A consulting firm dealing with long-range, leading edge technological innovations and their consequences and implications for healthcare policy and practice.
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alt="http://hfdigest.com/wp-content/gallery/pics/robomed2.jpg" by David Ellis & Julian Bond It’s a bit odd that we would choose for our “Health Future of 2009” a topic we didn’t actually write much about in 2009: Social networking or, more specifically, sociomedical networking, if we may coin a phrase. It crept up on us. It’s only when you look back… and […]
ere have been so many articles on genomics-related topics in recent months that this issue of the Digest would need to be very long indeed to present even the tightest summary. However, the articles seemed to fit more or less nicely into one of three categories: The accelerating development of genomics technologies and initiatives, the […]
Progress in Gene Therapies In the November issue, we examined the acceleration in genome sequencing and the development of tests for genetic markers in people. Our focus this month is on achievements in therapies to cure or overcome genetic abnormalities and the diseases to which they give rise, as reported in the past year. Though […]
There have been so many articles on genomics-related topics in recent months that this issue of the Digest would need to be very long indeed to present even the tightest summary. However, the articles seemed to fit more or less nicely into one of three categories: The accelerating development of genomics technologies and initiatives, the […]
Devices Clinic in a Cellphone CellScope turns an ordinary camera phone into a powerful fluorescence microscope that can diagnose diseases such as tuberculosis. For the developing world and rural areas lacking any sort of infrastructure, this tiny, portable, inexpensive device amounts to a healthcare clinic. The device contains microscope optics and a holder for […]
Advances in Computing Lifelike Intelligent Avatars A research project called LifeLike takes precise 3-D measurements of a person, including facial movements and other body language, to create a near-video-realistic avatar of the person, then endows the avatar with artificial intelligence capabilities including natural language processing and machine learning. The goal is to make the user […]
Predictions The World Future Society’s list of ten predictions for “2009 and beyond,” summarized and paraphrased a bit, was as follows: Everything you say and do will be recorded by 2030. Everyone will have a nanoimplant with a unique IP address connecting them to the Internet. “Bioviolence” will become a greater threat with our greater […]
Last December, a consumer watchdog group questioned the legality of advertising medical devices on YouTube, and called on regulators to crack down on such promotions.
The same need to factor in accelerating change in a broader context applies to discussion of the alleged impending doctor shortage. It is claimed that the US faces a doctor shortage of 200,000 in the year 2020, of whom apparently only 4,080 will be cancer doctors.
While the West worries about the cost of too much new intellectual property (IP) in healthcare, the system that controls it is denying lifesaving technologies to people in both developed and developing countries, according to a report released last September by an international coalition of experts.
