PhD student, founder, speaker at the World Physics Congress: Anna-Julia Bay from Furtwangen University. Picture: ©Jigal Fichtner
Anna-Julia Bay, a student at Furtwangen University, is presenting a very special app at the World Physics Congress in Tokyo
A particularly dedicated student at Furtwangen University (HFU) is just getting off the ground with a new concept that combines doctor's visits and physiotherapy applications with telemedicine. Anna-Julia Bay achieved the dream grade of 1.3 in her master's thesis, is now starting her dissertation at HFU − and has also developed a product that could revolutionise the treatment of patients who have undergone knee or hip surgery.
Her original life plan was different. Anna-Julia Bay knew from an early age that she wanted to become a doctor. As a surgeon, her father exemplified her passion for helping people. So Anna-Julia Bay began studying medicine with the German Armed Forces. However, when she decided to leave after two years, she had to find a temporary solution. Bay began studying physiotherapy, “actually as a bridge to studying medicine”, and was in for a surprise. “I found it absolutely incredible how effectively you can help people without invasive intervention, without medication, without surgery,” she recalls. At Furtwangen University, she met professors who really impressed her. “The things they had already done, both in research and internationally − I realised that the field is completely underrated.”
During her bachelor's degree, Bay threw herself enthusiastically into basic research on upper extremities. “It's amazing how little we know about orthopaedic clinical pictures,” she still marvels today. In order to apply her knowledge immediately, Bay started working in practice early on and dedicated herself fully to her new vocation. "That was very fulfilling. However, I also continued to do further training and was also interested in research topics in this field beyond my job. And I quickly realized − I want to keep going!" Bay discovered the “Applied Health Promotion” master's degree at HFU through a friend. "It was clear to me − this is it! I don't want to narrow my field of work, I want to expand it," reports Bay, who is also concerned that far too much treatment is curative rather than preventative. It is not only during her studies that she deals intensively with the question of the effectiveness of the healthcare system; she also discusses this at home with her father, who contributes his perspective as a specialist in knee and hip surgery. Together, the two of them considered whether it might not be possible to postpone such operations for longer or to make the treatment of patients more effective. “I take a critical view of inpatient rehabilitation,” says Bay, "and I'm not convinced by the conservative treatment plan with three months of therapy before the operation; many patients have a longer course. I thought to myself − everyone complains about the system, so I'll develop something to make it better," says the young woman resolutely. And she developed a telemedicine concept, an app that would accompany patients three months before and nine months after an operation. "It all fell into place and made more and more sense. I practically flew through the master's," she says enthusiastically. She was able to integrate a lot of the course content directly into her concept.
The next big step was made possible by HFU's start-up support. Anna-Julia Bay received initial funding for her idea and also found partners for the areas that she could not cover herself − the psychological factor and the technical know-how. "Today I work with my co-founder Amelie Horn, an engineering psychology student, and Gideon Faber, a computer scientist, in a working group. Together we are implementing the idea of my master's thesis, the app." The team is being supervised by Prof. Dr. Kirsten Steinhausen and Prof. Dr. Christophe Kunze from HFU.
The application is intended to be a tool that mainly benefits patients. With educational units and sample videos, they receive lots of information and instructions on how to manage their condition effectively. But doctors, nursing staff and therapists also benefit from the smart development. “If patients already know the basics and do regular exercises − using examples that this vulnerable, often older group of people can really understand and implement − then doctors and therapists can concentrate on providing more individualised care,” describes Bay.
Her business concept is going from strength to strength. Bay has since received a lot of positive and interested feedback, including from the medical technology sector. “It's fantastic to get the feedback that this makes a lot of sense and is good,” she says. "Nowadays, everyone googles their illnesses anyway, so you might as well provide the information that's really important. My aim is for the patients themselves to become the experts on their illness." Anna-Julia Bay finds the in-depth and reliable specialist knowledge to provide this information in her own environment, “I work with my father on the educational videos”. A grant from Female Founders is now also supporting the promising project, Bay and her fellow campaigners are making contact with health insurance companies and the sports clinic in Ravensburg has joined as a project partner. The group is really enjoying developing the content for the new app. “It's important that we keep it very low-threshold,” says Bay. “No extreme strength training, no complicated exercises demonstrated by perfect people. And everything should be as low-stimulus and unobtrusive as possible to appeal to older people.”
The next step is the demanding approval as a medical product and the usability test of the product, reports Bay. Despite the enormous pace, she somehow still found time to apply with her idea as a speaker for the World Physiology Congress, which will take place in Tokyo this summer − and was promptly accepted. Inspired by her passion for the subject, Anna-Julia Bay has a healthy dose of self-confidence to present herself on this world stage and is thinking ahead, "I'm really looking forward to presenting my idea − and also making contacts with international investors.