fortunate, you know, to have a mentor, my english lit teacher, who you know, encouraged me to apply to a magnet high school. From there, that prepared me well for Berkeley, where I got my undergrad degree. And then I went on to earn a Master's in Business Administration and a master's in Business Informatics in the Netherlands. That is also where I met my husband. So my sister always says I not only brought a degree from the Netherlands, I also brought a husband from the Netherlands, . Anyway, I am passionate about digital technology and AI to make people's lives better. And my 25 amazing years in healthcare, I've been doing just that. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
Stephanie Agresta:
Great, yeah. Thank you guys. So let's start with getting a better understanding for the audience on which digital tools you are working on and building every day. We have a great representation here. So we'll start with MT, again, go around and just tell us a little bit about the digital tools that you are—you spend the most time with.
MT Grant:
Sure. When I started at Thrive back in 2019, the World Health Organization had just named burnout a workplace crisis. So burnout significantly impacts the bottom line of a company. As employees that are burnt out are 30% more likely, I would argue probably higher, to leave their jobs. And when they do, it costs the company nearly double what their annual salary is. So our founder, Arianna Huffington, experienced burnout herself while she was working at the Huffington Post. She collapsed from sleep deprivation and exhaustion. She broke her cheekbone, she woke up in a pool of blood. Arianna went on to write multiple books, including Thrive and The Sleep Revolution, and she started Thrive Global. So over the last eight years, we have been partnering with the world's largest enterprises to help their employees by meeting them directly in the flow of work in tools that they are already using, like Microsoft teams, Slack, Zoom, WebEx.
And what we have found is that with behavior change, it's really about eliminating friction. So if we can bring our microsteps, which are small science backed, too small to fail tiny actions directly into the flow of work where people already are, this really is the key. And during the pandemic, when no one was working on anything more important than Pfizer, we partner to support their employees, who they call colleagues. And in our work with Pfizer, it really evolved from focusing on stress and burnout to also focusing on chronic disease. As we saw that this really is the major danger when it comes to the world's largest self-insured employers. Costs are expected to grow 8% this year for healthcare spend. And so what we have found is that there is a crisis when it comes to chronic disease. 129 million Americans are living with at least one chronic condition, and 80—90% of our healthcare spend is going to support these conditions.
So for us, it's really, medicines plus healthy behaviors is what's going to make the biggest difference because this is just unsustainable. But the good thing is that it's not just our genes or medical interventions that actually lead to these health outcomes, it's behavior change. So we're really, really excited also about our recent partnership with Pfizer to support their This Living With Cancer platform, one in five people globally will receive a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, and no two people have the same cancer experience. So we are bringing our science backed behavior change content focused on the categories of sleep, food, movement, stress management, and connection to support those who are living with a cancer diagnosis and also to support their care partners.
Stephanie Agresta:
That's great. Awesome. Karin?
Karin Bilich:
Yes. So at Noom, you know, Noom is traditionally a behavior change organization. We years ago built an app to focus on weight loss and healthy eating and exercise and really focused on the psychology and the behavior change aspect of it. In the last few years, Noom has shifted in a few ways. One is similar to what you just talked about, MT really bringing clinical care into that behavior change. So, Noom now has programs for weight loss and just in the last week or two, launched a new clinical program around menopause which is a pretty hot topic right now. So in each of these users can be matched with, clinicians can potentially get medications shift right to their doorstep. And that is done in conjunction with all of the in-app behavior change content and tools. The other thing I'll mention is that these tools are becoming more and more available to the general public, and they're beginning to use AI as well.
So we launched a body scan technology in 2024, which anyone with a smartphone can do. And it assesses one's BMI and health risks in a way that couldn't be done before. AI has also started getting incorporated into other tools in the Noom app, like the food logging tool where you can take a picture of your meal and it will show you its nutritional value. There has also been an in-app, AI based chat function. So as we've really started moving more and more in that direction, we've started building these tools, making them more accessible, more available, and you know, hopefully helping people live better longer.
Lidia Fonseca:
Those are wonderful examples. Right? Yeah. I think we can all agree that no industries experiencing a more radical change due to AI and technologies than healthcare and Pfizer is no exception. We are a 175-year-old company, you know, that operates globally and we have been leveraging digital and AI across every aspect of our business first. But I think we are doing this with two goals in mind, right? One is to accelerate our research so that we can bring the next generation of medicines and vaccines. And the second reason is to help patients more easily access the critical care and information that they need. So we believe it's not enough to innovate in medicine and science. We also have to innovate on the consumer experience in order for us to really advance. So let me share a few examples of some of the digital products and tools that we are creating.
