Expert Talk: James Musick on Big Data, social media and innovation in medicine and healthcare

“I can get my DNA sampled and it goes into an open-source data set. (…) you’re getting this information in, and you’re starting to be able to look for things that you couldn’t look for before, because you’re talking about one person in ten thousand with a particular condition.” “We were able to turn some of these large data sets and this thinking into actual medications that could help patients live longer and live healthier.” Today in our video section: James Musick, head of the Social Media & Web Communications group at Genentech’ Corporate Communications department. Our second report on Big Data will be all about the Big Social: the huge amount of social media data currently flowing on the web. In this Expert Talk Musick shares his thoughts on how social data and trends such as the quantified self can bring more innovation to medicine and personalized healthcare. Where do big data, the open source, the social media and the quantified self start to come into play regarding healthcare? What is the future for personalized healthcare and targeted medicine? So what’s the ultimate objective for big data in healthcare?