The Power of Wearables: Turning Data Into Health Solutions with Marco Benitez

Wearables do more than track steps—they're changing health care. Marco Benitez of Rook shares how real-time data is powering prevention, personalization, and innovation across the health industry. Discover the future of proactive care powered by your wrist.

Are your wearables doing more than counting steps?

In this episode, Dr. Tamar Lawful sits down with Marco Benitez, co-founder of Rook and digital health innovator, to explore how wearable tech is transforming the future of health care—from clinical trials to personalized health plans and even insurance models.

With his background in biomedical engineering, competitive sports, and Big Pharma, Marco shares how his team is using real-time health data to improve lives and make preventative care smarter, more actionable, and more accessible.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER:

•  How wearable devices are creating new models for personalized and preventative care
•  The challenges (and breakthroughs) in integrating data across 300+ wearables
•  How Rook is helping insurers and providers use health data for better outcomes
•  What health tech entrepreneurs must know before launching in this space

This episode is your front-row seat to the future of digital health—powered by data and driven by purpose.

CONNECT WITH MARCO BENITEZ

Chapters

• 0:00 Health Data Revolution Introduction
• 3:40 Marco's Journey: Taekwondo to Tech
• 6:36 Birth of Rook: Standardizing Wearable Data
• 11:37 Industry Impact and Insurance Opportunities
• 17:39 Data Privacy and Personalized Health
• 22:54 Entrepreneurship Insights and Future Vision
• 29:08 Closing Thoughts and Next Episode

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

We were trying to track something and find patterns that kind of helped improve fitness industry, because all the people that are doing exercises because they want to be better at the end of the day, If you want to break the mold of traditional pharmacy and healthcare, you are in the right place.

Speaker 2: 0:17

Welcome to the Pivoting Pharmacy with Nutrigenomics podcast, part of the Pharmacy Podcast Network. Here's a little truth bomb. We're all unique, down to our DNA, so it's no wonder we react differently to the same medications, foods and environment. Here's a million-dollar question how can you discover exactly what your body needs, which medication, what foods or supplements and which exercises are right for you? How can you manage chronic conditions like diabetes without more medications? How can you lose weight and keep it off? How do you tap into your genetic blueprint so you can stop surviving and start thriving in health and life? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answer. I'm your host, dr Tamar, lawful doctor of pharmacy. Let's pivot into genomics and bring healthcare to higher levels.

Speaker 2: 1:17

Welcome back to Pivoting Pharmacy with Nutrigenomics. I'm Dr Tamar, lawful doctor of pharmacy and certified nutritional genomics specialist. I'm so pumped about today's topic because it's one of the most exciting frontiers in healthcare wearable technology. You know, these days it feels like everyone has some sort of device strapped to their wrist, finger or even their clothes, tracking their steps, their heart rate, their sleep patterns and so much more. But here's my question for you have you ever wondered what happens to all of that data Like, how does your smartwatch, knowing you slept for five hours last night, actually translate to helping you feel better? Because I know, if you're here listening to this podcast, you're looking for insights that feel actionable and sustainable, not just more numbers to stare at. And that brings us to today's guest, marco Benitez, a true trailblazer who's helping connect the dots between the wearable data we collect and the healthcare outcomes we need.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Marco's journey is nothing short of inspiring. From his days as a competitive taekwondo athlete to leading a groundbreaking digital health company called Rook, he's made it his mission to turn things like heart rate metrics or movement trackers into tools that improve preventative care, personalized wellness strategies and even impact how the insurance industry thinks about health. But, as you might imagine, it's not all smooth sailing. There are challenges huge ones, honestly when it comes to harnessing wearable health data effectively. Fragmentation, lack of integration and data overload make it hard to translate those numbers into meaningful outcomes. And yet Marco and his team are right in think of solving these problems in ways that are innovative and empowering.

Speaker 2: 3:03

So my invitation to you today is simple Think of this episode as your backstage pass into the world of wearable tech. Whether you're a healthcare worker wondering how you can use this data for your patients, an entrepreneur eyeing the health tech space, or just someone curious about how all of this applies to your health journey, I promise there's something here for you. So grab a cup of tea, snuggle up or pop in your earbuds and take this on the go, because we're about to uncover how wearable technology is not only shifting the way we approach healthcare, but creating opportunities for more personalized and preventative care strategies. Listen in, marco. Thank you so much for joining us on Pivoting Pharmacy with NutriGenomics today. Could you just tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your background?