Lidia Fonseca:
In oncology, we applied AI in structure-based drug design to develop an innovative therapy against a LK positive lung cancer, which is one of the deadliest forms of this cancer compared to the average 10 years that it takes to create a new medicine. We were able to move from phase one to approval in four years. In manufacturing, we use AI to identify the golden batch for each of our medicines and vaccines. Think of the golden batch as the manufacturing run with the highest quality and the fastest cycle time. Then we use generative AI to detect deviations from the golden batch and recommend corrective actions to our manufacturing operators in real time. Just to give you a sense of the impact of AI in manufacturing for us, we were able to scale vaccine production.
Lidia Fonseca:
We used to produce 220 million doses of vaccines before the pandemic across the entire portfolio. And we scaled to 4 billion production of vaccines in 2022. That is only possible through technology and AI. And AI is also helping us in the sphere of health literacy. So Clear-AI is a tool that makes patient materials a lot more easy for them to understand so that they can make informed decisions about their health. And what's really cool about this capability is that the AI translations are culturally appropriate, remaining true to plain language in their region. And we're also very proud of Health Answers by Pfizer, which is a product that we recently launched that provides up to date relevant answers to consumers health and wellness questions. But it doesn't stop at information. It offers relevant articles to learn more. It suggests next steps to take and even connects you with specialists if you need expert assistance. Health Answers by Pfizer uses only credible and trusted third party sources like Harvard Health Publishing, Doctorpedia, the CDC and NIH to name a few. So Stephanie, these are just a handful of the digital products that we're excited about to bring benefit to patients.
Stephanie Agresta:
Mm-hmm . That's great. And there's no question that the new technology has reshaped the medical care landscape, but each of you also touched on something else that goes hand in hand with that, and that is the change in consumer behavior. We have seen quite a bit of that in the last few years. And I'm curious, what changes have you noticed in consumer adoption and interest in medical technology? And are there particular innovations or moments across the last few years, most recent years that have impacted consumer sentiment? I'm jumping around a little, I'm gonna start with you, Karin.
Karin Bilich:
Okay. . Well, I mean, I think that the introduction or the growth of telehealth during the pandemic made a huge change in how people think about how care and how people demand healthcare. I mean, consumer demand has really, people really want what they want when they want it, where they want it, right? People now know they no longer have to go to six different doctor's offices to get treated for something. They can have a lot done in their own home, on their own technologies. And so that I think has been one of the biggest shifts. And as we talk about bringing together clinical care and behavior change, I think that is a reflection of what we're talking about here, is that we're now able to bring all of this to people. It's kind of revolutionary. One other thing I'll say though, as well is I think that people have such different perspectives on this, right?
So as we've moved more and more in the direction of technology, there are people who are very on top of these things. There are people who are aware of all of the apps and aware of you know, the data and they're on top of their longevity. And there are others at the other end of the spectrum. And so I think there's even more of a divide than there was before as far as people's adoption of these things. And that's something I've seen more of in the last few years, and I think we need to prioritize really bringing everyone along on this journey.
Stephanie Agresta:
No doubt, definitely been an increase. Lidia?
Lidia Fonseca:
Yeah. I mean, I agree. You know, with the comments, technology is reshaping every aspect of our existence, and I think all of us expect the same seamless experience in healthcare that we enjoy in other parts of our lives, like banking or online shopping, or ordering my chai, you know, from my Starbucks app. I'd like to say that the future is becoming increasingly phygital where physical and digital experiences are really coming together. I think the pandemic was a pivotal moment there because we were pushed towards this phygital experience out of necessity. But what I'm seeing is that we're increasingly embracing this new reality. So a great example for us that we've seen is PfizerForAll™, which is a consumer friendly digital platform where millions of Americans can easily set up vaccine appointments and seek care for illnesses like migraine Covid-19 and the flu.
If you're sick, you can order a test, you can engage in a virtual doctor appointment, and you can have your medicines delivered to your front door without leaving the comfort of your couch. Another key moment though, Stephanie, happened in 2022, and that's when ChatGPT burst on the scene and it brought AI to the masses and quickly driving consumer adoption at scale. And so similar to the internet and mobile devices drove, you know, that like scale consumer adoption in their time. And all of us have benefited from large language models like ChatGPT, that are helping us in our day to day, whether it's creating a marketing campaign, researching a topic, or summarizing content. Right. And as I look at the future, I think what's happening right now, right before us is AI agents. And I think AI agents are gonna take us even to the next level because AI agents can take actions when asked, they can perform complex tasks and even make decisions.
So I anticipate that AI agents will help us take even more control of our health. And so, you know, if you think about it today, wearables can detect unusual patterns in our health data. But imagine a personal health coach that tracks your health data and proactively schedules a doctor's appointment on your behalf and monitors your prescription refills and places an order for you. Or imagine an AI powered fridge that suggests healthy recipes based on the ingredients that you already have. Or it can even have a robotic chef that prepares those meals for you. By the way, I'm particularly excited about the prospect of that one . I'm not the best cook in the world, as my family would tell you, but I think consumers are much more comfortable using tech to engage virtually with their doctors, to test at home, to digitally monitor their health and more so I do believe that consumer adoption will continue to accelerate, and I think the genie is out of the bottle.
