Big Data + Genomics = Earlier Disease Detection

Mar 10, 2019

5:00pm – 6:00pm CT

Public health surveillance is at a crossroads --innovation is pairing big data and genetics to understand, diagnose and treat infectious scourges that have defined world history. Handheld genetic sequencers can diagnose an infection in hours, determine where it originated and even identify what drugs will work to fight it. The technology is accessible so that diseases like the Zika virus, Ebola fever and tuberculosis can be controlled in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Brazil just as quickly as in the United States. Working through the technical and ethical challenges of genomics and its big data, the Nirvana of precision public health can be achieved when these bugs can be geospatially mapped.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.

photo of David Blazes
David Blazes

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

photo of Jennifer Gardy
Jennifer Gardy

School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia

photo of Sheri Lewis
Sheri Lewis

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Primary Access
Platinum Badge
Interactive Badge
Secondary Access
Music Badge
Film Badge