Mount Sinai

The future of data-powered medical research and patient care, designed from the ground up.

The Challenge

In an era where machine learning, connected devices, and AI will make as much of an impact in personal health as the traditional checkup, what does the patient experience look and feel like? And if personal data is fuel for medical progress, how can we encourage thousands of patients to contribute theirs? We were tasked by a group of visionary doctors at New York’s premier hospital to create an experience that was both effective for medical research and compelling enough to attract patients to participate in bringing this vision of the future to bear.

The Solution

Cactus’ designers and engineers worked in close collaboration with Mount Sinai doctors and researchers to design, develop and launch a completely new type of medical space from the ground up. Through a year’s worth of research, iterative design process, planning, and prototyping, we developed a robust plan and then set to work developing and building it.

The space, called Lab100, is a hybrid clinic and research lab leveraging data and technology to redesign the way health is measured and healthcare is delivered. Located within the Mount Sinai hospital in Manhattan, Lab100 empowers patients to track their health over time by providing the most comprehensive personal health assessment currently available. As a research center, Lab100 equips scientists with longitudinal multi-scale health data and a testbed environment to develop, validate and deploy new products and services. By closing the feedback loop between discovery science and care delivery, Lab100 creates a virtuous cycle of innovation that radically accelerates the pace at which promising ideas become clinical practice.

Each aspect of Lab100 was designed, engineered, and built from scratch, by Cactus in close collaboration with the Mount Sinai team. The front-end UI, back-end infrastructure, statistical database, data visualization engine, architectural designs, user experiences for each medical test, educational videos and graphics, name, brand, communications, user app, and doctor interfaces were all built in-house.

The results are nothing short of revolutionary in the world of preventive medical innovation. Lab100 garnered multiple design awards, both national news and medical industry press coverage, and earned Mount Sinai hospital a massive uplift in brand impression. But most importantly (at least for the Cactus team), it has inspired a new generation of researchers and doctors to consider the power that good design and well-thought-out technology can have to motivate individuals to take control of their own health.

The Solution

We designed Lab100 to expand patient agency using two ingredients: best-in-class data and the educational, interactive elements necessary to give a deep understanding of what that data really means.

We built Lab100 to continually adapt and improve. Whether that means reconfiguring the modular wall-boards to introduce new equipment or plugging in new software to the backend database, the platform is built to show medical innovations actually happening at the speed of the tech industry.

To maximize interest and attention, we designed a custom interactive environment around each medical device. Virtual reality, touch screens, 'gamified' tests, live video, gesture tracking, and multiple other cutting-edge interfaces are all incorporated to amp up patient engagement during otherwise inane testing.

Making data really mean something to everyday people requires education and context, so we built both video content and a statistical backend that allows for contextualization of your data compared to both medical industry recommendations and other “people like you.”

The Lab100 name and brand are designed to signal fresh vibrance, scientific advancement, and uncomplicated approachability.