In a mobile, texting, socially engaged society, one would expect medical researchers to move beyond clipboards and phone surveys to make the most of technology. Harvard Medical School and Boston Childrens Hospital are starting to do that with a series of studies theyve done querying people with diabetes, a growing population with multiple, severe health needs. Elissa Weitzman, an assistant professor at HMS and Childrens Hospital, discusses a recent study that she and her team published, using a social network called TuDiabetes, the open source patient data repository Indivo (developed at HMS), and an app they developed called TuAnalyze.

The team succeeded in gathering a huge amount of information at a depth that researchers could not traditionally capture through standard research methods such as phone surveys and the examination of emergency room visits. What has been missing from organized research efforts in diabetes is the many small incidents that take place, where hypoglycemia hampers or disables the victim but does is not bad enough to send him to the doctor. Understanding these incidents is important to protect patients and improve their quality of life.

The TuAnalyze app collected reports of these adverse effects. It captured incidents of both severe and moderate hypoglycemia that had not been previously reported. Furthermore, patients volunteered in huge numbers for follow-up research.

Weitzmans research suggests the value of creating a two-way street between research participants and researchers, who usually have obtained their data by sucking it away from patients. Toward the end of our interview, Weitzman explores the importance of signing up large numbers of research subjects, which requires researchers to respect their concerns about being exploited and having commercial interests use their data in ways that make them unsafe or uncomfortable.

Major topics of the interview follow.

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Harvard Medical School derives richer health research through patient app