Stephanie Agresta:
Yeah. It is not science fiction. It is today, and I'm sure you've seen those changes for consumers as well at Thrive.
MT Grant:
We have. Lidia completely agree with your comments around the rise of AI, particular chatbots ChatGPT, where more and more of us are going to these technologies for health advice. We're asking health questions. Why Health Answers by Pfizer is so incredibly important, because today, only 40% of us are finding online health information to be credible. And when we do stumble upon reliable information, it's not actionable. So at Thrive, we have partnered obsessively with our scientific advisory board to develop a behavior change methodology that is rooted in science, these micro steps, which are too small to fail science backed tiny actions that we can implement. So instead of saying, Stephanie, go get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep, we would suggest things like, let's take a bath before bed, let's set an alarm clock to wind down 30 minutes earlier, let's escort our devices outside of the bedroom. These simple things that make behavior change possible. So we're at this incredible moment where there's the rise of AI technology, wearables, as you mentioned, Lidia, I'm a huge fan of Oura, paired with this focus on behavior change, which can actually help us to change our health.
Lidia Fonseca:
By the way, real quick, Arianna sent me a little bed so that I can put my cell phone in its bed overnight, and I wouldn't be accessing it all the time.
Stephanie Agresta:
That is an excellent one.
Lidia Fonseca:
True Story.
Stephanie Agresta:
Well, to see this kind of innovation and consumer change at scale, the market also has to support it. And I'm curious to know from each of you, and starting with you, Lidia, do you see the support and funding for these tools? Is it there, you know, are companies in our markets trending to support that consumer change?
Lidia Fonseca:
The answer is yes. We have seen a significant shift over the past few years with robust investment in digital health technologies and solutions. Late last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services established reimbursement for digital mental health treatments to both improve access and to bridge the gap in mental health services. So for the first time, digital therapeutics can be prescribed and directly reimbursed unlocking access that is, you know, for vital care for patients. Pfizer supported and advocated for this alongside others in our industry. And as for adoption, you know, consumers have embraced new technology like wearables, like digital health tracking, but adoption in healthcare institutions, Stephanie has been more measured, and I think that's due because of regulatory requirements as well as reimbursement and integration challenges. Right? Integrating data is challenging. And so the most successful technologies that I have seen are those that meet consumer demand for convenience and personalization, while also delivering clear, measurable outcomes, but are also cost effective.
And so I'll give you three quick examples. First, 80% of consumers have used telemedicine for virtual doctor's appointments for minor illness, or for prescription care. And frankly, many patients prefer to engage this way with their providers. Second, consumers are increasingly using at-home diagnostics, such as colorectal screening, flu allergy, and cholesterol testing. And actually this market is expected to double by 2032. And third, about 80% of Americans are using generative AI to better understand their symptoms and related treatments as well as manage chronic conditions. A great example is health answers by Pfizer that, you know, that I mentioned earlier.
Stephanie Agresta:
That's great. Both of your companies, private companies. Right? So tell us a little bit about how the market has supported your growth.
MT Grant:
Yeah, I would add to what Lidia was saying about how as consumers, right, we are demanding more and more technology has allowed us to take control of our health in ways that was previously unimaginable. But now it's no longer enough just to tell us when we're at our annual physical go eat a Mediterranean diet. We don't even know what that means, right? We believe that health also happens between those doctor visits, and that's really the importance of these tiny, small, actionable steps. So I completely agree with what Lidia is saying about this evolution and this moment, and we are absolutely seeing this profound shift, but as consumers, we want solutions that are both personalized and proactive.
Stephanie Agresta:
Noom definitely captured the moment, when it all began. You mentioned the pandemic, right? Yes. So that's when everything became, you know, you know, we all went online by no choice. We had no choice. So how did Noom respond to that?
Karin:
Yeah, well, I mean, absolutely. I think Noom really did excel during the pandemic because it was a little bit ahead of the times, right? It was at the time, a behavior change focus, weight loss program. It didn't require in-person meetings. And so it really did have an opportunity to grow, while people were, you know, in isolation at home. And it's continued to stay ahead of the curve by introducing all of these AI tools. I think one of the really nice things about these tools is that they are more readily available. I mean, that's the beauty of moving in this direction is that it makes things easier, it makes things more efficient and really more equitable. Because without needing an individual's time and energy, pretty much anyone can access a lot of this information out, which is, which is amazing.
