San Francisco, Feb 6 (IANS): Stephen Friend, a veteran health researcher, left Apple Inc's health team late in 2017, after serving a little over a year at the job.

"His speciality involves rethinking health care research, with a focus on creating open incentives and standards that benefit patients. That was the mission of Sage Bionetworks -- a non-profit organisation that he co-founded in 2009 as a spinout of Merck," CNBC reported on Tuesday.

Friend is a renowned health researcher and his move to join Apple was big news in the health industry.

The Cupertino-based giant at the time had introduced software frameworks such as -- "ResearchKit", "CareKit" and "HealthKit" -- which are designed to help developers and consumers access health information.

Since then Apple has also started the Apple Watch Heart Study in partnership with Stanford University, as well as early testing of health record integration in its iOS.

It is not clear why Friend decided to depart Apple.

It is believed that he played a key role in meeting the security, privacy and consent regulations that surround the health industry while at Apple, according to 9to5Mac.

His LinkedIn page has been updated and says that his tenure at Apple ended in November of 2017 and that he now lists himself as an "independent entrepreneur."