With 2025 underway, Barney Kent, CEO of Touch Medical Media, discusses the company’s mission, values and vision for the year ahead. Touch Medical Media has established itself as a leading provider of free-to-access education and peer-reviewed content, empowering healthcare professionals with trusted and accessible medical education.
With over two decades of experience in medical education, communications and publishing, Barney brings his expertise and forward-thinking approach to the dynamic field of digital medical education. In this Q&A, he shares how Touch Medical Media is gearing up for a successful year, from embracing innovative strategies to enhancing global access to expert knowledge.
What excites you most about the future of Touch Medical Media and its potential impact on healthcare?
What excites me most about the future of Touch Medical Media is our unique position at the forefront of digitalization in healthcare. With our global reach, providing free-to-access educational content to millions of physicians across 150 countries, we have the power to disrupt traditional medical education and drive real, lasting change. Our innovative frameworks, like touchLPI (Learner-to-Patient Impact), are designed to directly link education with improved patient outcomes, creating a ripple effect that enhances clinical practice worldwide. As we continue to grow, we are not just shaping the future of medical education; we are transforming the way healthcare professionals engage with learning, empowering them to make more informed decisions and ultimately improving the lives of patients everywhere. The opportunities for meaningful impact are vast, and we’re excited about what lies ahead.
What is the company’s mission for 2025 and what are the key factors in helping you achieve it?
Our mission for 2025 is to lead the transformation of medical education by leveraging digital advancements, global partnerships and our pioneering touchLPI framework, which links education to real-world patient outcomes. Expanding our expert networks, enhancing learner engagement and deepening our digital presence are key to achieving this mission.
How do you plan to expand the company’s reach and influence globally?
To expand our reach and influence globally, we plan to continue forging strategic partnerships with medical societies and organisations, such as our collaboration with M3, which has enabled us to connect with the largest physician networks in Japan and China. This partnership, along with our growing presence in North America and Europe, allows us to tailor our approach and content to meet the unique needs of each region. Additionally, we translate all our content into multiple languages, ensuring that physicians across the globe can engage with our resources and improve patient outcomes, regardless of language barriers.
Beyond accessibility, we are committed to offering market-leading product formats that leverage technology to drive higher levels of physician engagement. Whether through interactive modules, mobile-optimized learning, or AI-powered personalized content, we focus on delivering dynamic, relevant experiences that not only capture the attention of healthcare professionals but also make a tangible impact on their clinical practice and patient care. This approach ensures we continue to support healthcare professionals worldwide in advancing their knowledge and delivering the highest standard of care.
In your opinion, what are the key trends shaping the medical publishing and education industry today?
Key trends shaping the medical publishing and education industry today include the shift to digital platforms, allowing healthcare professionals to access learning anytime, anywhere. While live meetings remain important for real-time interactions, on-demand content has become crucial to ensure all physicians, regardless of their location, can access the latest key data at their convenience. Our digital-first strategy allows us to meet the dynamic needs of healthcare professionals, enabling busy physicians to access and engage with our content on any device, anytime and anywhere, whether at the clinic, on the go, or during downtime.
Personalized learning and patient-centred education, powered by AI and machine learning, is enhancing content delivery, while interactive formats engage learners more effectively. A free-to-access content model, free from barriers to entry, is essential for ensuring easy accessibility, especially for the busy physicians of today. This model allows healthcare professionals worldwide to access the latest educational resources without restriction, supporting global reach and making it easier for them to stay updated amidst their demanding schedules.
Emerging technologies like AI and virtual reality will undoubtedly continue to transform medical education by providing immersive, personalized learning experiences that enhance engagement and improve clinical decision-making. At Touch Medical Media, we view AI not as a replacement for our employees, but as a productivity driver that will empower our team to work more efficiently and effectively. By leveraging AI, we can streamline processes and deliver even more impactful educational experiences. Our AI policy ensures that these technologies will complement, not replace, the expertise of our highly skilled team, enabling us to further elevate the quality of our work and the outcomes for healthcare professionals and their patients.
How does Touch Medical Media distinguish itself in the competitive world of medical education and communications?
Touch Medical Media distinguishes itself in the competitive world of medical education and communications by delivering high-quality, evidence-based content in a variety of formats, including videos, interviews, articles and podcasts. Our forward-thinking approach, combined with a global reach and expert collaborations, enables us to connect with healthcare professionals across the world. We focus on patient-centred education, ensuring that the learning we provide directly translates into improved clinical outcomes. Furthermore, we are recognized as a leader in the top 10 fastest-growing therapy areas globally, demonstrating our significant impact and continued expansion in the medical education space.
Can you highlight some of Touch Medical Media’s most significant achievements in recent years?
In 2024, we achieved remarkable milestones: a 60% surge in website engagement, widening reach to over 3.5 million learners globally, and the successful launch of the Visionary Voices podcast. We connected with healthcare professionals across 150 countries and 196 territories, strengthening our global presence. We also earned an impressive 1.9 impact factor for Heart International, redesigned 10 therapy area websites and forged new collaborations, adding to a record 190 medical societies. These accomplishments highlight our commitment to advancing medical education and making a tangible impact worldwide.
What initiatives or projects are you particularly proud of, and why?
The launch of touchCASES, which places patient-centred content at the heart of learning, is something we’re particularly proud of. It directly links education with clinical practice, driving improvements in patient outcomes. The introduction of the touchLPI framework is also a significant step toward bridging education with real-world impact.
How do you foster innovation and excellence while aligning your leadership style with the core values of your organization?
My leadership style has evolved significantly as the healthcare and digital landscapes have rapidly changed. Early on, I recognized the importance of agility in responding to new challenges and opportunities. Today, I focus on fostering flexibility, open communication, and an entrepreneurial mindset within the team to remain responsive to the needs of healthcare professionals and the broader industry.
One key lesson I’ve learned is the value of building and empowering a highly experienced team. Trusting them to make informed decisions and act autonomously has been crucial in driving innovation and maintaining the quality of our work. This autonomy fosters creativity, accountability, and collaboration, allowing everyone to bring their best ideas forward and ensuring we remain adaptable in a fast-evolving environment.
My leadership style aligns closely with our core values of integrity, excellence and impact. Integrity ensures all actions are rooted in honesty and transparency, building trust with learners, partners and stakeholders. Excellence pushes us to deliver high-quality content and partnerships, while impact remains at the heart of our mission, driving meaningful, lasting change in healthcare. By empowering a capable team, encouraging innovative thinking, and staying committed to these core values, we achieve a relentless commitment to innovation and excellence.
Interested in discovering more about what we do? Reach out to learn about our educational activities, regular content and partnerships with medical societies.
