I recently presented on small data for my mobile health class. I have posted my slides here. I would be happy to receive your thoughts and comments.

1. Small data: and the
future of medicine
Presented by
Gaurav Trivedi

2. Based on ideas in
2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAEhSGYEHWU

3. Based on ideas in
3
Topol, E. J. (2015). The patient will see you now:
The future of medicine is in your hands.

4. Small Data, because…
4

5. Small Data
5
Small data connects people with timely, meaningful insights
(derived from big data and/or “local” sources), organized and
packaged – often visually – to be accessible, understandable,
and actionable for everyday tasks.
http://smalldatagroup.com/2013/10/18/defining-small-data/
Small data is data that is small enough size for human comprehension.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_data

6. • What are some examples of “small data” that you
use to make decisions?
• Do they influence your behavior and daily
schedule?
• timely, meaningful insights
• organized and packaged
• accessible understandable
• actionable
Group Task
6

7. Group Task
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• timely, meaningful insights
• organized and packaged
• accessible understandable
• actionable

8. Group Task
8
• timely, meaningful insights
• organized and packaged
• accessible understandable
• actionable

9. Sattva meditation - timer and
tracker
Group Task
9
• timely, meaningful insights
• organized and packaged
• accessible understandable
• actionable

10. • What are some examples of “small data” that you
use to make decisions?
• Do they influence your behavior and daily
schedule?
• timely, meaningful insights
• organized and packaged
• accessible understandable
• actionable
Group Task
10

11. small data, where n=me
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• The definition of “small data” is not very precise
here but it probably means something similar to
what we discussed
“[to] create a picture of your health over time by
continuously, securely, and privately analyzing
the digital traces you generate as you work,
shop, sleep, eat, exercise, and communicate”

12. Show and tell
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13. Patients capture data
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• With smart phones, patients have the power to
capture their own data
• Using “Digital Traces” to get insights on:
• early warning signs of a problem
• indicators of gradual improvement, etc.
• Subtle but significant changes in a person’s well-
being by representing changes in day-to-day
behavior

14. Patients capture data
14
• Some examples:
• Help doctors determine whether the new medication
dosage is better than the previous dosage
• Whether a supplement for early-stage arthritis is actually
helping; location traces could determine how sedentary
• An app could create a comparative picture of daily
functions by automatically analyzing motion,
location, and vocabulary data plucked from the
digital traces

15. Patients capture data
15
• While Dr. Estrin refrains from using smart devices
to make medical diagnoses, doing so is a recurring
theme in Dr. Topol’s book:
“I thought I’d seen it all in my decades long practice
as a cardiologist, but recently, for the first time, I
had an ECG emailed to me by a patient, with the
subject line - I’m in atrial fib, now what do I do?. I
immediately knew that the world had changed. The
patient’s phone hadn’t just recorded the data; it had
interpreted it.”

16. Patients capture data
16
• Smartphones and wearables can now:
• quantify components of lung functions
• analyze one’s voice to gauge mood, make the
diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease
• record a broad range of physiological data, like heart
rate and rhythm, respiratory rate, and blood pressure
• Companies working on smartphone-enabled gadgets to
sequence your DNA or even detect cancer by telltale
molecules in your breath…

17. Patients capture data
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http://www.cc.com/video-clips/udr4lu/the-colbert-report-eric-topol

18. Patients capture data
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• Discuss some of the signals that can be meaningful
for patients interested in capturing mHealth data
• Should we have more specialized sensors on the
device? Costs? Benefits?
• What do you think are the problems with patients
capturing medical data themselves? How can we
mitigate them?

19. On the role of physicians
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• Dr. Estrin: “I am not talking about replacing the insight
and role of doctors or loved ones, nor am I discounting the
importance of our own self-awareness. Instead, use of these
traces could serve to greatly enhance all of those…”
• Dr. Topol: Patients know themselves better than anyone
else and are deeply invested in their own health. They
have an incentive to monitor their health more
comprehensively than a physician ever could and pursue
treatment with a unique intensity of purpose.
• He also discusses their implications for the changing
doctor-patient relationship.

20. On the role of physicians
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• Dr. Estrin: “We can think of this as new kind of
medical evidence, evidence where n=me, because it
complements traditional big-N population studies
with data that are just about me (or you) over time”
• Dr. Topol also gives examples of similar cases
where patients are able to diagnose very rare
genetic disorders
• Physicians often simply do not have enough time
and experience for many cases even if the
literature is there

21. On the role of physicians
21
• How do you think these advances will impact the
doctor-patient relationship?
• What are the pros and cons?
• Do you think there are any opportunities by
addressing the challenges here?

22. Open health data
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• Both talk about the importance of access to open
medical data
• Dr. Topol focuses on the fact that medical
professionals shouldn’t stand between you and
your data
• Dr. Estrin stresses on the need for a common
(open) architecture so that a rich market of apps
and services can grow around the n=me data

23. Closing thoughts?
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