Disease prevention and early diagnostics in health care could advance with the use of technology. “Everybody has [a cellphone] and they are on it all the time. You can capture all kinds of [health] data,” said Luke Timmerman, founder of the Timmerman Report.

Timmerman moderated an interactive panel discussion coordinated by Research!America titled, "A World Without Disease, Can We Get There?," at the BIO International Conference on June 20 in San Diego, CA.  

The panel included Donna Cryer, President and CEO, Global Liver Institute and Research!America board members William Hait, M.D., Ph.D., global head, Janssen Research and Development and Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., MPA, director, Duke-Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy.

“If we knew [what diseases we are incubating], we could stop the process before we get a disease,” said Hait.

We could “create personalized plans for people in the early stages of diseases to help coach them and steer them to the right paths,” Cryer suggested.

“There is a lot we can do with information and tools in preventive ways,” McClellan said. To spur innovation he suggested, “Shifting to a payment system that incentivizes identifying risk factors, diagnosing patients, and getting treatments early.”