Why is Body Computing Important?

Data from a study published earlier this year in the journal Health Affairs indicate a state-of-emergency for chronic disease prevention and management. Government survey data showed that in 2005, 44% of Americans had at least one chronic medical condition, which could include diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and heart failure. The percentage of Americans with three or more chronic illnesses is even more dramatic. Obesity contributes to many chronic conditions, including diabetes, which has increased about 90% in the past decade.

There is a serious shortage of healthcare workers along with federal initiatives to "go digital." Connected medicine, or what USC calls "Body Computing", has the potential to give patients greater responsibility, and the proper information and tools, to better manage their own health. At the same time, tools, including mobile applications, need to be developed that will make the digital era work for the physician or other health care provider by making this information portable and increasing the efficiency of clinical care.

Since healthcare is going through monumental changes, and national legislation is mandating changes to electronic data in hospitals, body computing has become a hot issue.  Other institutions, like the Cleveland Clinic and Scripps, are entering this area, but the University of Southern California is uniquely positioned to bring disparate groups together to help forward-and lead-the discussion.

The interdisciplinary-engineering, entertainment, medicine-nature of connected medicine makes USC the perfect place to form an Institute for Body Computing. Dr. Leslie Saxon, Chief of Cardiology at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine and the host of USC's annual Body Computing Conference, has been working in this area for several years, and is one of the nation's leaders in body computing. (In fact, she coined the phrase.)

Her successful conference has brought together an impressively diverse group of people, such as CEOs of device manufacturers, Academy Award winners, leaders at the FDA, authors, major consumer product companies, venture capitalists, media representatives, social networking experts, world-class designers, physicians, Silicon Valley startups, and many more, to help further the discussion around connected medicine.