• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Susannah Fox

I help people navigate health and technology.

  • Home
  • Rebel Health
  • Blog
    • greatest hits
    • health data
    • peer-to-peer health care
    • public Q&A
  • About me
    • Bio
    • Now
    • Curriculum vitae
  • Events

Designing for Better Health

March 3, 2010 By Susannah Fox Leave a Comment

This is a banner week for people who think good design contributes to better health.

On Monday, DiabetesMine and the California HealthCare Foundation launched the 2010 DiabetesMine Design Challenge. Last year the contest garnered more than 150 entries and awarded a grand prize, a “most creative” prize, and a kids’ category prize. I can’t wait to see what people come up with this year — please help spread the word.

Today, Project HealthDesign announced the five winners of their two-year grant and mentorship program aimed at encouraging the use of observations of daily living (ODLs) into clinical practice.

Patti Brennan, Project HealthDesign’s national program director, wrote:

Our premise is that ODLs can help unlock information that is typically not part of the clinical experience – but that providers and patients absolutely need to be talking about. To help us test this with real people and real providers, we have selected five outstanding grantee teams for an intensive two-year demonstration projects to test whether and how information – such as the stress levels of caregivers of premature infants and medication or cooking routines of seniors at risk of cognitive decline – can be collected, interpreted and acted upon by patients and clinicians in real-world clinical settings.

I am honored to be on Project HealthDesign’s national advisory committee, although I should hasten to say that because of the Pew Research Center’s strict policies I did not vote for or against projects. I did, however, read proposals and participate in the debates about the merits of each one. The process was a highlight of 2009 for me. There is no shortage of excellent ideas, each of which strives to create a more participatory future for health care.

DiabetesMine and Project HealthDesign are just two examples of how design is taking center stage in health care initiatives.  What else are you seeing?  What else needs to be done?  How else can the field rise to the challenge that Jamie Heywood articulated at TEDMED:

“Wouldn’t it be great if the technology we used to take care of ourselves was as good as the tech we use to make money?”

Filed Under: positive patterns Tagged With: Better Health, california healthcare foundation, Center Stage, Clinical Experience, Clinical Settings, Cognitive Decline, Demonstration Projects, design, Design Challenge, diabetes, diabetesmine, Health Care Initiatives, National Advisory Committee, National Program Director, observations of daily living, ODLs, Patti Brennan, Pew Research Center, Premature Infants, Project HealthDesign, Real People, Rise To The Challenge, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Stress Levels, Strict Policies, Taking Center Stage

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Explore

Don't miss a post

Enter your email address and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Topics

  • Seekers
  • Networkers
  • Solvers
  • Champions
  • Health Data
  • Peer-to-Peer Health Care
  • Public Q&A

Recent Comments

  • Carrie Kimmell on Case study: Trevor’s disease: “Hi Jill – currently Brandon is walking without a limp (he is almost 15 now). He was going to undergo…” Jun 5, 14:07
  • Jill H. on Case study: Trevor’s disease: “Hello Carrie, I am curious how your son is doing after the surgery? Were you able to fix the locked…” May 28, 19:07
  • Susannah Fox on Jean Nidetch, Rebel Health leader: “Yes! I have enjoyed learning more about her personal story, which is a parable of midcentury feminism. WW was a…” May 9, 10:10

Copyright Susannah Fox © 2025 · WordPress · Log in