Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan
A philanthropy created by Facebook Cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician, has made healthcare a top priority for its $3 billion initiative. But in a move independent of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Chan and Zuckerberg have donated $10 million to the Institute of Computational Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.
Chan graduated from UCSF School of Medicine.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Led by Dr. Atul Butte, ICHS seeks to use big data to help identify drugs that can be repurposed and which ones will be able to provide better outcomes. It also addresses privacy and security issues for making data from electronic medical records accessible across health systems plugged into the University of California network.
It also addresses privacy and security issues for making data from electronic medical records accessible across health systems plugged into the University of California network. Butte oversees a project that seeks to integrate EHRs from the five medical centers in the University of California system, adding up to records from about 15 million patients.
Butte’s approach with making big data analysis part of the drug research and development process. It involves using publicly available data to gain insights into health and medicine. Those efforts so far, a news release noted, have led to a drug aimed at parasitic worms being retargeted to treat liver cancer. The institute is also assessing other drugs that could be harnessed to treat other forms of cancer. One of the merits of making big data analysis part of pharma r&d is that it has the potential to reduce the cost of drug development. If there were a better system for identifying other uses for drugs that have already received FDA approval, it could shorten the r&d process and significantly reduce costs.
Organizations using big data in support of healthcare is also an area of interest for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Earlier this year, it acquired Toronto-Canada-based startup, Meta. The business uses artificial intelligence to improve the speed at which scientists and clinicians gain access to research relevant to them. Founded by Sam Molyneux —a former University of Toronto cancer genomics researcher — Meta seeks to address a challenge faced by the life science community and others: How to identify and access the articles that they need to read and prioritize them.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Photo: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
