Current Events by Series

Ideally the reform of our health care system is built on the ability to collect and analyze personal health data from various sources, including from electronic health records and clinical trial data. Data driven health care holds out tantalizing promises: the acceleration of basic science, the development of models that aid the translation of discovery into new therapies or the repurposing of old drugs, , new approaches to clinical trials, earlier identification of adverse events for marketed health products, better healthcare through easier access to complete health records by physicians, comparative effectiveness studies that help health care providers payers identify best practices.

The vision is a compelling one. The US government has launched a number of important programs that are trying to nudge, and sometimes push, our biomedical research and health care system into the age of big data, including the 2009 Recovery act which provided $29 billion for the adoption of electronic health systems, the creation of the FDAs Sentinel System, and countless programs and regulations promoting open science practices. There are also enormous commercial incentives to access personal health data.

The promise of health data clashes however, with existing notions of privacy of personal information. The issue is goes far beyond the increasingly common security breaches for health data. The question is whether the institutional foundations on which the privacy of personal information is based can be tailored to a world where health data is used multiple times, for multiple purposes by multiple players. Biomedical data, especially when aggregated, has enormous financial value; and so commercial interests and those of individuals will need some careful rebalancing. In this talk, I will present (1) why health data has value and who is interested in using it, (2) how health data privacy is currently protected and where the system is failing, and (3) where the political battles over health data are being fought.

exhibit through Aug. 25, 2012

Science and technology are changing our lives. They are transforming our minds, our possessions and the landscapes we inhabit. In which directions are they heading? What kinds of societies, cities, homes even people will they lead to? Are these the futures that we want?

On March 13, 2012, Arizona State University hosted Emerge, a campus-wide event that united artists, engineers, bioscientists, social scientists, story-tellers and designers to build, draw, write and play with the future. This interactive exhibition at the ASU Art Museum offers Emerges discoveries and creations, giving you an opportunity to get a taste of the futures discussed.