Speaker 1: 3:53

Yeah, of course. Well, first of all, thank you so much for this opportunity, very excited to be here. I'm Marco Benitez. I am one of the co-founders and the CEO. My background I'm a biomedical engineer. I also have a second degree in biomedics. I love everything around biomedical. I love data. I love you know medical devices. So that's my real passion.

Speaker 1: 4:15

I can tell you I love sports too. At the same time, I'm a Taekwondo-ing guy. So my whole career, I mean I started with an IHAP before five years. So my whole career, I mean I started with an IHAP before five years and then, yeah, I'm black belt for that. I love sports, I love Taekwondo, so for me, it was very important in my life. That helped me to understand a couple of things. One is when, if you are persistent and disciplined, you will achieve really great things. And everything takes time. It's not something that you will do from one day to another. You can do something. So it's been a journey over there.

Speaker 1: 4:50

This is my second startup. By the way, my first startup we make this algorithm company for hospitals in 2003. So we were very young, we were in the college. I did this one with one of my actual co-founders. He's my best friend. We know each other very young. We were in the college.

Speaker 1: 5:06

I did this one with one of my actual co-founders. He's my best friend. We know each other very well. So we created the first company together and then we are doing again the same thing with Rook, but also working in the big pharma after that exit, because the exit was on 2006. So we were very young and on those days startup was not even a word. You know, right In 2006 in Mexico was not a word. But it was very interesting to learn a little bit how to build a company and to have a success exit. And after that, as you can see, I have experience in big pharma. Pharma was amazing. It took me 15 years over there through GSK, nobodies, roche, working in clinical trials in oncology, respiratory vaccines very interesting area in clinical trials and then we built Rook. That's a little bit of my background.

Speaker 2: 6:06

What a journey. What a journey, marco. I mean from competitive taekwondo now to digital health. Biomedical engineering was my runner up. If it wasn't pharmacy, I was considering biomedical engineering, and I also started out in the pharmaceutical industry with Bristol Myers Squibb, so we have some similarities there. Oh, yeah. So when you were in the pharmaceutical industry right, you mentioned what about 15 years? What was the moment you realized that wearable data could be the key to bridging gaps in healthcare?

Speaker 1: 6:36

Since the beginning. Honestly, I love the wearables space really. I had my first wearable when I had like I don't know, it was the polar one was a chest hr. You can track the, the h, the heart rate beat, and then I have the clock, the smart watch and then the step account. And my guests during those days were like, hey, you can track a lot of things with your wearable and in clinical trials everything is around track. You need to track the patient once you have the drug inside you and you have different ways to do it. You have visits with the physicians, with the principal investigator, with the doctors, with everything. So for me it was like there's the best way to track patients is through these devices.

Speaker 1: 7:29

The problem on those days were that the wearables were not so accurate as we have today. Today are very accurate, are really great. They are tracking a lot of information, a lot of the data, a lot of biomarkers. But in those days it was a completely different situation. But I thought that was a very good opportunity over there. So I can tell you that with my first experience in clinical trials, I was always like, hey, why don't? The patients can use a wearable device or maybe something that kind of helps you to track which they did have. For example, they have different medical devices, like a porch or something that can track a specific thing that the protocol was looking for.

Speaker 2: 8:10

But yeah, I mean that's when we realized that the importance of these devices in the clinical trials at least, yeah, and I'm sure it made it a little easier for the researchers as well to keep track of what was going on. So definitely a useful tool, so that your experience led you to Rook. Tell us a bit about Rook. I mean, how does your platform work and what makes it so unique when it comes to integrating all that health data for healthcare providers?

Speaker 1: 8:40

Yeah again, I love data, I love wearables. So it was a no-brainer from there. But before that I learned two big things in the big pharma. One is when you have a lot of information, you can create things. But, even more important, when you have a lot of data, you can improve people's lives. And that's two big different words, because data is everything you can create, you can correlate, you can do a lot of stuff and that's exactly what the wearables do. So for me it was a no-brainer.

Speaker 1: 9:09

Before Rook, we created another company that we bootstrapped. It was in the sports and the fitness industry. We created a wearable at the very beginning that was a heart rate for the chest, another one for the arm and we were tracking the heart rate beat and in real time we show in the fitness club the effort zone. Calorie burn was a platform, was a very interesting platform. So we on those days we sold like a couple of wearables, a lot of wearables, and then this SaaS platform for fitness clubs.

