The Age of Predictive Medicine
Speaker: Ben Reis, PhD, Faculty, Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP); Director, Predictive Medicine Group, Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP) Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School at Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Ben Reis discussed recent developments in machine learning approaches to some of the grandest challenges of human health, including pandemic prediction, suicide prevention, bioterrorism detection, and drug safety prediction. The focus was on understanding both the methodological challenges involved and the ramifications of generating actionable predictions in these critical areas. The talk concluded by formulating a set of central challenges and opportunities facing the field of Predictive Medicine.
Dr. Ben Reis is the Director of the Predictive Medicine Group at the Computational Health Informatics Program at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental patterns of human disease and on developing novel approaches for predicting disease. He has created systems that allow doctors to predict dangerous clinical conditions years in advance, including suicide and domestic abuse, as well as predictive pharmacology systems that allow drug safety professionals to identify life-threatening adverse drug effects years in advance. Dr. Reis has advised the US government on establishing national biodefense systems in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the Hong Kong government on building health infrastructure in response to the SARS pandemic, the Greek government on establishing biodefense systems for the Athens Summer Olympics, and the Chinese Government in advance of the Beijing Summer Olympics. He has been honored at the White House for his work on harnessing social networks to promote health, and was named one of the top health innovators in the world by the US State Department and NASA.