And it really does remove barriers and help improve people's lives. I will add though, that from a health equity perspective, I think it's really important that we take the time to think about who could be left behind, because while these tools could really improve lives from millions and millions of people and make things more accessible for them, there are various audiences that, for whatever reason, some around social determinants of health and some around things like privacy concerns are not necessarily evolving as quickly as the industry is evolving. So I think it's really important that as we continue to move in this direction, we bring everyone along with us and that we use these tools as a way towards health equity rather than potentially moving away from it.
Stephanie Agresta:
Mm-hmm . Very well said. Yeah. I have a statistic here actually, that the digital health market size is expected to be worth around $1190.4 billion, which is almost $1.2 trillion. I had to look that up, but, by 2032, up from $264 billion just two years ago. So there's no doubt the proliferation is there. The digital tools are there. Karin, you mentioned access to those tools and what is often barriers and blockades to access, but there's also consumers who just, you know, from a motivation standpoint, struggle with adoption. So can you talk a little bit about how Noom addresses those obstacles?
Karin:
Yeah, sure. Well, I will say that there's a few different buckets of these, right? There's—I'll go start with the social determinants of health because there are environmental barriers that prevent people from using some of these tools. Everything from, you know, lower income, where people can't necessarily afford a wearable or a monthly subscription. And Noom is really working to use AI to make everything more affordable. There's people who live in rural areas with poor wifi, where even accessing their electronic health records can be difficult. And then there are things around literacy, and that can include health literacy or digital literacy, people understanding the information that's being conveyed to them or how to use these tools. So I think there's a lot that we can do in those areas to get people on a par with others who are more advanced in those areas.
But then there's also a lack of trust in the system. A 2023 Pew research study found that 60% of people said that they were uncomfortable with their physicians using AI as part of their healthcare. And another study the following year found that 40% of people said that they were uncomfortable with their information sitting with big tech companies. So, you know, if they were to use a wearable to measure their heart rate, they were concerned about where that information might go. And as a health communications person, this is where I feel like the industry is moving so quickly, but we're not necessarily communicating enough information to people about how these tools can help break down barriers. How these tools can help them live better, longer lives, and why they should have trust in the system. And that's something that we're working to do at Noom as well.
Stephanie Agresta:
Yeah. That's fundamental to wanting to use these tools if you don't have trust that the outcome is something you're comfortable with. Right? So MT, I know you guys focus on behavior change. I'd love to hear—you gave us one example with the micro steps, which I love by the way. Because there's no way I'm getting six to seven hours of sleep a night with two little kids. But if you could talk about some of the other ways you guys approach behavior change and how it's integrated into people's work tools.
MT Grant:
Mm-hmm .Yeah, it's incredibly important to consider the realities, as Karin mentioned, of many people when it comes to incorporating healthier habits into their daily lives. One example of this is we recently partnered with the Texas Heart Institute, in Houston, Texas, and their CEO Dr. Joseph Rogers, he told us about one of his patients who is afraid to go walk in their neighborhood because their neighbor has an off leash dog. So prescribing the 10,000 steps to this person just will not work. So it's really, really important to think about meeting people where they are. So instead to this patient prescribe, we had prescribed when you're at the grocery store, park in a spot that's further away from the door. Or when you have an opportunity to take stairs over the elevator, try that. Or if you have young kids or grandkids or nieces or nephews, get out and play with them.
So, as Karin mentioned, movement, notice we don't even call it exercise movement, does not have to mean an expensive gym membership or a wearable or even going for a walk. There's all of these other creative micro steps that we can try. Another example of this, one of my favorite projects that we've done to date at Thrive is our recent partnership with California's Blue Shield Promise Plan, where we created a free Thrive Global cookbook. It's available in 11 languages, you can get yours at thriveglobal.com/cookbook. And in this cookbook, there are over 60 recipes. There are dozens of creative swaps, and all of them are budget friendly.
So one thing I share with Lidia is I really struggle in the kitchen. So something that I love most about this cookbook is that most of the recipes are five ingredients or less, where salt and pepper are considered ingredients. So our cognitive nutrition director, Tess Bredesen, she curated this cookbook with contributions from the world's top chefs like Ina Garten. And really what this cookbook is doing is underscoring Thrive's belief that at a time when chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes are skyrocketing, that access to healthy food can be for everyone. You know, healthy eating can be for everyone regardless of your income or your location.
Stephanie Agresta:
That's great. Well, as everyone here at South By knows one of the busiest words at South By is AI, and as you brought up generative AI, Lidia. I'd love to get a little deeper understanding of what Pfizer is doing in the space of AI and generative AI and how that's impacting these tools.
