Three Questions with Weijie Poh, PhD
An interview with Digital Life Line's chief scientist.
Hi!
Welcome to “Three Questions,” a series featuring health tech personalities.
Here, you can find their stories and solutions in a snapshot.
This series extends the ALLSET Gazette, a weekly curation newsletter on healthy ageing.
Quick Facts: Digital Life Line
Website: https://digital-lifeline.com
Solution: Self-serve/AI-assisted eye screening
Looking for: Hospital partners
Interview With Weijie Poh, PhD
1. What inspired you to join Digital Life Line, and what are its core services?
I have always been drawn to the startup world. After completing my PhD in the United States, I founded a company and later joined another startup upon returning to Singapore.
It led me to an opportunity at Digital Life Line, where I am currently the Chief Scientist; the role stemmed from a recommendation during my time as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Duke-NUS Medical School.
Digital Life Line focused on automated vision screening solutions, including visual acuity which has not evolved much over the past 200 years.
A result is that in Singapore’s public healthcare system, most GPs tend to over-refer patients with suspected eye conditions to an eye specialist in the hospital, which often comes with a six to nine-month wait.
Our company improves hospitals’ testing efficiency, reduces healthcare manpower (which typically experiences high turnover), and enhances revenue generation for them.
2. Why do customers choose Digital Life Line?
Customers are drawn to Digital Life Line’s ability to save time and cost, which directly impacts their bottom line.
One of the company’s standout offerings is our portable Automated Visual Acuity Test (AVAT) kiosk that takes up 10% of the existing footprint, while allowing a single operator to test multiple patients simultaneously.
This is achieved by enabling self-served eye screening that is easy to adopt.
By reducing manpower, particularly in healthcare, where staffing turnover is high, Digital Life Line enables more efficient operations.
Our leasing model and per-test pricing make it an attractive, scalable option for various healthcare providers.
3. How’s progress, and what has been the most memorable moment so far?
We have completed trials in all the major hospitals in Singapore and generated initial sales. There’s also been interest regionally.
Speaking of which, there was a humorous yet pivotal moment while testing Digital Life Line’s products in Vietnam.
During a vision test, a woman wearing glasses had better visual acuity results when she removed her glasses. We took the next step to perform a pinhole test on AVAT without her glasses, only for it to reveal that she did not have any refractive error. She did not have to wear glasses! When we probed further, she shared that her optician had given the same advice (she did not require glasses) but she was not convinced until she did our AVAT test.
This was a striking reminder that many people wear glasses for cosmetic reasons rather than medical necessity, and the story highlights the need for better accessibility and awareness of eye care, particularly in remote areas.
In another instance, we brought AVAT on a 2 hour car ride from the main city to a remote village in Vietnam and one of the villagers who we screened was immediately referred for cataract surgery the next day.
Moments like these drive the team’s mission to make eye screenings more accessible and efficient.
Ways to Get in Touch
Digital Life Line’s contact page
Weijie Poh’s LinkedIn