Correct Treatment, Correct Patient, Correct Time: The Promise of Personalized Health

On September 9, Zurich hosted the Future of Health Grant Conference, co-organized with the Swiss InsurTech Hub. For the first time, the event moved from Lausanne to Zurich, bringing together researchers, clinicians, startups, insurers, and patients to explore a central theme:

Is personalized health really the future of healthcare?

The afternoon featured a keynote by Professor Olivier Michielin, a pioneer in precision oncology, and two lively panels that examined both the promise and the barriers of this transformation. What emerged was a strong sense that personalized health is no longer a distant concept — it is becoming a paradigm shift.

Professor Michielin, Head of Oncology at Geneva University Hospital (HUG), illustrated how precision oncology embodies the principle of “the right treatment, for the right patient, at the right time.” Thanks to data integration and AI, treatments can now be guided by genetic, imaging, and real-world evidence rather than one-size-fits-all protocols.

Switzerland is working toward national-scale collaboration through initiatives such as the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) and Personalized Health and Related Technologies (PHRT), which aim to create a harmonized data structure across university hospitals. These efforts are laying the groundwork for real-world evidence studies and new ways to compare treatment strategies.
Michielin also underlined the importance of molecular tumor boards, which bring together clinical, genomic, and imaging data to evaluate treatment lines, allowing each patient to benefit from the collective experience of previous cases. “The next patient can be treated better thanks to the data accumulated from the previous ones.”

Another distinctive advantage for Switzerland is its regulatory framework. Article 71* enables patients to access innovative therapies earlier when there is a clear rationale and expected benefit, offering a unique pathway to bring new treatments into practice.

*Article 71 of the Swiss Health Insurance Ordinance allows compulsory health insurance to exceptionally cover medicines not normally reimbursed. Thus, medicines listed in the official list of specialities (LS) but prescribed outside their authorized indication, medicines authorized by Swissmedic but not in the LS, or even medicines only authorized abroad, may still be reimbursed. It offers a pathway for patients to access innovative therapies earlier while ensuring that reimbursement decisions remain evidence-based and justified.

🔗 Source: Swiss Federal Office of Public Health FOPH: “Reimbursement for the cost of medicinal products in individual cases (bag.admin.ch)

The first panel brought together Philomena Colatrella (CEO, CSS), Hanna Boëthius (Patient Advocate, Diabetes Expert & Coach), Eric Laudet (CEO & Founder, Holistiq), and Prof. Olivier Michielin (Head of Oncology Department, HUG). The discussion was moderated by Nicolas Loeillot, Innovation Catalyst at CSS.

Hanna Boëthius opened with the patient’s perspective. Living with type 1 diabetes for more than three decades, she described the evolution from rudimentary tools to today’s sophisticated wearables. She now generates more than 500 data points daily, a wealth of information that can empower, but only if education and accessibility are ensured. Without these, she warned, “many patients will be left behind.”

Eric Laudet described the “grey zone” in healthcare where many are not acutely sick but not well either. Conventional medicine often offers little beyond trial and error. Through Holistiq, he is using wearables, lab data, and AI to identify root causes, aiming to help patients move beyond endless experimentation.

From the insurer’s standpoint, Philomena Colatrella stressed the importance of becoming a true partner in care: “Our role as insurers is not just to reimburse, but to support prevention, enable pilots, and connect innovators with providers. That’s how personalized health will scale.” 

Professor Michielin emphasized that while precision medicine holds promise, it often still comes in only as a last resort. Moving it into mainstream clinical care will be essential to achieving its full potential.

Six startups present at the conference illustrated how personalization is already being applied in practice. Enhance-d is tailoring training programs for athletes with diabetes, while Bonescreen is tackling osteoporosis prevention through personalized risk assessments. Bewe is developing gamified tools to fight addiction and unhealthy eating habits, and BioInitials has created a toothbrush that analyzes saliva to monitor chronic diseases such as asthma and prevent emergency visits. Finally, s.360 presented their new face scan product for the remote monitoring of 30+ health markers and Xaidi explained how they are supporting neurodiverse patients and exploring how personalized health can contribute to human flourishing. Together, these initiatives demonstrated how personalization can extend from prevention to chronic care and overall quality of life.

The second panel brought together  Patrick Griss (CEO & Partner, Zühlke Ventures AG), Manuel Römer (Chief Strategy Officer, Exploris Health), and Karin Tremp (Principal, Healthcare & Insurance, Boston Consulting Group). The discussion was moderated by Brijesh Luthra of the Swiss InsurTech Hub.

Panelists categorized innovations into three types: detectors that identify risks early, interventions that deliver targeted therapies, and response testers that measure treatment effectiveness. They pointed to international examples such as Finland’s use of digital tools in mental health as early proof points for what personalization could look like at scale.

Barriers, however, remain significant. Clinical evidence is the cornerstone for adoption and reimbursement. Patient inclusion and time for co-creation are critical to ensure trust and relevance. And startups must carefully choose their entry points into the healthcare system, often through pilots with insurers, collaborations with specialists, and partnerships with established providers. As the panelists underlined, success depends on going out early, selecting the right market, and surrounding oneself with the right partners.

The Future of Health Grant Conference showed that personalized health is both a promise and a work in progress. In oncology, precision approaches are still too often applied as a last resort rather than a standard of care. Yet momentum is building, supported by advances in data integration, AI, and collaborative infrastructures.

At the same time, new personalized solutions are emerging in prevention, chronic disease management, and daily care — pointing to a broader shift that extends well beyond specialized hospital settings.

The challenge now is to embed these innovations into mainstream practice. That means generating robust clinical evidence, involving patients as active partners, and building the collaborations needed to scale responsibly.

At the Future of Health Grant, we see this progress every day in the work of our startups. The conference was not an endpoint, but a milestone on the path toward healthcare that is not only more precise but also more relevant to people’s lives.

For those who couldn’t join, you can watch the full recording below or a 1-minute recap video to revisit the highlights. The reveal of our new startup cohort and the announcement of new partnerships were also important milestones of the day — and are detailed in our post-event press release.

We invite you to continue this journey with us, as innovators, partners, or advocates for a healthcare system that better meets our needs.