the World Health Organization has named
stress the health epidemic of the 21st
century
chronic stress has been linked to it the
leading causes of death including heart
disease research shows stress levels are
only increasing the question now arises
what factors influence our health the
safety of your physical environment the
strength and quality of your social
connections
perhaps your biological and genetic
makeup what about artificial
intelligence these factors that
determine our health look very different
50,000 years ago on the savannahs of
Africa today our Lions not only travel
by the speed of their leap but by the
speed of light our communities are
becoming virtual when making clinical
predictions our doctors no longer look
up to patterns and the stars but
patterns and our medical data the
digitization of our environmental social
and biological health determinants is
creating an enormous amount of big data
well this has been going on for four
decades clinicians are now partnering
with computer scientists to utilize the
computing power of artificial
intelligence or AI algorithms to process
big datasets for clinical insights and
even treatment recommendations but
here’s my concern ai algorithms like
deep neural networks are modeled after
our own neural architecture and like our
human brain is shaped by daily
experiences these artificial neural
networks are also shaped by our
experiences by our data in this case our
medical data if an AI is going to start
making treatment recommendations I want
it to not only know about the biological
but the social and environmental factors
that inform my health for example it can
identify and die
stress and anxiety in college students
an epidemic across the UK in the US but
can it identify the environmental and
social conditions that precipitated the
onset unlike human intelligence if not
in the data set a I cannot creatively
adapt and generalize knowledge of how
biological factors differ across diverse
social and environmental contexts
not to mention populations that can’t
afford health care or are geographically
isolated we should note that the same
health inequalities and inequities that
exist in patient data today will not be
magically populated by AI but may be
perpetuated how can we reduce these
disparities in our health data right now
our data is segregated and regulated by
health consumer and lifestyle economies
data sharing between these economies
typically don’t occur however in a
collaborative economy consumers are able
to acquire resources from each other
instead of corporations this encompasses
bay sharing like Airbnb for example if I
rent out a room in my house the value of
that house increases for both myself the
homeowner but also the person saving
potentially hundreds of dollars in hotel
fees the premises when information about
goods and services are shared with the
community their value increases for the
share and community can we extend the
model of the collaborative economy to
the model of collaborative health to
help fill in the gaps in our health data
if I share my consumer health and
lifestyle data with my community the
value of that data increases for both
myself and the community by digitally
collecting our whole human experience
not just medical or consumer we can
reduce disparities in our health data
just as we donate blood because we are
donating our data
our collaborative challenges and
triumphs can train AI algorithms to
identify novel treatments collaborative
health will take us beyond sharing
tangible items to realizing the
life-giving properties of sharing our
data for not just the individual but the
population in 1628 physician dr. William
Harvey said life is in our blood in 2016
physician dr. Dan Kraft said data
donation will become the new blood
donation
indeed this data will course through the
veins of AI and that river of life or
the health of one is linked to that of
the whole in this case artificial
intelligence is not that artificial I am
NOT a computer scientist I am a doctoral
student in counseling psychology at
Boston University and a recent graduate
of the Harvard School of Public Health
as a Bostonian it might not come as a
complete surprise that I have been in
three significant car accidents in the
past five years resulting in a post
concussion syndrome and an overactive
thyroid disorder I used my own patient
consumer and lifestyle data to assist in
my recovery after the first accident I
was diagnosed with host concussion
syndrome which is a mild traumatic brain
injury
I became hypersensitive to my external
environment what sounded like a
hurricane blowing past my window was a
car traveling a casual speed of 30 miles
per hour what looked like piercing
strobing lights was the morning sunlight
dancing through the leaves after the
second accident I was again diagnosed
with post concussion syndrome but my
symptoms were a little different
while the hypersensitivity to my
environment returned I now had
difficulty regulating my attention
energy and mood I became severely
depressed my doctor also informed me
that because of the physical trauma my
body was releasing high levels of stress
hormones like cortisol
