Identifying 275M Unreported Genetic Variations To Improve Healthcare with NIH All of Us Program CTO Chris Lunt
Mar 1, 2024
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Chris Lunt discusses Silicon Valley's potential for sociological change, the power of public investments in innovation, and the need to reimagine healthcare delivery. He highlights the importance of government mandates in dragging healthcare into the future and emphasizes the opportunity to completely reshape the industry soon.
Silicon Valley should return to creating sociological change by uniting people, public-private partnerships are crucial for innovation, Healthcare needs to be revolutionized through government mandate
Deep dives
Career Evolution and Impact-Driven Focus
Chris Lund, the CTO at the National Institute of Health, highlights the evolution of his career trajectory towards impact-driven work impacting a large number of people. He emphasizes the transition to the 'third act' of his career, focusing on leaving a lasting legacy. Lund reflects on the convergence of technology forces shaping public health programs, emphasizing the importance of leveraging technology to innovate within the healthcare sector.
Tech Revolution Timeline and Societal Impact
Lund delves into the evolution of technological revolutions from the pre-internet era to the present, citing experiences during web 1.0 and the subsequent social networking revolution. He expounds on the societal changes catalyzed by these tech waves, emphasizing the unity and division created through the internet's advent. Lund reflects on the transformative power of technology revolutions, from uniting people to potential negative impacts, underscoring the dynamic sociological shift spurred by technological advancements.
Genomics, Cloud Computing, and Healthcare Innovation
Influenced by the convergence of genomics, cloud computing, and machine learning in 2016, Lund discusses the transformative potential for healthcare. He highlights initiatives like the All of Us Research program, emphasizing the shift towards digitized health information processing. Lund underscores the program's success in leveraging technology to drive a new approach to medical research, aligning with the NIH's progress in embracing the digital age.
Public-Private Partnerships and Innovative Funding Models
Lund sheds light on successful public-private partnerships like NIH and DARPA, elucidating their foundational roles in driving medical and technological innovation. He discusses initiatives like ARPA-H as a key funding model for high-risk, high-impact innovations. Lund emphasizes the importance of versatile funding approaches to encourage innovation while maintaining swift decision-making and minimizing bureaucratic hurdles.
Challenges and Solutions in Public Health Engagement
Lund navigates the complexities of engaging underrepresented communities in health research, emphasizing the crucial role of trust-building. Highlighting initiatives like the All of Us program, he details efforts to bridge historical mistrust gaps within communities to enhance health outcomes. Lund emphasizes the importance of tailored communication, transparent data sharing, and fostering community participation to drive impactful research outcomes.
Chris Lunt is a technology executive with more than 25 years of experience building web services and data platforms. He is in his seventh year as the CTO for the NIH's All of Us Research Program. He joined the NIH from GetInsured, where he worked to improve health insurance shopping and enrollment systems. Previously Chris ran VC-backed internet startups, with one IPO.
Highlights:
- Chris is hopeful about Silicon Valley going back to its roots to create sociological change by uniting people and being thoughtful about what the world should look like. Over the last couple decades it has become more venal.
- Chris believes in the power of investing public money to create opportunities. He says that Silicon Valley is largely the story of a public private partnership and that it’s hard to do certain fundamental research in a purely market-based economy.
- Chris says that the initiatives around Web3 weren’t grounded in a realistic understanding of human nature and the result was not a good outcome.
- Healthcare is one of the most conservative industries but a way to drag it into the future is for the government to mandate change. Health records are currently built for billing purposes rather than for improving health. It’s also not all that long ago that hospitals were using paper records until the Affordable Care Act required that they digitize.
- There is a moment coming soon where there is an opportunity to completely reimagine healthcare delivery. A generalist will be able to help a person navigate between various providers and specialists instead of the current fragmented approach.
Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.
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