How might we empower people to participate in research about their own diseases or conditions? Which models work best for organizations solving medical mysteries or improving care for those living with rare conditions? These are two of the questions raised by a New York Times story today: “His doctors were stumped. Then he took over,” by Katie Thomas […]
Invent Health
As winter sets in here in DC, I’m warming up with memories of September’s Stanford Medicine X conference. I loved putting together a keynote that highlighted how the maker movement intersects with the e-patient movement — and how private sector and government leaders can benefit. This intersection, and the lessons we are learning from it, are the latest examples […]
The sky is now her limit
Check out this gem of a postcard from 1920, entitled: The sky is now her limit. The detail I wish was true: that we had achieved wage equality before women gained political appointments. What is true: The ratio of female notaries to males is 3 to 1 in some states. And yes, if you can’t read […]
Documents of controversial times
I’m speaking today at Stanford Medicine X about what I’ve learned exploring the intersection between the Maker movement and health care (tune in at 4:25pm Pacific). I posted a short version of my remarks on Medium, but I thought I’d post an image I was very happy to find to illustrate one theme: revolutions happen when people are […]
Managing the risk of food allergy
When our child was diagnosed with food allergies, we were absorbed into a new way of life, learning the folkways of keeping our baby safe. We labeled every jar and can in our pantry and fridge so that anyone who visited could see at a glance what was safe (green) or unsafe (red). Like Curtis Sittenfeld, who […]
Beauty and wonder
From nearly the beginning of writing this blog I’ve had a category tagged beauty and wonder. I was re-reading a few of those posts this morning, since we are all, once again, being urged to look for the helpers, as Mister Rogers said. If you haven’t yet read it, Maura Judkis, the daughter of […]
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