Apple has further bolstered its health team with the addition of M. Osman Akhtar, a chief operating officer for a non-profit chain of Minnesota-based hospitals.
At Apple, Akhtar will report to Sambul Desai – who, as we reported last month, has been filling the ranks of the Apple subsidiary AC Wellness. This is a string of employee-focused health clinics which doctors, nurses, nutritionists and care navigators have all joined in recent months.
Desai, who started work at Minnesota’s Fairview Health Services in July 2017, will be involved with the AC Wellness medical clinics in his new role, according to CNBC, which cites “people familiar with the hire”. However, his participation could also extend to other health projects within Apple.
Though Akhtar’s LinkedIn profile does not yet – at the time of writing – indicate his new position, his transition to Apple looks timely. It was only on Wednesday that the Cupertino tech titan took the veil off the new Apple Watch Series 4, with further strengthens the product line’s health-focused functionality.
The new device, available for preorder from today, will be the United States’ first over-the-counter consumer device to feature an ECG (electrocardiogram) monitor for tracking heart health. Over coming months and years, Akhtar might help in overseeing further refinements to the Apple Watch line’s plentiful health features.
