IT to revolutionise healthcare: Expert

Dubai - A man on a mission to "utilise technology to improve lives", his latest project is set to cut through all of the confusion surrounding gut health.

Information technology has carved out a new revolution in healthcare and the future will see individuals being able to take control of their own health through data analysis.
During a breakout session at the World Government Summit on Monday, Momo Vuyisich, chief science officer at Viome - an AI powered wellness service giving insights into personal health - talked about 'Artificial Intelligence's Gut Reaction To Human Wellbeing'.
A man on a mission to "utilise technology to improve lives", his latest project is set to cut through all of the confusion surrounding gut health.
By using advanced technology to identify the organisms in your microbiome (microbes in the human body), he talked about analysing whether they are producing toxins from the food you eat. And depending on the findings, an artificial intelligence (AI) engine will then recommend the exact foods you should be eating in order to keep your gut in balance and your overall health in check.
"The technology we have today enables us to prevent a disease, decades before symptoms show. We are spending too much on symptom management; twice as much than on education, and that is not acceptable," he said.
The need now is to prevent, not treat disease. Predicting the fall of big pharma "within the next few years", Vuyisich said the focus needs to shift to big data.
"Modern medicine doesn't understand diseases like arthritis, it just covers up symptoms, but we need to move away from that. Analysing and working with big data is the true preventative medicine."
Calling the human microbiome the "next frontier in medicine", Vuyisich said utilising tech data will give healthcare experts "unparalleled visibility into the ecosystem of the body". And with that knowledge, they can create unique molecular profiles for patients.
In an interview in 2018, Vuyisich said Viome "identifies and quantifies" all microorganisms in the gut, but more importantly, analyses what they are actually doing.
"By applying machine learning to this analysis, it makes personalised nutritional recommendations to balance the gut microbiome and ecosystem inside the body."
And when the ecosystem is balanced, it will cut the risk of many diseases.
Vuyisich said countries and governments need to "harness the power of technology to better health".
Pinpointing some areas of focus, he said we need to train clinical and data scientists; fund large clinical studies (in humans); and educate the society on the "power of prevention and the importance of personalised diets".
To do so will positively impact healthcare funding as well as reduce disease risk among the world population.
kelly@khaleejtimes.com

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