Speaker 1: 9:43

And when the pandemic hits, that was when everything changed right. So we saw that the end user doesn't want to use only our wearable. They were keen to use their own wearables the Apple Watch, the Polar, the Garmin, the Suunto, the Huawei, the WeThings all the brands that you have outside and that's when we start to integrate these devices in our own platform. So over there, we saw a ramp up, a very interesting ramp up, because we saw that the end users started to use more our platform and we were like, okay, this is interesting.

Speaker 1: 10:20

But also, at the same time, when we were integrating all these wearables, we saw the mess over there. We saw this big, big mess around the devices. When you are trying to integrate everything, every single one has a different needs. The way you extract the data, it's completely different. The information between one wearable and the other is completely different. So that's where we started to standardize the data from our own platform. That's how we started to create Rook. But at the very beginning it was a no-brainer, because we were trying to do something for the fitness industry and try to track something and find patterns that kind of helped improve fitness industry fitness clubs. Patterns that kind of helped improve fitness industry fitness clubs, because mainly all the people that are doing exercises because they want to be healthy or they want to, you know, they want to be better at the end of the day.

Speaker 2: 11:13

That's true. That's true. So you know you. When it comes to wearable data, it can change things for businesses. And then we look at insurance as well, right? What's the biggest opportunity in this space of wearable data that could really shake up the industry? What are your thoughts on that? What's that biggest opportunity out there?

Speaker 1: 11:38

Yeah, honestly, let me do one step back, because the reason that we changed our business model from the previous company was that we were in an event in Los Angeles and in a dinner I was behind of this big CEO of one of the biggest insurance companies in the US and he told me that in their own platform, they were trying to integrate the wearables. When he saw my platform was like, how did you integrate all of them? Because we were trying to do it. We don't have a lot of developers. Of course we have developers, but that's not our main core business. So they were trying to understand the behavior of the end users, tracking the data and try to make improvements and be more in the preventive side for a specific program that they have. So when he told me, like hey, is there any way you can integrate your assets, your features, in my own platform? And I was like, as a very good founder was, of course, we can do it, you know. And at the end of the day he told me, like sold, I'm going to do a contract with you. I was thinking that was the wine or that was just the night and that's it. But the next week we closed the deal with them, a really good one. So basically, they paid for this API solution that we have today. So what I'm trying to say here is that there is a lot of appetite to start to use these devices and start to understand the behaviors of the end user and be more in the preventive side. There is a lot of companies that are trying to make a lot of data, so they trying to make a lot of data so they can correlate between the past data and the present data and try to do analytics with all of them.

Speaker 1: 13:30

There is a lot of regulations around that, and even from regions are very different. For example, it's not the same thing in Europe or in the US, or in Latin America or in Asia. We are learning so much in the industry with insurance companies. I can tell you that I have a lot of conversations with them every single week. I have a lot, a lot of conversations, because I really try to understand.

Speaker 1: 13:53

They are very big and there's too many regulations. For example, here in the US, health insurance is super regulated. Here in the US, health insurance is super regulated, it's very regulated, but life insurance is not the same thing, or long-term insurance or disability, and in Europe it's on the opposite Health insurance is not so regulated as life insurance and in Asia it's a completely different situation. So it's really complicated. There's too many regulations in place and I think the good thing here is that we are moving towards a new wave of not only reaction, so be more preventive. And I think that if they are more in the preventive side, if the CPT codes change a little bit more to be on the preventive side, we can change a lot the behaviors of the end users. And, of course, the end users have to, or the patients need to, take ownership of their own health. So that's very important. So I think there is a lot of changes right now and everyone and the data will help you to be better version of yourself.

Speaker 2: 15:08

Yeah, the end consumer can definitely use information on a device to challenge themselves and compare themselves to see how their progress is from where they started, so it's definitely a useful tool for them. Thank you for sharing that with us, marco. Now another concern I know when it comes to wearable data or data in general, is privacy. It's a big concern. So how does Rook make sure that people's health data is secure?

