An Agenda for QS Public Health

Lori Melichar & Bryan Sivak at the 2015 Quantified Self Public Health Symposium

In this final talk from the QS Public Health Symposium, we asked two leading advocates for a culture of health to help set an agenda for our movement over the next year. Bryan Sivak is the former CTO of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and Lori Melichar is a director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Bryan took the opportunity to specifically address a challenge to the industry. “The hardware manufacturers have to become more open with their algorithms and tools,” he said. “We’re never going to get to the right place in this universe unless we work together in certain ways, in a competition mode.”

And take note all of you with a data access project: Lori specifically invited you to apply to the foundation for support, saying: “We have an open application process and we want to hear your ideas.”

Please get in touch with us if you’d like to participate in 2016!

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Bryan Sivak

Bryan Sivak was the Chief Technology Officer at the US Department of Health an Human Services from 2011 to 2015. In this role, he was responsible for helping HHS leadership harness the power of data, technology, and innovation to improve the health and welfare of the nation. You can find him on Twitter: @BryanSivak.

Lori Melichar

Lori Melichar, a labor economist, is the Director of the Pioneer Portfolio at the Foundation, where she focuses on discovering, exploring and learning from cutting edge ideas with the potential to help create a Culture of Health in America. She is also the host of the Foundation’s Pioneering Ideas podcast. She holds a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and a BA in economics from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. You can find her on Twitter: @lorimelichar.

Quantified Self Labs is dedicated to sharing stories and insights about the role of data access for personal and public health. We invite you to follow along on quantifiedself.com and @quantifiedself. If you have an interest in joining our growing community and attending the 2016 Quantified Self Public Health Symposium please get in touch.