Life as a Health Data Scientist

Photo Photo Credit: Health Data Consortium It was a treat to all data enthusiasts alike! What started out five years ago with an enlightened group of 25 gathered in an obscure forum has morphed into Health Datapalooza which brought 2000 technology experts, entrepreneurs and policy makers and healthcare system experts in Washington DC last week. “It is an opportunity to transform our health care system in unprecedented ways,” said HHS Secretary Burwell during one of the keynote sessions to mark the influence that the datapalooza has had on innovation and policy in our healthcare system. Below are my notes from the 3-day event. Fireside chats with national and international leaders in healthcare and data science were a major attraction. U.S. Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil discussed the dramatic democratization of health data access. He emphasized that his team’s mission is to responsibly unleash the power of data for the benefit of the American public a