Many of the people interested in this blog want to be pioneers in changing the delivery of healthcare.  This entertaining and informative video is a "must see".  It features Eric Topol, MD who is a cardiologist and geneticist and is the Director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute.  A more complete bio for Dr. Topol is below.  The challenge for each of you is to think about the technologies shown in the video, many of which are available today, and to think how it can bring individualized medicine and home care to the next level.  Enjoy!

The video is courtesy of www.ted.com

The following bio for Dr. Topol is courtesy of Wikipedia:

Eric Topol, M.D. is a noted American cardiologist, geneticist and administrator. He is the Director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, in La Jolla, California, which is a National Institutes of Health funded flagship grant, to accelerate research to change medicine. He also serves as the Chief Academic Officer for Scripps Health, a Professor of Translational Genomics at The Scripps Research Institute, and was recently named The Gary and Mary West Chair of Innovative Medicine. In addition, he serves on the Board of the West Wireless Health Institute as Chief Medical Officer.

In 2008, Topol launched an impressive large-scale long-term study of personal genetic testing to assess its impact on people who choose to get tested.^[1] Through the Scripps Genomic Health Initiative, his team is following 10,000 people who take a Navigenics genetic test to see if the knowledge they glean from the process encourages them to improve their lifestyle and get regular and recommended health care. Topol's team is also assessing the psychological impact of genetic testing, and whether participants are able to prevent or delay diseases such as type 2 diabetes, some cancers, Alzheimer's disease and more by taking action after getting their results.^[2] Besides the Scripps Translational Science Institute, study partners include Navigenics, Affymetrix and Microsoft.

Before this, he was Professor of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He was the Founder of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.^[3] Prior to moving to Case Western, Topol was Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic where he is widely credited ^[4] with leading its cardiovascular program to the topmost position in the US. Topol left the Cleveland Clinic in early 2006 after drawing "attention to the mounting tensions between the clinic's research mission and its deep ties to the businesses that finance that research."^[5]

Topol gained prominence as the first physician researcher to raise questions about the safety of Vioxx. He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He was named Doctor of the Decade by the Institute for Scientific Information for being one of the top 10 most cited medical researchers.

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