Lidia Fonseca:
Yeah, I mean, clearly AI is evolving rapidly and absolutely shaking up our experience and how we experience healthcare. AI, you know, helps with earlier detection of disease. And we definitely have seen that. More personalized treatments. And it's certainly shaping, you know, the way we do what we do every day, but also allows us to monitor our health remotely between doctor visits. I think Karin brought it up before, right? You have when you go to the doctor, but what happens in between? And digital health and AI tools can really help give us visibility for those in between moments. Right? And I also think it's giving patients and consumers what I like to call the power of knowing, because the more you know, the more informed you are and you can then make decisions about your health. So with better access to information, we can take greater control of our health.
So while this can be empowering, it can also be challenging since there's so many health information resources out there, it can also be hard to know what information to trust and what next steps to take. And that is precisely why we created Health Answers by Pfizer, is to provide up to date relevant answers to health and wellness questions and health centers by Pfizer Stephanie is a generative AI product. So it is generative AI native. So it has a conversational nature to it. And it—the other thing that we took great care of is to only use trusted and credible third party sources. And that differentiates the experience from other health information sites out there. In fact, in consumer testing, 95% of participants told us that they would make health answers by Pfizer, their go-to source for health information. And now that we've launched, consumers are consistently rating the experience 4.7 out of five.
Which is pretty, actually, it's pretty remarkable for a consumer digital product. And, you know, the other thing that we're seeing is that consumers who have accessed Health Answers by Pfizer are spending an average of over four minutes per visit compared to one minute, 19 seconds on some of the other experiences out there, which indicates that it is bringing value to them. And then the other thing that we're seeing, Stephanie, is that people are—keep coming back to the product. So once they experience it, they you know, it answers a question of they've been diagnosed with something and they look it up, they keep coming back, not just for themselves, but also for their loved ones as well. So I do think that AI is absolutely, especially generative AI because of its conversational nature, I think it's helping us to become a lot more comfortable with engaging and re-engaging and making it just part of how we look for information, but also, you know, the behavioral aspect and also being able to keep track over time as well. So these are powerful because I liken it to if you engage in something or if you have a product, you're going to keep using it if it keeps bringing you value. And that value are in the day to day moments, and it's, you know, when something happens and you need to be able to turn to a credible resource. So that's, you know, that's what it's doing that I see remarkable as I think about healthcare and experience.
Stephanie Agresta:
Yes. It has utility and credibility and it really is changing patient experience. And by the way, it's very easy to access. Right. It's just healthanswers.pfizer.com.
Lidia Fonseca:
Yes. . Exactly.
Stephanie Agresta:
That's easy. You can all pull that up right now if you wanted. I know that Thrive has content and experience integrated into Health Answers as one of those credible sources. MT could you tell us a little bit more about, how that partnership works and Thrive AI and how that is integrated?
MT Grant:
Yes, of course. So I'll circle back to something that Lidia said earlier, which is, it's not just enough to innovate in medicine, but also how important it is to continue driving on innovating in the consumer experience and also making healthcare more accessible and convenient for all. So Health Answers is really looking to do all of that. And Thrive content is powering health answers and we are bringing our science backed content focused on the key behaviors of sleep, food, movement, stress management, and connection directly into Health Answers. So we are powering the try at home section, which is all about moving users from awareness to action. And one of the elements that we have made available is our Thrive Reset. Reset is based on the neuroscience that it takes just 60 seconds for us to course correct in moments of stress. So simple, yet so powerful. An example of this is we deployed our Thrive Resets at the National Domestic Violence Hotline for their advocates who are answering stressful traumatic calls all day long from survivors of domestic violence. And in deploying these resets to them, they found that 87% of these advocates said that they felt like the National Domestic Violence Hotline was taking significant action to help them from recovering from these stressful calls. So just 60 seconds. So Reset is one of the things that you can find and go try at home on Health Answers.
Stephanie Agresta:
Is there also a coach aspect to it?
MT Grant:
So our Thrive AI Health coach—
Stephanie Agresta:
Oh, health coach, right.
MT Grant:
Yes. Is all about democratizing access. So Arianna Huffington and Sam Altman started a company called Thrive AI Health. And Thrive AI Health is fully dedicated to building an AI health coach. And this AI health coach is all about democratizing access to expert level health coaching in order to improve health outcomes. So today, many, as we've talked about, many of the health recommendations are very generic. So a patient portal might tell you, go get your annual flu shot, or your smartwatch might tell you to stand up or to breathe, but with the AI health coach, it will actually deliver hyper personalized recommendations to that person. So mine might be, instead of having that second cup of coffee, let's try to switch it with a tea, or we know that you've been on back to back Microsoft Teams calls, so it's time to go take the dog around the block for a walk. Or instead of, you know, staying up, let's start a wind down routine at 10:00 PM instead of binging White Lotus. Right? Really the key to this is hyper personalization, and that's what the AI coach is going to deliver.
Stephanie Agresta:
That's fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about the AI body scan and a few of the others? That'd be great.
