Medicine X, Stanford's popular conference on emerging technologies and medicine, returned to the stage today.
The conference, which was proceeded by the first-ever Medicine X | Ed, is now in its fourth year, and the momentum and magnitude of the event has steadily increased since it began.
Last year, more than 4,000 participants in 69 countries took part in the Medicine X experience via Twitter, making it the most-discussed academic conference in the world. Its past successes were reflected in the theme for Medicine X 2015: “Great Xpectations.”
After executive director Larry Chu, MD, welcomed attendees with a reminder that they "all belong here," Lloyd B. Minor, MD, dean of the medical school, officially opened the conference with remarks that encouraged this engaged audience to take action and seize opportunities to improve health care. "This is no ordinary time in our history, and Medicine X is no ordinary conference," he said. "We are here today to have discussions and generate ideas about how to leverage the power of information and the latest technology to improve health for people in our own communities and across the globe. Health care is truly the opportunity of our lifetime."
"Since last year’s Medicine X conference, Stanford Medicine has launched a bold new initiative — our vision to lead the biomedical revolution in precision health," he said. "Precision health as the next generation of precision medicine: Precision medicine is about sick care, precision health is about health care." Everyone participating in this event is an important part of moving this conversation forward, he explained.
Eric Topol, MD, chief academic officer at Scripps Research Institute and bestselling author, went on to give an opening keynote on ways we can use new technologies to democratize medicine and involve the patient in his or her own care. "We have views of the human being that we never had before," Topol said, referencing smartphones and other technologies that people use to monitor their health metrics.
These new technologies are important because they're interactive and easy for patients to use, and they allow patients to become more involved in their health care, Topol explained. He showed an image of the iconic black doctor's bag. "These are vintage tools," he said. "This is my bag," he explained, pointing to an image of a several digital tools.
Topol pointed out that another benefit of emerging medical technologies is that they can reduce the patient's reliance on doctors for medical tasks and questions that really don't require an office visit. This is a positive thing given that it takes about 2.6 weeks to get a doctor's appointment and the average office wait time is 61 minutes, according to Topol.
In the presentations and activities yet to come, medical students and professionals, innovators and patients will gather in person at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge and online (via livestream and #MedX) to take part in a suite of TED-style talks, panel discussions, learning labs, technology demos, and workshops designed to include and engage everyone in conversations about the future of health care.
More news about the conference is available in the Medicine X category. Those unable to attend the event in person can watch via webcast; registration for the Global Access Program webcast is free. We’ll also be live tweeting the keynotes and other proceedings from the conference; you can follow our tweets on the @StanfordMed feed.
Photos of Larry Chu (top) and Lloyd Minor courtesy of Stanford Medicine X