resulting in hyperthyroidism which means
I would need to take a pill for the rest
of my life to decrease my heart rate and
metabolism my body was responding this
way for good reason
50000 years ago on the savannahs of
Africa our body evolved to automatically
or unconsciously regulate response to
external threats by the time we
consciously think oh my goodness it’s a
lion our body has already increased its
own heart rate visual acuity and muscle
tension preparing to fight flee or an
extreme danger freeze but because of the
repeated physical trauma
my body was misperceiving even
non-threatening stimuli like passing
cars as lions no longer on the savannahs
of Africa but in Boston at this point I
was forced to take a step back from a
psychophysiological perspective I knew
exactly what was happening to me and I
knew the long-term health implications
beyond taking a pill I needed an
objective way to regulate and monitor my
mind and body between doctor’s visits in
the real world and in real-time I am
part of a generation that intuitively
turns to technology for solutions
so naturally I started experimenting
with mobile technologies to track my
physical and emotional stress in
response to different environments
activities even social interactions
today I no longer take a pill to
regulate my heartrate metabolism I use a
mobile app I created I realized through
my academic and life experiences that
our health is a result of our biological
environmental and social interactions
and then it dawned on me wouldn’t it be
interesting and helpful to know what
situations were stressful and relaxing
for other people what if that data could
be donated to hospitals and universities
to connect the dots between the
biological social and environmental
factors that determine our health in the
real world and in real time were cures
our crowd-sourced and the road to health
is navigated together collaboratively
after graduating from Harvard I created
an app called BIOS a that got accepted
to Harvard’s innovation labs for example
if I wanted to understand the degree to
which public speaking undue stress I
would place my finger over the cellphone
camera the measurer bio G would then
begin to form
I would then add voice and facial
analysis type a quick note at a friend
or two and then post it so others can
view my experience on a map or augmented
reality oh and of course I would donate
my data to research hospitals not and
academic institutions it is my hope that
by us there would be just one tool used
to express our authentic experiences and
share our data well it is still a
primitive tool the algorithm used to
interpret well-being is fairly young and
it has a lot to learn I hope you will
join me in training the app through your
own experiences as Peter Diamandis said
our brain has not had a software upgrade
in 50 thousand years we are hardwired to
recognize threat before safety but
during times of stress our body just
doesn’t release stress hormones like
cortisol it also releases oxytocin which
increases our desire to bond with others
and Darwin’s descent of man he mentioned
survival of the fittest three times he
mentions love over 40 times we survived
because of our humanity our ability to
collaborate the collaborative economy
has taught us that experiences and data
are valued when they are shared mobile
health technologies can assist
individuals and populations to become
aware of the environmental and social
determinants that increase well-being as
AI begins to play a more active role in
how we receive and access care creating
a new digital determinants of health it
is important for not just computer
scientists but clinicians patients and
policymakers to know that an algorithm
is only as generalizable as the deity it
was trained on what if we could train it
together
imagine a world where health is
collaborative and wellness is
crowd-sourced where we can identify the
environmental and social factors that
cause the illness based on our
collaborative experiences in the real
world and in real time not just the
hospital my invitation to you today is
to embrace the opportunity that this
world health epidemic offers whether we
do so in real life conversations or
through tools like BIOS a it is in our
sharing and communicating of everyday
experiences that we will thrive well I
am NOT here to speak on the soul I do
believe we are more than the sum of our
parts we are more complex than our data
the human experience is more complex
than alike if it takes a village to
raise a child it will take the world to
train a doctor AI and when it has
learned from the majority and the
minority from people in remote regions
and faraway lands from those who pray
from freedom of a disease or disasters
rain from those who have finally found
peace in the heavens or who have learned
to be that change then once upon a time
collaboratively we will heal each other
and we will see that change we began our
journey today in Africa and in honor of
our theme beginning I would like to end
with a word and bun – which has many
translations none of which I will do
justice but I will leave you with one I
am because you are thank you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