Karin Bilich:
Yeah. I touched on a few of them before, but 2024 was a big year for Noom in terms of really incorporating AI as a way to start breaking down barriers and making things better for more people. So the body scan tool is, first of all, it's available to anyone with a smartphone, so it doesn't require any type of payment. But essentially it uses AI to assess someone's body mass index and corresponding health risks and then can kick them off from there into a program that can really help drive them to improving their health. As I mentioned, there are other tools as well that that Noom introduced in 2024, including the taking a picture of your meal and that type of assessment. Noom also in 2024 started moving into the or sorry, last week, started moving into the menopause space and we're beginning to use AI there as well for, for customized programs and treatments.
And so I think all of this really is about making things more available to more people. And while I don't think AI is ever gonna completely replace humans, it's really taking down barriers and it's really getting things to people. I mean, Lidia, you talked about knowledge being power, and I think that is so true in this space. And by using AI to get more knowledge to more people, we are really empowering them with health information and with real actions that they can take in very personalized ways to improve their own health.
Stephanie Agresta:
Well, and you did bring up some of the concerns, both privacy, ethics that is on a lot of people's minds when it comes to AI. Lidia, I know you've been talking with patient advocates about the evolution of AI technology. What are you hearing from patients in this regard, and how do you address their concerns when you try to promote AI powered digital tools?
Lidia Fonseca:
Yeah, look, AI, as you've heard from the three of us, it's a powerful tool for good in healthcare, such as earlier and more accurate diagnosis and you know, the being able to bring behavioral science and behavioral steps and actions that patients can take and access to better quality and more personalized information and care. And as we think about personalization, for example, in Health Answers by Pfizer, one of the things that we've done is that we can actually personalize the responses by you providing the information to you know, and creating the account and providing your information. And we will actually do that on a question by question basis. So you are empowered as a consumer to decide, yes, I want this answer personalized. And so, and the reason I tell you that is that personalization, I think to gain the trust and to really drive that consumers need to be, need to feel that they are empowered and that they're in control of their health.
But we also recognize the risks. We're cognizant of the risks as well, right? So, for example, AI algorithms require large amounts of data, which automatically raises a concern about the privacy and security of patient information. The other thing is that AI algorithms can also have inherent biases in the data that they're trained on, right? So potentially leading to you know, disparities in care or misdiagnosis for certain groups of patients, particularly those that are traditionally underrepresented. And I think we need to be cognizant and conscious of that. So to that end, Pfizer is empowering our colleagues with both what we call the rules. So the principles, the policies, the governance, as well as the tools to, you know, create and use responsible AI. And we're doing that because we want to ensure that we protect the privacy and the security of patient information because we do hear from patients and patient advocates that that's really, really important. To mitigate the risk of bias.
We actually created a tool called Ethicara that reviews all of our AI and machine learning models for any bias and then also provides mitigation for those biases. And that's, again, it's a way that we are not only providing and being conscious of the risk, but also putting in place processes and tools as we design and create products. We also participate in a number of outside forums with policy makers, with academia and business leaders across industries to encourage AI governance, oversight and regulation that on the one hand builds public trust, but also enables innovation. Because there's a lot of innovation that AI can unlock, and we're seeing it, we've already experienced it, but it needs to be done in such a way that people trust it and that they feel that when they leverage it, it's going to be for their good. And it's also going to be very mindful of protecting their privacy and their data.
Healthcare. I mean, that's some of the most intimate moments of our lives when we are getting care. And so, you know, we take that very, very seriously. So at Pfizer, we recognize and we believe in the principle that trust is everything. And so responsible and ethical AI is absolutely the way that we operate in everything that we do. And our patient advocates, by the way, really appreciate that because they've seen the tools that we provide to them as well to be able to support, you know, the patients that they interact with.
Stephanie Agresta:
Yeah. They see the intention behind your innovation too, and the trust and the care you have for their privacy and ethics associated with AI. How about you guys? How are you fielding some of those same concerns?
MT Grant
I think it's normal to be uneasy about what AI is going to bring. And as Lidia mentioned, of course, we need to be careful about data privacy and guardrails. At Thrive, we are laser focused on developing these valuable recommendations because what the data has shown is that users are more likely to share information if that value exchange is there. So for us, we're focused on creating that value. And of course, always all data is opt in. Everything is anonymized and aggregate at the end of the day.
Karin Bilich:
Yeah, I will second what both of you said. You know, at Noom, data privacy and security is always top of mind is a top priority. We implement all of the standard security measures, HIPAA and so on. But I do think the core of the question is about trust, right? You know, I talked before about people's lack of trust in the system of where their information goes. We hear from people who say things like, if this is logging that I have high blood pressure, is that information gonna get conveyed to a health insurance company or a life insurance company? And is that gonna impact what types of plans I'm offered? So I think the key to this really is communicating, making sure people have good understanding of why it's important to collect this information, how that will be helpful to them and then what can and cannot happen to that information. And I think it's only through building that trust that we can get people to really engage more in AI and other technology which will ultimately improve their life outcomes.
