IBM Watson. Image: IBM
What if you could ask your smartphone for diet and exercise advice, the same way you ask Siri for driving directions?
Biotechnology company Pathway Genomics will soon offer an app that promises to do just that. “It’s meant to allow patients to be the CEO of their own health,” says Pathway Genomics CEO Jim Plante. “It will provide genomic information. It will pull in the patients health records, connect to activity monitors like the Fitbit.”
It will also tap into IBM Watson, the machine learning system based on the supercomputer the company used to win at TV Jeopardy. The Watson online service contains a wealth of information from sources such as medical text books as well as the latest medical research journals, and IBM will use this to help power the Pathway Genomics app, after investing an undisclosed amount in the startup.
The app is just one of many—oh, so many—apps and devices aiming to improve our health through mobile and even wearable technology. Google and Apple are inviting developers to build health tools atop its wearable hardware, and various independent projects are moving in the same direction.
Though this is the first time Watson has ventured into consumer applications, it isn’t new to healthcare. One of the first uses outside of Jeopardy was at Cedars-Sinai Hospital’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, where doctors were able to use the the supercomputer to help diagnose illnesses. But the Panorama app will be the first time patients—as opposed to doctors—will have the chance to ask questions of the Watson platform directly.
Do Consult Your Doctor
Plante emphasizes that the Pathway app, called Panorama, can’t be used to diagnosis diseases or make any sort of serious medical decisions. You’ll still need to consult your doctor for that. But it could used for wellness information, such as diet or exercise recommendations.
That’s still an improvement on the status quo. While advanced machine learning techniques have been used for years by companies like Facebook and Google to target advertising, the world of medicine is only just beginning to take advantage of these breakthroughs thanks to Watson and startups such as medical diagnostics company Enlitic. Soon, however, doctors and patients might not think twice about consulting apps for more information about health conditions.
Founded in 2008, Pathway Genomics is a clinic genetic testing company. Much like similar startups, such as 23andme, the company provides personal genetic analysis. But unlike 23andme, which was ordered to stop providing its health-related reports last year, it only offers its genetic testing through physicians.
Records in the Cloud
But you don’t need to have a genomic profile from Pathway to use Panorama. You can just fill out the health questionnaire, import your medical records, or connect your tracking devices and get started. And if you have genomic information from one of Pathway’s competitors, you can pull that into the app too. “We see it being an open platform,” Plante says.
You will also be able to feed your insurance information into the app, which will then be able to help you find healthcare providers covered by your plan, make appointments and even estimate the costs associated with a visit.
Privacy will obviously be a big concern for a system like this. Plante says none of the data will be stored on IBM’s cloud service, and that Pathway will only store your genomic data, not your health records.
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