Data will eat public health: Shahir Kassam-Adams

Shahir Kassam-Adams is one of the most knowledgeable and outspoken people in healthcare. In this episode, Shahir shares his initially unsettling but ultimately reassuring view that "data will eat public health." He opines on interoperability and explains how his company, Datavant has promoted data sharing on COVID-19, leading to a plethora of interesting and potentially useful projects, including one that models the tradeoffs for specific American cities to reopen.

Check out the links:

• Shahir’s LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/skassamadams/
• David’s predictions about the pandemic https://healthbusinessgroup.com/2020/09/five-pandemic-predictions-five-months-later-was-i-right/ 
• Datavant https://datavant.com/
• COVID-19 Research Database https://covid19researchdatabase.org/
• Reopen Mapping Project https://reopenmappingproject.com/ 
• The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Fifth-Risk/
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman https://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/American+Gods/ 
• Seveneves by Neil Stephenson https://www.nealstephenson.com/seveneves.html 

As of March 2025 HealthBiz is part of CareTalk. Healthcare. Unfiltered and can be found at the following links:

• Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2GTYhbNnvDHriDp7Xo9s6Z
• Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/caretalk-healthcare-unfiltered/id1532402352
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CareTalkPodcast
• CareTalk website https://www.caretalkpodcast.com/

Host David E. Williams is president of healthcare strategy consulting firm Health Business Group.

Episodes through March 2025 were produced by Dafna Williams.