Stephanie Agresta:
And I love that each of you has focused on the patient, right? And that you've had these conversations directly with patients. Lidia are there any stories that really stand out for you when you think about patient experiences or something memorable, in your conversations with patient advocates?
Lidia Fonseca:
Yeah, I've heard from patients and patient advocates, and I'll share a couple of some of that, direct feedback on products, but also just some of their expression and, you know, some of what they've told us. So we certainly have heard from patients and patient advocates that we need to take the time to educate them on how to use new digital products and tools. And that's something that we take, you know, take very much into account because we cannot expect patients, many of whom are literally fighting for their lives to keep up with every new development. It's not their job, right? That's our job to do. We also know that patients want to co-create with us. And so they are eager to provide feedback as we develop new products for them. For instance, when we were developing Health Answers by Pfizer, we conducted testing with 13,000 consumers all around the U.S. from different parts of the country, different backgrounds, different income levels.
So really to get a good sense of, you know, the response and their expectation. And we received invaluable feedback that helped us make the product even better. Consumers found the product easy to use, but they also emphasized the need for clearer, more intuitive instructions and navigation. So we enhanced the product based on their feedback, and that helped us, you know, boost the product. Since launch, we've also received direct feedback from a number of customers, and I'd like to share a couple of those. One consumer asked for stretching exercises to help with sore muscles in her shoulder. She said the answers were a godsend, because it helped her to get back to her normal day to day routine at work and with her young daughter. Another consumer said that he was recently diagnosed with diabetes and didn't know where to turn.
So he appreciated how the site got to know him, by the way. I love that the site got to know me, and offered additional articles that were relevant to him. And so he said that it would've taken him much longer to find the information that he needed to take action. And that's very powerful and it definitely kind of fuels us to make sure that we continue, you know, to develop our products. So hopefully that brings to life a couple of examples of consumer feed feedback, but always done to maximize the impact that our products and experiences that we create can have on them.
Stephanie Agresta:
Well, success stories have always been a part of both Thrive and Noom. So do you guys have any success stories you wanna share or, you know, patient experiences that have really helped you drive your roadmap and innovate your products?
Karin Bilich:
Well I brought a user quote with me, because I think what has made Noom so successful, and we hear things like this from so many people, is that when you really can bring together clinical care and behavior change, it works magic. It's, you know, one plus one equals three in many ways. And so this particular user said “the combination of healthy lifestyle and lifesaving weight loss medications is the only way I've been able to shed 90 pounds. The Noom program is amazing and continues to evolve. I've seriously tried everything including gastric bypass, but nothing is a quick fix. Obesity is a health issue that deserves everything science can provide to address it. Noom is doing just that and in a way I've never seen before.” So I think that sort of sums up how I think, you know, it goes along with what we've talked about. When you go to a doctor's office, you can often get the clinical care, but you don't get the behavior change. What we've been able to do in companies like Noom and others is really bring those together in a unique way that serves people.
Stephanie Agresta:
Yeah. And Thrive has always been very vocal about real impact in your life that these small changes can make.
MT Grant:
Absolutely. For years we've partnered with the world's largest employers, many of whom have frontline employees, and their stories of using Thrive are so incredibly inspiring. One that really stands out to me is the story of Kathryn Carpitcher. She is a Walmart associate in Oklahoma, and her and her husband Jeff wanted nothing more than to start a family. This was their dream, and it just wasn't happening. So Catherine found out that she had PCOS and that she would need fertility treatment in order to be able to conceive a child. So of course, with this news, right, they were incredibly stressed and upset. They were eating out, not connecting in the ways that they did prior, not exercising. And so they started to use Thrive, really with the goal for Catherine to get to a place physically where she could be approved for fertility treatments. So they started with our micro steps, very small things like instead of eating out cooking at home, she discovered that she loved grilled asparagus. She had never had that before. During meals, they would put their phones down on the table so they could have that time to connect on her lunch breaks from Walmart. She would go walk in the local mall. This is really why personalization is key, what we're talking about. And recently Catherine found out that she has been approved for fertility treatments.
Stephanie Agresta:
That’s Amazing. That's great. Yeah. You guys get to see and hear those every day, which is real inspiration for the work you do. You also have a lot of marketers here at South by Southwest, and I know as a marketer myself, I'm always curious about how, you know, how you continue to innovate in customer acquisition. Before we came on stage, we talked a little bit about the Noom quizzes I remember doing years ago, right? So what are some of the new ways that you have continued to grow your user base?
