Speaker: Karen Coppock, Ph.D., Vice President, Consulting Services, Vital Wave Consulting

Discussion Topic: Mounting interest in the field of mHealth - the provision of health-related services via mobile communications - can be traced to the evolution of several interrelated trends. In many parts of the world, epidemics and a shortage of healthcare workers continue to present grave challenges for governments and health providers. Yet in these same places, the explosive growth of mobile communications over the past decade offers a new hope for the promotion of quality healthcare. Among those who had previously been left behind by the ‘digital divide,’ billions now have access to reliable technology.

There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the potential of mobile communications to radically improve healthcare services—even in some of the most remote and resource-poor environments. This presentation discusses issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of mobile phones and healthcare. It summarizes mHealth’s scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise the greatest impact on heath care initiatives. Dr. Coppock will also examine the building blocks required to make mHealth more widely available through sustainable implementations.

About Karen: Karen Coppock brings over a decade of experience in strategic business planning for emerging markets, and particular strengths in strategy, business development, and research to her role as Vice President of Consulting Services. Prior to joining Vital Wave Consulting, Dr. Coppock served as the Director of Industry Collaboration for the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford University. In this capacity, she utilized her strategy, partnership development, and program management skills to improve the performance of IT and telecommunications start-ups from emerging markets around the world.

Before completing her doctorate in 2005, Dr. Coppock spent four years with Telcordia Technologies, most recently as Assistant Vice President of Strategic Accounts, Latin America. Prior to joining Telcordia, Dr. Coppock launched and headed the Latin American regional sales office for Williams Communications. She has also held positions with INTELSAT, Pacific Bell, AT&T and Harvard’s Center for International Development (Information Technology Group), Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefit Incubator and the US Peace Corps.

Dr. Coppock has led a wide range of consulting projects focusing on business and marketing strategies, technological trends and industry profiles for leading multi-national firms in the telecommunication markets in the United States and Latin America. She received her Doctoral and Master’s degrees in international business from the Fletcher School, Tufts University. Her fields of study were development economics, international technology policy and international business. She graduated cum laude with dual degrees in business administration and Spanish from California State University, Chico. Coppock has lived in Latin America for almost a decade and is fluent in Spanish.

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