Wednesday March 8th is International Women’s
Day.
In celebration of the enormous contributions
that women around the world are making to science and technology I bring you my
favourite female contributors to the empowered healthcare consumer
dialogue. These are just a few of the female
voices that the Fainting Goat follows and there are many more inspiring,
teaching, living and learning how to improve health through technology that I
have yet to encounter. I salute you, learn
from you, seek inspiration from you and follow you (in a twitter way). You are journalists, physicians, policy
wonks, politicians, industry leaders, patient voices, students of healthcare,
advocates for social justice, technologists, bloggers, developers and
entrepreneurs. You are also mothers,
daughters, sisters and friends. Happy International Women’s Day, may your
efforts and voices stay strong for years to come.
Esther Dyson – Self-proclaimed “Internet Court Jester” – I first
heard her speak recently at a broadcast of an Economist interview with Dyson
and Dr. Daniel Kraft about Healthcare
in 2013 and I was drawn to her refreshing voice and have been following her
ever since @edyson on Twitter. Esther
Dyson is an achiever; she is an active angel investor in a variety of start-ups,
for-profit and otherwise, around the world. And, she seems to be having fun with just
about everything she does. I love that
she has already published her epitaph on her business website EDventure “I wasn't done yet! There is
still more to learn and to fix.” Oh, and
she has written a book (on my to-read list) Release 2.0 A Design
for Living in the Digital Age.
Regina Holliday – artist, advocate and brilliant visionary.
What an incredible person, such an inspiration. Here is a link to Regina
Holliday's Medical Advocacy Blog. If
you haven’t heard of Regina, please do yourself a favour and read her blog then
follow her on twitter @ReginaHolliday. Regina
is the brainchild behind The Walking Gallery (I hesitate to summarize this project for fear of not doing her work justice). She creates beautiful works of art that
represent the patient experience in healthcare or an aspect of ‘The System’
that would benefit from discussion and she reproduces them on the backs of
business jackets and gives them to notable attendees at medical
conferences. The jackets stimulate
discussion and beautifully illustrate how difficult it is to turn your back on
the patient when their voice is always present.
Her personal story is vividly described in her blog and depicted in her
own jacket, I leave that with you to experience.
Jessie Gruman - author, epatient (4 time cancer survivor) and
founder of the Centre for Advancing Health. The Institute provides pragmatic resources to
encourage all consumers to be a Prepared Patient. She has authored a few books, check out After
Shock. What to do When the Doctor Gives
You a Devastating Diagnosis. Jessie
tweets @jessiegruman and is a knowledgeable voice bridging the personal
experience with her extensive understanding of healthcare and policy.
Michelle Petersen – journalist and champion of innovation of
health in pharma. Michelle is founder of
Health Innovations – A Platform to Enable All Sectors Within the Health
Industry. She is a prolific tweeter and
brings a wealth of information on clinical trials and news from the
pharmaceutical side of the industry. Her
blog is Health Innovations.
Follow her on twitter @shelleypetersen.
Dr. Leslie Saxon – Lelsie works in the coolest place, the USC Centre for Body Computing – The
CBC (not the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) believes that technology
solutions are not the problem (or the drivers of our terrific and ever rising
health care costs), they are the solutions, and they represent the very best
achievements in modern society. The CBC is an
innovation incubation center that commercializes wireless health products that will
transcend policy and politics in the future.
She gave a great Ted
Talk in 2010 on the need for technology in healthcare and provides a
plain-speak explanation of why we shouldn't put patients in ‘information
purgatory’. Leslie is working in this rapidly emerging environment and her tweets highlight how quickly technology is driving
the future of healthcare. Follow her
@DrLeslieSaxon.
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn - Healthy
thinker – Jane is a health economist who works at the intersection of health
and technology (my favourite corner). In
her most recent blog The
future of sensors in health care – passive, designed, integrated, she
explores how sensors will help consumers monitor and manage their health conditions. Love the infographic too. You can follow Jane @healthythinker or check
out her website
Health Populi .
As my final shout-out in honour of International Women’s Day,
I would like recognize the recently launched project, Chime for
Change. Despite the glossy celebrity endorsements, I’m
optimistic that some awareness and good work may emerge from the effort. The six women that I've highlighted are all
North American women (Esther is Swiss born but a native of NYC now) a fact that
does not escape me and I believe highlights the global aspect of gender
inequality in science and technology. We
are so fortunate to live in a time and space where the contributions of women
in science and technology are celebrated and their voices are heard, but
not all women and girls have the same opportunities. View the video, and if you see value in the effort, give them a follow @chimeforchange.
As Hillary Clinton said “It is past time for women to take their
rightful place, side by side with men, in the rooms where the fates of peoples,
where their children's and grandchildren's fates, are decided.”
It’s your health. It’s
your health information. Manage it well.
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