Trust in institutions, government, science, media, and technology has plummeted due to pandemic-prompted isolation, rapid social media misinformation spread, political polarization, and artificial intelligence advancement. The healthcare industry faces its own trust challenges, a topic explored across multiple sessions in the Innovation Track at SXSW in Austin.
Patient-Centered Innovation
Josette Gbemudu, associate vice president of patient health innovation at Merck, described the company’s “Red Chair” campaign, launched in mid November. The initiative places a bright red chair in every room within the organization as a reminder that patient voices are needed in all conversations. Gbemudu explained that “the patient’s voice is needed” and that the red chair reminds staff “that we’re all accountable to figuring out how to get those insights directly from patients and ensuring that they’re there to create their own perspective around the innovations that we’re bringing.” She emphasized that generating trust requires including patient and other voices in designing technological innovation, ensuring the approach “truly reflect[s] the myriad of experiences.” The campaign aims to counter corporate fixation on innovation metrics by refocusing on what’s good for patients rather than the company.
Technology Transparency and Human Leadership
Simon Nazarian, chief technology and digital officer at City of Hope, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, stressed that transparency about AI tools is essential for building trust. Multiple stakeholders—patients, providers, and caregivers—need to understand how technology supports them. Nazarian emphasized that innovation must be “human led,” noting that while advanced technologies deliver “the right information in the right place at the right time,” humans must remain in the loop to prevent technology from “replacing human wisdom.” City of Hope’s Hope LLM, an in-house AI tool leveraging multiple commercial and open-source language models, exemplifies this approach by reducing physician cognitive burden through clinical decision-making support. Physicians have responded positively, with informal feedback indicating the tool has “really saved me time.”
Peer-Driven Trust
As institutional trust erodes, peer recommendations increasingly influence healthcare decisions. Alex Bell, a breast cancer survivor and founder of Reddit’s R/DoIHaveBreastCancer forum, noted that people openly discuss their health concerns on Reddit where they may not share with family. She highlighted how peers on Reddit can provide personalized, situation-specific advice doctors may not have time to address during typical 15-minute appointments. Katie Drasser, CEO of RockHealth.org, pointed to Marigold Health, a healthtech company built around anonymous peer support for mental health and addiction recovery, as a successful model. The platform, which received venture capital support in June 2024, reported that the first 2,000 patients achieved a 98% recovery rate. Drasser concluded that “tech is in service of that. It’s in service of those outcomes and that trust, rather than the other way around.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://medcitynews.com/2026/03/how-to-boost-trust-in-tech-4-perspectives-from-sxsw/