Speaker 1: 16:34

Yeah, well, first of all, this is something that we take very seriously. We have 70, 80% of the team are developers and data scientists, and, of course, we have also a big team of compliance. Data is something that is changing all the time and regulations are moving a lot and we are very strict with that. We have specific features that can help you to eliminate every single data from the end users if they don't want to show the information anymore or if they want to delete everything. It's possible. We invest a lot of the money that we receive to just work on the compliance side, because we know that for insurance companies, for hospitals, for wellness programs, it's very important. So we are HIPAA compliant, gdpr compliant, which is the round, and then, on top of that, we have some certifications that are very important, depending on the industry. So, yes, I mean data, it's everything. It's the new oil, but we have to be very aware of the importance of this information.

Speaker 2: 17:43

Yeah, yes, indeed, it's very important information that not everyone just wants in the hands of anybody, so it's good to know that RUC is taking measures to make sure that the privacy of the consumers is protected. Now you're focused on personalized health and preventative care, right? So how do you see wearable data being used to create more tailored health strategies for people?

Speaker 1: 18:07

Yeah, I think it's super interesting what's happening today, because now with AI, before with machine learning, the main goal was to be more accurate on the type of person that you have and you are trying to tailor something. It's not like before was everything fits for all, and now it's one type of client that you have it's going to be completely different than the other one that you have around or behind. So I think this type of information will let you know a lot of the of the behaviors of your customers or your end users, or even with patients, even with the big pharma. Big pharma is changing so much in the clinical trials. Even the drugs, every single drug will.

Speaker 1: 18:54

They are trying now to customize depending on the type of person that you have in front of you. So it's very important. Now it's again it's not for everyone. Now they are making drugs for specific patients in a very specific area with you know it's an oncology, it's with you know it's completely different. So everything is changing and it has to be more personalized, definitely 100%. And we enable them, we are trying to enable all the companies that are using these wearable devices to be more customized for their own customers.

Speaker 2: 19:31

And talking about that customization, because you work with different companies, different devices and apps, so how do you ensure that the data is consistent and reliable across the board, the data that Rook is providing? Are there any challenges with actually keeping the information accurate?

Speaker 1: 19:48

Yeah, that's a very good one, because what we do, we are an API solution, right? So we have more than 300 wearables integrated in our own API. Once we extract or pull the data from all the end users, we have a huge process and we have a lot of algorithms. We have our own AI. Our own AI, we standardize, normalize, harmonize, take out duplicity. We do a lot of cleaning outside so we can deliver clean and very structured information or data from our clients so they can use it to do AI on different type of things. So it doesn't matter that we work for insurance or it doesn't matter that we work for big pharma or for fitness or wellness apps we work for big pharma or for fitness or wellness apps everyone will receive the same quality of data from all these devices. Because that's our job. We want to take out that pain from our clients and we work very tough to give them the best quality information for them, so they can do magic with all this information.

Speaker 2: 20:58

Great. That's good to know. Now, from your experience, this VOOC is not your first company. It's not your. You had a startup before that. So for the entrepreneurs out there, marco, who are trying to break into the digital health or wearable tech space, what should they focus on and make it in this fast-paced industry? What advice do you have for them?

Speaker 1: 21:22

It depends 100% because healthcare generally speaking, health is very complicated, it's very crowded, it's very like. It's like trying to find what problem do you want to solve and why it's important for them to solve it. How much money, you know how many lives you are saving. You know it should be something that with a meaningful and it's like your product has to be the drug, not a vitamin, you know. So it's not the same thing. For me, it was like why should I going to spend so many time working on what I'm doing? This is something relevant for my clients. If it's a yes, definitely. You have to be there working so hard, because this is crazy.

Speaker 1: 22:12

It's super difficult to create a startup or a company. It's so difficult. It's like you need a lot of resilience. You need to work a lot. You need to, depending on the type of company that you are building. You need probably to raise money. Maybe not. Maybe you can bootstrap. It depends 100% of your skills, but it's so difficult. You will be all the time in this. You know ups and downs in this roller coaster. In one hour I mean in one hour you can be in the top of the game and at the same, 15 minutes later. You are the worst and you are. You know you are going to be whatever you are going to be, so it's it's really complicated. So definitely you need to understand why you are building this and who needs this, your solution. And again, healthcare is so big, fitness is so big, so you have to understand which type of client you are looking for Because, again, you are going to work with them a lot, a lot. And if you don't like this specific customer, why you are there? So you have to find it.

Speaker 2: 23:22

Great advice Definitely know who your customer is, who your clientele is. Make sure it's someone you want to work with. That's great advice. Now, I'm sure there are some high points. There's some light at the end of the tunnel. Is there anything that you can highlight from an entrepreneurship perspective that won't scare people away from trying to pursue their dreams?

