Financial Engineering
Health Technology Assessment
Digital Health
Longevity Economy
Financial Modeling
Financial Engineering
Health Technology Assessment
Information Systems
Business Model Innovation
Finance
Digitalization
Wasu Mekniran is a doctoral researcher in Financial Engineering at the ETH Zürich Chair of Information Management and Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen. His work advances development-focused HTA into a finance-forward framework that quantifies incentives and capital flow for payers, providers, and investors. Through budget impact modeling, performance headroom analysis, cost-effectiveness evaluation, and investor-grade financial simulations, he determines when digital health innovations in prevention become economically viable, scalable, and fundable. His research centers on digital biomarkers, proactive care, and financial architectures that enable healthy longevity at scale.
Representer: Operations Management
The EDEN project develops financial models to make digital prevention both implementable and investable. Our case focus is type 2 diabetes, where digital health technologies (DHTs) can detect risk earlier, engage patients, and extend healthy life years.
We investigate structural, financial, and regulatory barriers to scaling prevention and design business models that align incentives for providers, payers, patients, developers, and investors. Our approach combines theory, computational modeling, and real-world data to de-risk implementation and guide market adoption.
Key links:
EDEN applies a mixed-methods design to advance prevention-first business models. We integrate surveys, interviews, and expert panels with secondary analyses of scientific literature, venture data (PitchBook, Crunchbase), and financial benchmarks.
Core components:
Frameworks: our proprietary RAG-enabled EDEN platform for incentive mapping, development-focused Health Technology Assessment
Financials: breakeven, discounted cash flow, and scalability modeling tailored to the Swiss context.
Data Science: NLP for topic modeling and proposition alignment, identifying emerging value pools and collaboration opportunities.
Core Research Question:
“How can we implement and invest in type 2 diabetes prevention with digital biomarkers?”
This is addressed through four interlinked studies:
Ecosystem Mapping – stakeholder roles, needs, and alignment in healthy longevity.
Implementation Gap Analysis – real-world challenges in preventive program delivery.
Digital Disruption & Incentive Innovation – how DHTs reshape roles and unlock new incentive architectures.
Scalability & Business Model Fit – financial sustainability, market conditions, and policy integration in Switzerland.
“EDEN turns prevention into an asset class for health systems.”
Panel Speaker, AI in Drug Development 2025 – Session hosted by the Polish Embassy at Google Campus, Zurich (2025).
Panel Moderator, Davos Innovation Week on Healthy Longevity Innovation – World Economic Forum (2024).
Guest Lecturer, Enabling Healthy Longevity: How to Innovate Healthcare with Digital Health – Department of Biomedical Engineering, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand (2024).
Reviewer, IEEE Internet of Things Journal – eHealth & mHealth.
Reviewer, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2025.
Financial Models in Digital Health
Teaching
Skilled in teaching complex topics (HTA, financial modeling, data science) to interdisciplinary professionals.
Applied interactive methods such as case studies, simulation-based approaches, and project-based learning.
Supervised Theses
Prevention in Health Care: Case Studies to Derive Success Factors – S. Winkelmann
Business Model Innovation in Digital Healthcare: A Systematic Literature Review – V. Stalder
Business Model Innovation in Preventive Care: A Systematic Literature Review – W. Diethelm
Analysis of Business Scaling of Swiss Digital Health Ventures – S. Jordi
Healthcare Ecosystems for Preventive Care: Role of Swiss Health Insurance – C. Cathomas
Business Model Analysis of Digital Healthy Longevity Companies – K. Klebinger
Ambient Scribes for Healthcare: Growth Strategies and Strategic Enablers – M. Kubiak
From “Price per Pill” to “Price per Outcome” with Digital Therapeutics – J. Kühne
Addressing Financing Challenges in Digital Health Prevention in Switzerland – M. Josi