Digital Health Asia 2025 Interview Series: Living the data – how an NUS researcher self-studied a pathway to age reversal

In a world filled with digital health buzzwords and retrospective studies, Professor Dean Ho and his team are charting a new course. As the Head of Department of Biomedical Engineering at the National University of Singapore, he and his team are focused on a prospective approach, moving beyond hypothetical analyses of old data to create real-time, personalised interventions that help people immediately.

Professor Ho’s core philosophy centres on a critical distinction: the difference between retrospective and prospective digital health. While most AI applications in healthcare use historical data to predict what could happen, he advocates for a shift towards a prospective model that uses current data to make a difference today.

To demonstrate this, Professor Ho became the sole subject of his own groundbreaking experiment, known as the Delta study. Delta, which means “change” in fields like statistics and maths, is an interventional trial designed to show how deliberate lifestyle changes can have a measurable impact on a person’s health.

Instead of a yearly “snapshot” of his health, Professor Ho’s team collected a high-resolution, longitudinal dataset, including detailed information about his metabolic, heart, gut and sleep health, while he underwent significant, intentional lifestyle changes. These interventions included extended fasts (such as studying metabolic effects), drastic sleep shifts (moving his bedtime up by nearly three hours earlier to observe the impact on his sleep patterns), and specific adjustments to his physical activity to track how these changes affected his biomarkers.

The results of the Delta study are impressive. Using his own data to guide these interventions, Professor Ho dramatically improved his health, achieving a metabolic age that is now 14 years younger than his chronological age. This transformation was not based on guesswork; it was measured through functional tests that accurately measured his body’s performance.

Professor Ho’s study highlights the need to shift from viewing health as a series of static snapshots to understanding it as a continuous story. By tracking people’s “delta”—the change in their biomarkers over time—we can uncover insights that a single data point might completely miss.

This approach doesn’t benefit only individuals. By looking at these changes, we can pinpoint markers that may indicate potential health risks, such as elevated markers for cognitive decline, long before symptoms appear. Professor Ho notes that many of these markers are readily available, but they are seldom tested until a patient is already sick.

He envisions a future of digital health where people aren’t just passive subjects but active participants. In this “participatory” model, individuals are given access to their own data, which can empower them to make better choices. He argues that this real-time feedback can be more powerful than any medication.

For example, a person in a sleep study who sees their data in real time might discover they are getting only four and a half hours of true sleep, despite thinking they are getting seven. This insight alone can motivate them to make small, gradual changes that lead to significant improvements in their sleep quality. This is far more effective and cost-efficient than a retrospective study that simply concludes that people are not getting enough sleep.

Professor Ho’s work is a powerful call to action. By moving from theoretical artificial intelligence (AI) to a prospective, interventional and participatory model, we can leverage technology not just to treat the sick but to keep healthy people healthy.

Professor Ho is a keynote speaker at the upcoming Digital Health Asia 2025. He will deliver a keynote address titled “Digital longevity medicine: Evolving personalised health optimisation regimens to support healthy ageing.” In his talk, he will share insights from his groundbreaking study on personal health “delta”.

Organised by Times Higher Education (THE) in partnership with City University of Hong Kong and the Institute of Digital Medicine, Digital Health Asia 2025 is a timely platform for tackling the urgent challenges facing the healthcare sector. This marks the first time THE’s Digital Health series will be held in Asia.

Please visit the event website for more information on DHA 2025.