Speaker 1: 23:44

For me, it's like I always said live a life that you will remember. So that's life for me. At the end of the tunnel, at the end of my last day in this world, in this world, I this, yeah, this world I want to be remember, not dreaming. So that's for me everything. So if, if you have the courage, if you believe in what you are building, you are going to nail it, and the journey it's beautiful. I mean, of course, it's so complicated, it's very complicated, but it's beautiful. At the same time.

Speaker 1: 24:22

It's like it's crazy because at the same time, you hate some things and at the same time, you love the same sensation. It's like you will have the opportunity to know you better in the worst times and in the best times. So it's really a journey to understand more than your company yourself, honestly, because you will understand your behaviors in these extreme moments of your life, because sometimes you will run out of money. Sometimes you will have the money. Sometimes you nail the type of clients that you want to achieve. Then you will find that I don't know, you have a lot of troubles with your product, you have a lot of glitches, you have a leak. You have a lot of glitches, you have a leak, you have a I don't know legal stuff, I don't know whatever, because it's a whole world. So I mean it's a really nice and really interesting journey.

Speaker 2: 25:24

It is. It's a beautiful. Entrepreneurship is a beautiful journey, you said it, and it has its highs, it has its lows, but you definitely have to know why you're in it and remember that. And, yeah, you want to look back and say I did something, I accomplished something and I followed through with it and took action to make something better for somebody else, make somebody's life better. So it's definitely a beautiful, beautiful journey indeed. So, marco, finally, what's next for Rook? Do you have any exciting projects or partnerships you're able to share with us in the near future?

Speaker 1: 26:03

I would love to share our clients that we have today partnerships at the same time, but I can't, unfortunately, because they are so big. Some of them I by all the documents that we sign. I can't tell you too much thing, but we are very, very, very excited to work with them. First of all, because they are using our technology and we receive a lot of feedback and they are want to improve a couple of things, which is great. This is something very important. This important this is gold. Once your client can give you a lot of feedback, it's gold for you.

Speaker 1: 26:37

But secondly, also the other part we are becoming more a data science company, so it's like the way we process the data so they can use it. We are. So that's why these big companies now are with us, because we are working with our own algorithms and our algorithms are now improving a lot the way we share the data. So it's becoming very interesting what's going on. And then, of course, we are working with them to create some insights and predictions that really can help them to move the needle and improve people's lives, which is more exciting for me because, even though that we are not going to be with the client, with the end user with a patient, we will know that we are behind in giants working with these big companies trying to help all their patients, generally speaking, so that for me it's a very I'm super, super, super excited, super happy of what's going on. The last year was a blast, but I think this one is going to be even better.

Speaker 2: 27:43

I love that. I'm excited for you, marco. I am so excited. Keep up the good work and what you are doing with Rook for healthcare and digital technology. It's definitely needed. And thank you so much for being our guest today on Pivoting Pharmacy of Neutrogenomics. That's all I have for you today, friend.

Speaker 2: 28:03

I don't know about you, but I feel so inspired by Marco's journey and the possibilities that wearable technology brings to our health and wellness. It really makes you think, doesn't it? All those numbers we see on our devices. They're so much more than just data. They're opportunities to take control, tune into our bodies and even reimagine what healthcare can look like in the future. So here's my challenge to you Take a moment and reflect on your own health journey. What's one small action you can take to use the tools you already have, whether it's a smartwatch, a fitness app or even just a notebook tracking your benefits, to start steering your wellness in the right direction. No fancy tech required, just start with awareness, because that's the first step to real change. Right, and you know what? Don't keep today's insights to yourself.

Speaker 2: 28:50

If you know someone who's been struggling to make sense of their health or is curious about how wearable data can transform care. Share this episode with them. You can also connect with me on social media at Dr Tamar Lawful. That's D-R Tamar Lawful. I love hearing your takeaways, so let's keep the conversation going, because your wellness is not a solo journey. Coming up next week on the show, we're talking about rethinking chronic pain management so you can find lasting relief and take back control of your health without relying solely on medications or feeling stuck in cookie cutter solutions. Talk to you next Friday. Until then, always remember to raise the script on health, because together we can bring health care to higher levels. Always remember to raise the script on health, because together we can bring healthcare to higher levels.