As part of the restructuring announced three weeks ago, today blockchain company ConsenSys announced that ConsenSys Health is becoming an independent company. Last month’s changes involved laying off 14% of its staff and spinning out ConsenSys Investments.
“Technology for the healthcare industry demands the foundational security, identity and efficiency that blockchain technology provides, along with unique privacy and ethical considerations that deserve singular focus,” said Joe Lubin, Founder of ConsenSys, and Co-Creator of Ethereum.
He continued: “Spinning off a separate company in this area is an opportunity for us to combine the powerful technology built by ConsenSys with a team of domain leaders to solve the biggest challenges in healthcare, many of which we feel the impact of daily.”
The new company will be headed by Heather Leigh Flannery, the former division head. The former Microsoft employee spent almost nine years as founder and CEO of Obesity Prevention, Policy & Management.
She also is co-founder and chair of Blockchain in Healthcare Global, part of the IEEE standards body.
“Global leaders recognize the need for change in our current healthcare system, as it lacks the access, affordability and inclusivity that patients need,” said Flannery. “The convergence of many emerging innovations, such as blockchain and machine learning, enables us to approach old problems in new ways.”
The announcement didn’t mention funding, and we’ve reached out to ConsenSys for details.
While ConsenSys Health certainly has a high profile in the health community, to date, we’re not aware of any announcement about its involvement in major enterprise projects.
That doesn’t mean to say Ethereum is not being used in health. For example, the Mediledger pharmaceutical traceability blockchain is based on Ethereum.
