It’s hard to imagine a group more eclectic: an invasive cardiologist, a Microsoft executive, the producer of Silence of the Lambs and even a real-life cyborg.

The occasion? USC Body Computing Conference 2.0, the second gathering of professionals engaged with technology – such as implanted wireless devices – that is poised to transform health care.

“At USC, we see a path to leadership in the new medical sciences revolution,” said USC Provost C. L. Max Nikias, in his opening remarks at the Oct. 24 gathering.

“This event symbolizes (USC’s commitment) to invest wisely in activities that meet the most pressing needs of our society,” he added.

The conference was spearheaded by Leslie Saxon, chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She took an interest in the field when the heart devices she implants were developed to transmit data.

Last year, leaders from the biotech industry convened at the first body computing conference, but few anticipated how quickly the field would advance.

“I’m here to report that 363 short days after our first conference, I’ve come to believe that body computing isn’t science fiction,” Saxon told participants.

As if to drive the point home, she then projected her live heart and respiration rates onto a big screen, transmitted from a patch on her chest.

“The difference from last year is that we already have consumer products in randomized clinical trials,” she said.

Senior executives from some of these firms – such as Corventis, St. Jude Medical, Medtronic and Boston Scientific – spoke about their respective products.

Some, like the patch Corventis is developing, are wearable. Others are implanted, like one developed by St. Jude Medical that uploads an ECG to software that then recommends adjustments to a patient’s medication.

Body computing could address what many see as an information gap between doctors and patients, which if bridged could saves lives and money.

For example, Saxon described a 17-year-old marathon runner who had a heart attack due to a condition that made her heart beat at dangerous levels.

After having a networked device installed, she is now able to monitor her heart rhythms and consult with her doctor some 300 miles away.

This has allowed the young woman to “gain back meaning in her life and allowed us to be more efficient guardians of her safety,” Saxon said.

These devices especially hold promise for chronic diseases. Given that three quarters of America’s bloated health care costs stem from such illnesses, the effects could be significant.

Panelists discussed how having such information could result in fewer hospitalizations and could empower patients to self-monitor their health in partnership with their doctors.

Beyond monitoring vital signs, body computing is also heading toward innovations that appear to be more science fiction than reality.

In his keynote address, Michael Chorost, the author of Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human, highlighted some of these “scientific fantasies.”

Chorost regained his hearing thanks to cochlear implants – he can stick magnets on his head – and has since written and lectured on human-machine interaction.

He described recent advances such as prosthetic limbs controlled by thoughts and a monkey that used its mind to control a robotic arm.

USC robotics expert Maja Mataric, who spoke on a panel moderated by Academy Award-winning producer Ed Saxon, pointed out that we don’t need robots wired to our brains to allow them to play a role in health.

Mataric develops socially assistive robots, or friendly WALL-E-type machines, that help stroke victims, the autistic and the elderly, among others.

“Engineering is not yet ready to touch you and manipulate your body,” she said. “But it is ready to help you manipulate your lifestyle, and that’s affordable.”

Yet all these gadgets and the data they capture –turning people, in the case of implants, into walking WiFi transmitters – raise questions about the broader health care system.

James Mault, the director of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group, pointed out that information technology would play the role of linchpin.

“What this is all evolving to is integrating this information from disparate data systems and censor systems and robotics into smart systems that can … bring the needs and resources to that individual,” Mault said.

Mault then presented HealthVault, Microsoft’s online system where patients can aggregate their health records in one place. Google has invested in its own version as well, and HealthVault is expected to go into wide release in mid-2009.

Such systems could link to body computing devices, integrate social networking applications, allow researchers to access health data of willing participants, and more.

It is these information systems that will, Mault suggested, bring about the biggest revolution in terms of cost reduction and patient empowerment.

For the doctors present, the most appealing part of body computing was the prospect of more meaningful time with patients.

Rather than fumbling through charts, for example, they could glance at the latest measurements and spend the rest of a consultation building a relationship.

In this way, technology might make health care more human – and more humane.

“I would like to be able to treat people again,” Saxon said. “And I’d like to have happy patients and happy colleagues, and I see these technologies as so potentially liberating in that way.”