stress the health epidemic of the 21st
century
chronic stress has been linked to it the
leading causes of death including heart
disease research shows stress levels are
only increasing the question now arises
what factors influence our health the
safety of your physical environment the
strength and quality of your social
connections
perhaps your biological and genetic
makeup what about artificial
intelligence these factors that
determine our health look very different
50,000 years ago on the savannahs of
Africa today our Lions not only travel
by the speed of their leap but by the
speed of light our communities are
becoming virtual when making clinical
predictions our doctors no longer look
up to patterns and the stars but
patterns and our medical data the
digitization of our environmental social
and biological health determinants is
creating an enormous amount of big data
well this has been going on for four
decades clinicians are now partnering
with computer scientists to utilize the
computing power of artificial
intelligence or AI algorithms to process
big datasets for clinical insights and
even treatment recommendations but
here’s my concern ai algorithms like
deep neural networks are modeled after
our own neural architecture and like our
human brain is shaped by daily
experiences these artificial neural
networks are also shaped by our
experiences by our data in this case our
medical data if an AI is going to start
making treatment recommendations I want
it to not only know about the biological
but the social and environmental factors
that inform my health for example it can
identify and die
stress and anxiety in college students
an epidemic across the UK in the US but
can it identify the environmental and
social conditions that precipitated the
onset unlike human intelligence if not
in the data set a I cannot creatively
adapt and generalize knowledge of how
biological factors differ across diverse
social and environmental contexts
not to mention populations that can’t
afford health care or are geographically
isolated we should note that the same
health inequalities and inequities that
exist in patient data today will not be
magically populated by AI but may be
perpetuated how can we reduce these
disparities in our health data right now
our data is segregated and regulated by
health consumer and lifestyle economies
data sharing between these economies
typically don’t occur however in a
collaborative economy consumers are able
to acquire resources from each other
instead of corporations this encompasses
bay sharing like Airbnb for example if I
rent out a room in my house the value of
that house increases for both myself the
homeowner but also the person saving
potentially hundreds of dollars in hotel
fees the premises when information about
goods and services are shared with the
community their value increases for the
share and community can we extend the
model of the collaborative economy to
the model of collaborative health to
help fill in the gaps in our health data
if I share my consumer health and
lifestyle data with my community the
value of that data increases for both
myself and the community by digitally
collecting our whole human experience
not just medical or consumer we can
reduce disparities in our health data
just as we donate blood because we are
donating our data
our collaborative challenges and
triumphs can train AI algorithms to
identify novel treatments collaborative
health will take us beyond sharing
tangible items to realizing the
life-giving properties of sharing our
data for not just the individual but the
population in 1628 physician dr. William
Harvey said life is in our blood in 2016
physician dr. Dan Kraft said data
donation will become the new blood
donation
indeed this data will course through the
veins of AI and that river of life or
the health of one is linked to that of
the whole in this case artificial
intelligence is not that artificial I am
NOT a computer scientist I am a doctoral
student in counseling psychology at
Boston University and a recent graduate
of the Harvard School of Public Health
as a Bostonian it might not come as a
complete surprise that I have been in
three significant car accidents in the
past five years resulting in a post
concussion syndrome and an overactive
thyroid disorder I used my own patient
consumer and lifestyle data to assist in
my recovery after the first accident I
was diagnosed with host concussion
syndrome which is a mild traumatic brain
injury
I became hypersensitive to my external
environment what sounded like a
hurricane blowing past my window was a
car traveling a casual speed of 30 miles
per hour what looked like piercing
strobing lights was the morning sunlight
dancing through the leaves after the
second accident I was again diagnosed
with post concussion syndrome but my
symptoms were a little different
while the hypersensitivity to my
environment returned I now had
difficulty regulating my attention
energy and mood I became severely
depressed my doctor also informed me
that because of the physical trauma my
body was releasing high levels of stress
hormones like cortisol
resulting in hyperthyroidism which means
I would need to take a pill for the rest
