Alumni Profile

Alumni Profile: Lisa Gualtieri, PhD ’89

Alumna launches nonprofit to collect unwanted wearable activity trackers and provide them to the underserved

It’s your birthday. With a rush of excitement, you tear into the first present you can reach. The brightly colored paper falls to the floor to reveal. . .a brand new wearable activity tracker. You have two similar devices buried at the bottom of your sock drawer. What on earth will do you with a third one?

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumna Lisa Gualtieri, PhD ’89 in computer science, would like you to donate it.

She recently launched a nonprofit, RecycleHealth.com, that collects unused Fitbits and other wearable activity trackers and provides them to individuals who are less likely to know about or be able to afford them.

Gualtieri, assistant professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, developed the idea after reading about wearable activity trackers—specifically who purchases them, how they use them, and how long they use them.

“Demographically, the people who are most likely to own these devices are the people who need them least in terms of their health status,” she said. “If they stop using their device or they upgrade to a newer model, they don’t have many options to get rid of old devices. At the same time, there are many people who want to increase their fitness but don’t know about or can’t afford devices.”

Most wearable activity trackers contain lithium batteries, so they cannot be thrown out with household trash -- at least, they aren’t supposed to be disposed of that way. Finding a recycling center that accepts the devices is nearly impossible, and manufacturers don’t typically allow users to ship unwanted products back.

The idea behind RecycleHealth.com is to get unneeded trackers in the hands of people who will actually use them.

“For seniors and people who are less healthy, the information they can get from these devices can be enormously helpful for establishing a baseline and supporting them in small increments,” she said.

Gualtieri has partnered with several local organizations, including the Montachusett Community Branch of the YMCA of Central Massachusetts in Fitchburg, to provide wearable activity trackers to individuals in fitness programs. Her goal is twofold:  to help underserved adults increase their activity levels while also gathering data on how the devices contribute to behavior change.

To collect devices, she has set up donation boxes at several locations throughout the Boston area, including downtown fitness center The Club and the Forrester Research headquarters. She hopes to partner with more companies that offer wearable activity trackers to employees through corporate wellness programs. In addition to collection boxes, RecycleHealth.com provides postage-paid mailing labels so individuals can send in their devices.

So far, Gualtieri has collected more than 90 wearable activity trackers.

“I feel a little like Robin Hood, in that I’m collecting devices from the rich – or at least people with disposable income – and giving them to individuals who otherwise wouldn’t be able to acquire them,” she said.

In addition to helping improve the health of the underserved, Gualtieri also hopes her work highlights the importance of developing an effective end-of-use strategy for wearable activity trackers.

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