Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) —
We’re very interested in tech-savvy entrepreneurs here at Publicyte, and occasionally we’re just going to toss out what we think is a good idea for a startup affecting the public and civic sector.
In the Feb. 2012 Wired, there’s a terrific interview with innovative doctor Eric Topol, a genomics professor at Scripps and the author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine, about the “true digitization” of medicine. He comments, for example, “We understand digitizing a book, but what does it mean to digitize a human being?” Far out.
You can read the article or perhaps watch his TED talk if you want to know more generally what Dr. Topol is thinking about the future of medicine. But one part of the Wired interview really caught our eye. Here it is:
Wired: How do we make this happen now, rather than just waiting for a new, net-savvy generation of doctors?
Topol: We need a Khan Academy for doctors: captivating 15-minute videos on genomics, on wireless sensors, on advanced imaging, on health information systems. These things can revive the excitement they felt as premeds, when they first decided to go into this field. If we can get practicing physicians up to speed and really inspired, maybe we won’t have to wait a generation. I shudder to think about waiting 10 or 20 years for this transformation to occur.
Who among you will build this “Khan Academy for doctors” that Dr. Topol envisions? And what will your business model be?
Dr. Mark Drapeau is part of the Microsoft Office of Civic Innovation in Washington, DC.
Photo from Wired.
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