"Preventing Cardiovascular Disease: Pathways through Diagnostic Testing, Clinical Guidelines, and Patient Decision Making"

Please note: All research in progress seminars are off-the-record. Any information about methodology and/or results is embargoed until publication.

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and consumes 17% of our national healthcare expenditures. Diagnostic testing in clinical settings—particularly for coronary heart disease—and incorporation of economic evidence into professional society guidelines represent underdeveloped opportunities to catalyze adoption of preventive health measures. Financial incentives that influence patient decision-making may also be an effective tool to increase adoption of preventive health measures, and we are currently testing their effectiveness and return on investment in high-risk, hospitalized smokers.

“Improving Symptoms and Quality of Life in Chronic Heart Failure”

Please note: All research in progress seminars are off-the-record. Any information about methodology and/or results is embargoed until publication.

*Please note the irregular time for this seminar*

Abstract

David Bekelman, MD, MPH is a visiting lecturer at Stanford University and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.  He is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Nursing at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.  Dr. Bekelman is a board-certified internist, psychiatrist, and palliative care specialist. In this talk, he will present his research related to measuring and improving quality of life, testing novel health care delivery interventions, and behavioral clinical trials.  He will describe his ongoing research that is examining ways to integrate palliative and psychosocial care into the primary care setting.  These interventions expand the “reach” of palliative care by combining training of nurses and social workers in basic palliative care with case review by palliative care specialists.  He will also discuss how his team has managed challenges in recruiting ill patients and their family caregivers into research, coordinating care, and integrating specialist care in the patient-centered medical home.

Abstract

Human rights groups have only two assets: people and information.  Learn about Benetech’s decade of putting information technology tools into the hands of human rights activists, with the goal of making these two assets more effective in advancing the global cause of human rights.   

Speaker bio

Jim Fruchterman is the founder and CEO of Benetech, a Silicon Valley nonprofit technology company that develops software applications to address unmet needs of users in the social sector. He is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his work as a pioneering social entrepreneur, including the MacArthur Fellowship, Caltech’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and the Migel Medal—the highest honor in the blindness field—from the American Foundation for the Blind. Since its founding in 1989, Benetech has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Its tools and services have transformed the ways in which people with disabilities access printed information, at-risk human rights defenders safely document abuse, and environmental practitioners succeed in their efforts to protect species and ecosystems. Through his work with Benetech and as a trailblazer in the field of social entrepreneurship, Jim continues to advance his vision of a world in which the benefits of technology reach all of humanity, not just the wealthiest and most able five percent.