Jun 10, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by Steve Downs, Lori Melichar
As we set forth on the Health Data Exploration project, we're being guided by a wonderful set of advisors. Here's a quick video post from one of them, Larry Smarr, the director of Calit2. Larry's a pioneer who's exploring the frontiers of quantified self, as you can see from the extraordinary talk he gave at TEDMED earlier this year.
May 29, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by Steve Downs, Lori Melichar
Think about it for a moment. When you consider what you "know" about health, where does that knowledge come from? While we all have our sources—doctors, friends, news articles—our knowledge at its core is derived from research. And that research is built on a foundation of data.
Data about health typically come from several types of sources: clinical data, gleaned from electronic health records or chart pulls, and billing and claims data, which are byproducts of the health care process; and public health surveillance data, which are specialized collections about particular topics or populations. All of these sources can then be supplemented, at a considerable cost, by original data collection efforts specific to a particular study.
These different types of data are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; when assembled, they create a more complete picture of health.
But a piece of the puzzle is missing. Or it has been up till now.
May 21, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by Lori Melichar
A program focused on changing the opinions of popular students could change the way others think about “norms” around bullying—which, in turn, could potentially lead to a change in students’ behavior.
Princeton professor Betsy Paluck provided this example during a recent presentation about her pioneering work using social network insights to affect culture and norms. Ever since, the concepts she explored have been influencing my thoughts about how to solve perplexing health and health care problems.
May 9, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by Lori Melichar
Lori Melichar, senior program officer
As I prepared for a recent visit from the RWJF Board of Trustees, I reviewed our portfolio of grants that apply behavioral economics to perplexing health and health care challenges and reflected on what is pioneering about this batch.
These projects are all well-designed studies that, when completed, can inform policy development and result in behavior change. In the near future, policymakers, leaders of health care institutions, program officers, and clinicians will benefit from these nuanced findings about the applications of behavioral economics to health and health care.