Google Health Now Has 500 Employees

Google Health, the company’s latest initiative, now has some 500 employees, according to CNBC.

Google has a long, and not always successful, history in the health field. The company’s first “Google Health” initiative was in 2006 and failed to make headway, leading the company to shutter it. This latest endeavor, however, seems to be meeting with far more success.

According to the report, the new team is headquartered in Palo Alto offices that were formerly used by the Nest team. The team is led by David Feinberg, a relative newcomer to Google, having joined the company in 2019. The number of people working in the Google Health division is a testament to how important the new business is to Google, especially as it continues to develop revenue streams aside from its core search business.

In spite of Google Health’s importance to the company, Google will need to navigate tricky waters to take full advantage of the new business. The company has recently come under scrutiny for its Project Nightingale, a partnership with healthcare group Ascension to collect data on millions of American patients. Revelations about the program renewed concerns and discussion about how much access Google should have in the day-to-day lives of Americans and whether it already had too much.

Provided Google can navigate the regulatory and privacy concerns surrounding its health initiatives, Google Health has the potential to become a critical part of the company’s future.