Karin Bilich:
Well, I'll start because I think, as I mentioned, Noom has recently moved into the menopause space, which is much needed, as a woman in her forties. I can definitely attest to that but I think that when you're speaking to an audience like that, people don't always have the time to maybe take a long quiz like they did before. So I think some of the shifting that has happened is really moving more into the podcast space, much like we're doing now and audio and video on the platforms where people are, because I think especially with that target audience, people like myself don't always have time to sit down and dedicate to searching for these things and engaging in these things. So if you can really meet people where they are and give it to them in a format where they can listen to it while they're doing something else that we've found to be a real game changer in the last few years.
MT Grant:
Yeah. I would add to that, Karin, what you said is so important. Time. Yeah. I don't think any of us feel like we have excess time. So really what has evolved with Thrive is bringing health and wellbeing into people's lives, into moments that they are already navigating. So an example of this is, every week at Thrive, we have an all-hands and we spin a wheel. We choose a different Thriver every week to share a Personal Reset. So a Personal Reset is something that you can create on Thrive, which includes your favorite music, photos, quotes, videos. You get to share the things that you love. So mine focuses on days in the sun with my husband Chris, and our mini Goldendoodle Bash. But really what's important about this is it provides not only the 60 second moment of reset, but also this opportunity for connection, where we have people all around the globe, many of whom I work with on a daily basis, but have never met physically.
So I get a glimpse into what matters most about them during something that I'm already navigating an all-hands. So really it's about how do we integrate health and wellbeing into our daily lives?
Stephanie Agresta:
I love that you do that at work, . You actually implement that in your own, you know, day to day too. So we are wrapping up here. We only have a few more minutes and I wanna end us on a question that really focuses us out on, you know, the future. So what do each of you see as the brightest future for healthcare technology, and what do we need to do to get there? So, you know, what do you really see coming up in the horizon and what are those steps we're going to be taking to achieve that? I'm gonna start with you again MT.
MT Grant:
Sure. As I mentioned, we are navigating a chronic disease crisis. 129 million Americans have at least one chronic condition and growing and 80% of these conditions are preventable through lifestyle changes focused on sleep, food, movement, stress management, and connection. So for me, it's not about more technology, it's about better technology that is more personalized, fosters this human connection that's so important, and also integrates into every single aspect of our lives.
Stephanie Agresta:
That's great. Karin.
Karin Bilich:
I will go back to health equity and health communications because I think the technology is incredible and we have the ability to do amazing things for people and personalized care in a way that's never happened before. But the—you know, if you build it, they will come, may or may not happen. And so I think we, it's really important that we bring people along for the journey because we have the opportunity to use this technology to make everyone's lives better. But there's also the possibility if people are hesitant, if people don't have good access to these things, to actually have it create an even greater divide. So I think with the right strategies around communicating this information and getting people to understand how their lives can be better, as a result, we have the opportunity to really achieve something wonderful.
Stephanie Agresta:
Doubling down on communication, absolutely agree with that. And Lidia.
Lidia Fonseca:
You know, Pfizer has set the ambition to change a billion lives every year, not just during a pandemic year. And so we believe very much that healthcare technology will continue to make health more personalized and convenient, increasing access for assault. We've been talking about some of that here. And we do believe that digital health will become more of the norm, helping us to supplement traditional treatment options and approaches and improve the patient experience. And also, very importantly, adherence to treatment. Because we know that when people adhere to their treatment, they're faster on the path to wellness. And it also addresses blind spots in between doctor visits or prescription refills. But I also believe, and this is what I would add to the conversation as far as, you know, like what do I see as gonna be really key? Healthcare is a team sport. And in order for us to make real change, because healthcare is so fragmented, we're going to need to work together to bridge gaps in our complex healthcare ecosystem.
And so partnerships are going to be a powerful way for us to overcome some of the challenges that exist and to really achieve the full potential of capabilities like AI and, and advanced technologies. And so, and we're going to do that for the benefit of patients. So at Pfizer, we're very much committed to partnerships. You know, we work with biotechs, with startups, we work with tech companies, public sector, academia and industry coalitions, as well as world data collaborations as well. Real world data collaborations, because it's when we do that together that we believe that we are in the best position to bring to patients the solutions, the medicines, the behavioral changes that are going to ensure that, you know, they do live healthier and longer lives.
Stephanie Agresta:
Well, thank you guys. The future is definitely bright and thanks to women like you that are making a difference. So thank you all for your great ideas and contributions to this conversation. And thank you all to coming to the Pfizer Podcasting Lounge.
Edie Allard:
Throughout this conversation you heard Lidia Fonseca reference Health Answers by Pfizer. In February 2025, Pfizer launched this new platform, powered by generative AI that provides clear, relevant answers to your health & wellness questions and helps you take action for yourself and your loved ones. To learn more, visit healthanswers.pfizer.com