I had read a Wired magazine article a few years ago that described early detection as the best way to beat cancer, and one of the organizations noted for advocating for imaging, The Canary Foundation, was particularly memorable (though it didn’t keep me from mis-identifying it as “Aviary” when talking with the author, writer and editor Thomas Goetz, recently). More intervention evangelist than avatar creation tool, the foundation was started by Cisco C-level executive Don Listwin, who became passionate about the promise of earlier detection after losing his mother to ovarian cancer.
According to Goetz, that led to the creation of
“a research group with the single goal of bringing a battery of screening tests to patients and their doctors by 2015, starting with ovarian cancer and moving on to pancreatic, lung, and prostate. Listwin likes to explain the Canary approach with PowerPoint, and every presentation starts with a slide of the survival curve for cancer. Pointing to the 90 percent, he makes this simple observation: When we see cancer early, we have a chance to fight it.”
The visual image of Listwin in a canary yellow sportscoat at fundraising events to promote this cause was worth remembering, but even more so was the idea that when we identify health (or financial, or relationship) problems sooner, we can be more proactive in changing our subsequent behavior for better outcomes. I’m glad that Goetz included the cancer detection example in his new book “The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine,” which promotes the idea that investing time and energy in understanding our personal data can have powerful effects on our health.
DNA testing and involvement in communities including PatientsLikeMe that collect symptom and potential cure conversations for individuals fighting disease and chronic pain are two examples of the types of health investments that can positively affect us in the long-term. (The former issue was raised in an example Goetz gave at the most recent Ignite Bay Area event about pro basketball player Eddy Curry’s focus on evading DNA testing while ignoring a more immediate threat to his health, his weight.)
The concept of decision trees that demonstrate how a number of factors and choices can affect our well-being is a very visual one that seems to point back to Michael Pollan’s advice to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”–with exercise and screening recommendations thrown in. (A protoype of the flow chart-style tool for gauging diet, smoking, and heart disease risks, among others, can be found on The Decision Tree blog.) There is also the importance of good patient-doctor communication–as anyone confused by (not just dismissive of) a doctor’s recommendations can attest–that may, if the possibilities laid out in the book are realized, one day be reflected by crowdsourced physican recommendations on a more rigorously screened Yelp-like online resource.