Digital Health Weekly - 24 -30 Jan, 2026

• Dr. Julie Wood, a family physician with nearly 20 years of experience, was named senior medical director for clinician engagement at Linus Health, an AI‑driven brain‑health company. 
• Linus Health’s AI‑powered digital screenings can detect subtle cognitive changes, enabling primary‑care doctors to identify impairment years before symptoms appear. 
• Research shows these AI assessments can reveal Alzheimer’s‑related amyloid and tau signals in cognitively normal patients, supporting earlier, preventive interventions. 
• By providing objective data up front, the AI tools streamline referrals, reduce specialist wait times, and extend specialist expertise to rural and underserved communities. 

• MindBio Therapeutics Corp., a biotechnology company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has developed a world‑first AI prediction tool that detects drug and alcohol intoxication by analyzing the human voice, targeting the global digital health diagnostics market. 
• The technology leverages sophisticated machine‑learning models trained on over 50 million data points from clinical trials, achieving remarkable accuracy in predicting alcohol intoxication and estimating blood‑alcohol concentration levels.  
• MindBio’s voice‑analytics solution offers a revolutionary, low‑cost alternative for high‑volume intoxication testing in regulated workplaces such as mining, aviation, and construction, where traditional testing is time‑consuming and expensive. 
• The company plans to expand its algorithms to detect additional prohibited substances and is developing an enterprise platform for applications in workplaces, call centres, mental‑health services, and law‑enforcement.

• Australians will soon have access to a clearer view of their full medicines history under digital health reforms announced by Health Minister Mark Butler. 
• The reforms aim to provide a comprehensive, accessible record of medication history to improve medicines management. 
• By reducing medication errors and enhancing care coordination, the changes are expected to boost patient safety and outcomes. 
• This initiative is part of a broader push to leverage technology for better healthcare across Australia. 

• Top tennis stars Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka were instructed to remove their WHOOP fitness trackers during Australian Open matches because Grand Slam events currently ban such wearables. 
• The devices, approved by the International Tennis Federation for regular tour events, collect physiological data (heart rate, load, sleep, recovery) that athletes use to monitor health and optimize performance. 
• Tennis Australia said it is discussing possible rule changes, but for now players must comply with the ban, even though they can still access external‑load metrics like distance and shot speed from tournament‑provided data. 
• Players, especially Sabalenka, argue the prohibition is out of step with other tournaments and hope the decision will be reversed so they can track health metrics in real time.

• The DNA Screen pilot by Monash University (2022‑2024) found that three‑quarters of high‑risk genetic variant carriers were ineligible for publicly funded genomic screening. 
• Over 10,000 Australians aged 18‑40 were screened, detecting pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in 2% of participants, yet 75% of the 165 who sought clinical appointments did not meet eligibility criteria. 
• The study tested 10 genes linked to hereditary breast/ovarian cancer, Lynch syndrome and familial hypercholesterolaemia—CDC‑designated tier‑one, medically actionable conditions. 
• Researchers led by Dr Jane Tiller are urging the federal government to fund a national screening program and have launched a campaign site for citizens to email their MPs. 

• Aptar Digital Health and ŌURA have partnered to feed Oura Ring’s continuous biometric data into the Migraine Buddy app, automating migraine trigger detection for the 12 % of global sufferers. 
• The integration layers objective metrics, sleep quality, heart‑rate variability and temperature trends,from the ring with millions of users’ subjective reports of pain, aura and nausea. 
• By adding Oura’s menstrual cycle insights, the collaboration specifically targets women, whose migraines are often linked to hormonal fluctuations. 
• The combined data aims to turn guesses about triggers such as poor sleep into verifiable patterns, enabling personalized, proactive migraine management. 

• Researchers at UW–Madison, together with Georgia Tech and funded by the National Science Foundation, have created a radar‑based contactless vital‑sign monitoring system called MEDUSA. 
• MEDUSA uses multiple distributed radar units and integrated software to capture breathing and heart rate even when subjects move or sensors lose line of sight, enabling real‑world use. 
• The technology aims to transform settings such as neonatal intensive care units, where wire‑free monitoring can lower infection risk, skin injury, and staff workload. 
• Led by Prof. Suman Banerjee, the team is seeking further funding to miniaturize the radar hardware for deployment in patient rooms and possibly AR headsets.