Dr. Eric Topol isn’t playing around. The author of Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again wants physicians to become activists—and to use technology to transform medicine. “That’s where we need to see the breakout. Doctors leading this charge, getting organized, and saying: ‘We’re not going to take it anymore and we’re demanding time with our patients!’” Artificial intelligence and machine learning, he says, can help us turn things around. However, adds Dr. Topol, this is far from a consensus opinion. “I think the idea that technology could enhance humanity in medicine is alien in this country.” In a spirited discussion with our own Jonathon Swersey, the good doctor touches on “the gift of time,” the role of patients and caregivers in the AI revolution, and how data should figure in healthcare’s future (“Right now, we have only fragments of people’s data about their health. Whereas we should have every part of their data from when they were in the womb up to the present moment”). We even learn, from this dialogue, which book we should read after we finish Deep Medicine. Tune in and download the latest chapter in the story of digital health.
Host: Pete Chapin
Editor: Kyp Pilalas
Producer: Ken Gordon
Photo ©Michael Balderas
About the Author
- Jonathon Swersey
A highly creative and analytical leader, Jonathon specializes in developing implementable strategies for senior executives.
Previously, Jonathon has worked at Innosight, Dell, and BCG where led teams and partnered with c-level clients to develop their innovation strategies, build their innovation capabilities, and accelerate the development and impact of their new products and services.
Jonathon lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with his wife Julie and daughters Belle (7) and Sadie (4). Outside of work, he raises money to fight childhood cancer by riding the 192 mile Pan Mass Challenge. Jonathon holds an MBA from Yale with concentrations in Strategy and Finance and a B. Sc. in Biology from Binghamton University.
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Ken GordonChief Communications SpecialistKen makes EPAM Continuum’s work visible to the necessary people. He creates superlative content, works with colleagues to do the same, and employs social networks to share it widely.
A card-carrying humanist, Ken co-founded QuickMuse, the improvisational writing website, and JEDLAB, the Jewish education community. He has written for TheAtlantic.com, the New York Times, and many other pubs.
Ken has an English degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MA in English from the State University of New York at Albany. He framed both diplomas long ago, but can’t seem to find them now—a fact he considers all-too-human.
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