3 dispatches
Everywhere you look, the message seems clear: early detection (of cancer & disease) saves lives. Yet behind the headlines, companies developing these screening tools face a different reality. Many tests struggle to gain approval, adoption, or even financial viability. The problem isn’t that the science is bad — it’s that the math is brutal.
One of the most disappointing outcomes in the US from the COVID pandemic was the rise of the antivaxxer / public health skeptic and the dramatic politicization of public health measures. But, not everything disappointing has stemmed from that. Our lack of cheap rapid tests for diseases like Flu and RSV is a sad reminder of our regulatory system failing to learn from the COVID...
How to realize the promise of applying machine learning to healthcare Despite the hype, it’ll likely be quite some time before human physicians will be replaced with machines (sorry, Star Trek: Voyager fans)). While “smart” technology like IBM’s Watson and Alphabet’s AlphaGo can solve incredibly complex problems, they are probably not quite ready to handle the messiness of...