of my life to decrease my heart rate and
metabolism my body was responding this
way for good reason
50000 years ago on the savannahs of
Africa our body evolved to automatically
or unconsciously regulate response to
external threats by the time we
consciously think oh my goodness it’s a
lion our body has already increased its
own heart rate visual acuity and muscle
tension preparing to fight flee or an
extreme danger freeze but because of the
repeated physical trauma
my body was misperceiving even
non-threatening stimuli like passing
cars as lions no longer on the savannahs
of Africa but in Boston at this point I
was forced to take a step back from a
psychophysiological perspective I knew
exactly what was happening to me and I
knew the long-term health implications
beyond taking a pill I needed an
objective way to regulate and monitor my
mind and body between doctor’s visits in
the real world and in real-time I am
part of a generation that intuitively
turns to technology for solutions
so naturally I started experimenting
with mobile technologies to track my
physical and emotional stress in
response to different environments
activities even social interactions
today I no longer take a pill to
regulate my heartrate metabolism I use a
mobile app I created I realized through
my academic and life experiences that
our health is a result of our biological
environmental and social interactions
and then it dawned on me wouldn’t it be
interesting and helpful to know what
situations were stressful and relaxing
for other people what if that data could
be donated to hospitals and universities
to connect the dots between the
biological social and environmental
factors that determine our health in the
real world and in real time were cures
our crowd-sourced and the road to health
is navigated together collaboratively
after graduating from Harvard I created
an app called BIOS a that got accepted
to Harvard’s innovation labs for example
if I wanted to understand the degree to
which public speaking undue stress I
would place my finger over the cellphone
camera the measurer bio G would then
begin to form
I would then add voice and facial
analysis type a quick note at a friend
or two and then post it so others can
view my experience on a map or augmented
reality oh and of course I would donate
my data to research hospitals not and
academic institutions it is my hope that
by us there would be just one tool used
to express our authentic experiences and
share our data well it is still a
primitive tool the algorithm used to
interpret well-being is fairly young and
it has a lot to learn I hope you will
join me in training the app through your
own experiences as Peter Diamandis said
our brain has not had a software upgrade
in 50 thousand years we are hardwired to
recognize threat before safety but
during times of stress our body just
doesn’t release stress hormones like
cortisol it also releases oxytocin which
increases our desire to bond with others
and Darwin’s descent of man he mentioned
survival of the fittest three times he
mentions love over 40 times we survived
because of our humanity our ability to
collaborate the collaborative economy
has taught us that experiences and data
are valued when they are shared mobile
health technologies can assist
individuals and populations to become
aware of the environmental and social
determinants that increase well-being as
AI begins to play a more active role in
how we receive and access care creating
a new digital determinants of health it
is important for not just computer
scientists but clinicians patients and
policymakers to know that an algorithm
is only as generalizable as the deity it
was trained on what if we could train it
together
imagine a world where health is
collaborative and wellness is
crowd-sourced where we can identify the
environmental and social factors that
cause the illness based on our
collaborative experiences in the real
world and in real time not just the
hospital my invitation to you today is
to embrace the opportunity that this
world health epidemic offers whether we
do so in real life conversations or
through tools like BIOS a it is in our
sharing and communicating of everyday
experiences that we will thrive well I
am NOT here to speak on the soul I do
believe we are more than the sum of our
parts we are more complex than our data
the human experience is more complex
than alike if it takes a village to
raise a child it will take the world to
train a doctor AI and when it has
learned from the majority and the
minority from people in remote regions
and faraway lands from those who pray
from freedom of a disease or disasters
rain from those who have finally found
peace in the heavens or who have learned
to be that change then once upon a time
collaboratively we will heal each other
and we will see that change we began our
journey today in Africa and in honor of
our theme beginning I would like to end
with a word and bun – which has many
translations none of which I will do
justice but I will leave you with one I
am because you are thank you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
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