By Richard Silberman, Writer/Researcher, IBM Communications
During the past year, we’ve profiled nine exceptional “People for a Smarter Planet” who exemplify the spirit of change, innovation, creativity and curiosity that lie at the core of building a smarter planet. They are inventors and researchers, academics and executives, thought leaders, dreamers, risk-takers, pioneers.
These individuals come from a wide range of fields and possess an array of interests and expertise. What they all have in common is a passion for their work and a commitment to make the world a better place.
They include Ruhong Zhou, whose avian flu research may help prevent a global pandemic; Dave Bartlett, IBM’s smarter buildings guru; Bill Reichert, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist with novel advice for entrepreneurs; and sustainability expert Sarah Slaughter.
If you haven’t met them yet, here are nine People for a Smarter Planet you should know.
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Robert Waymouth, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University
By Richard Silberman, Writer/Researcher, IBM Communications
Robert Waymouth, Ph.D., maintains the sense of awe that he’s had since his earliest days as a chemist, savoring those “marvelous moments where it just takes your breath away, you can’t believe something worked like that.”
Waymouth, a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, had one such moment in 2004 when he and his grad students discovered a new way to make molecules using organic catalysts. That breakthrough, followed by years of research with colleague Jim Hedrick at IBM Research in Almaden, Calif., has yielded a process to make environmentally sustainable plastics that could lead to smarter recycling methods, a drastic reduction in plastics pollution and even a safer, more efficient way to administer drugs.
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Dan Pelino, General Manager, Global Healthcare & Life Sciences, IBM
By Dan Pelino
Last week, I had the opportunity to join leaders from all aspects of the healthcare ecosystem at the Forbes Healthcare Summit in New York City. We have all attended conferences like this in the past. We have heard ideas that are aspiring and some of these ideas inspire us to take an action.
What I found different and energizing about this event was the acceleration of the dialogue in creating value beyond the traditional barriers of health and healthcare. No one at the event was satisfied with status quo. The data is overwhelming and we all agree that new business models need to emerge.
We heard examples of leadership, collaboration and governance that have had a profound impact on populations. We heard the rallying cry that we cannot leave the challenge of healthcare at the doorstep of hospital emergency rooms. We heard that this is a journey – not a one and done appointment.
Juan Hindo, Program Manager, Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, IBM
By Juan Hindo
Today, World Community Grid celebrates eight years of bringing together volunteers from around the world to support humanitarian research. World Community Grid taps the spare computational power of computers volunteered by the general public and provides it – free of charge – to scientists who might not otherwise have access to the intensive computing power they require for timely, humanitarian research.
In eight years, our volunteers have provided research scientists with the equivalent of more than 600,000 years of computing power to seek cures and new treatments for many diseases, identify clean sources of energy and seek to improve water quality. These projects have yielded more than 30 peer-reviewed scientific papers – industry recognition of scientific research being advanced by World Community Grid.
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Dr. Jeremy Rice, Computational Physiologist, IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center
By Dr. Jeremy Rice
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Scott Megill, CIO, Coriell Institute for Medical Research
By Scott Megill and Dan Pelino
The genomics revolution people talked about 10 years ago is not only happening now, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Sequencing the human genome has become an increasingly faster and cheaper task. While simplification of this process is welcome, it also creates some challenges regarding delivery and analysis of sequencing data — which can be solved in the cloud.
The genomic data generated from sequencing machines doesn’t amount to much more than alphabet soup if it’s not subjected to significant computational processing and statistical analytics. For the data to be useful, the challenge is to turn those A’s, T’s, G’s, and C’s into a manageable description of disease risks and other genetic predispositions.
Greg Fischer, Mayor, Louisville, Kentucky
By Greg Fischer
I come to public service from the private sector. As a business owner, I trusted data to help me understand my companies – to figure out how to be closer to the customer, improve services, and dispense with waste.
When I became Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky – the17th largest city in theUnited States – I was determined that we would use data to improve the lives of all Louisvillians.
We are using “Big Data” to improve public health, specifically for our citizens who have asthma. InLouisville, 15 percent of our citizens have asthma – slightly higher than the state or national average. Asthma is the third most common cause of hospital stays for children. It causes expensive emergency room visits, lost time from work and school, and a diminished quality of life for the people of our city.
Dr. Subir Mallik, Manager for Development and Architecture, UHG Document Management Solutions Group
- By Dr. Subir Mallick
The secret to staying competitive in the healthcare market today is being able to deliver quality products while being responsive to changing customer needs. And technology is a big part of making that possible.
UnitedHealth Group (UHG), the largest single health carrier in theU.S., is serving about 70 million Americans. In the past five years, the company has made significant investments in research and development, technology and business process improvements to ensure the delivery of quality care. These investments have led to changes that are improving the way care is delivered and administered across the entire industry.
Dan Pelino, General Manager, Global Healthcare and Life Sciences, IBM
By Dan Pelino
Healthcare isn’t just a national policy issue. It’s an important part of the economy and everyone’s daily life. And, together – leaders of both the public and private sectors - we can provide leadership, collaboration and governance that can help us not only address cost, quality and access, but drive an economic impact that is meaningful to us all.
Around the world, cities, communities and regions have very different health care requirements and outcomes. Local business, political and academic leaders can come together with health providers to help achieve a more cost-effective, high-quality care system with access for their locale. We must team with doctors, nurses and care givers and not leave this grand challenge at the doorstep of our hospitals and emergency rooms.
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Christina Peters, Chief Privacy Officer, IBM
By Christina Peters
There’s a fascinating new wrinkle in the world of social networking. Pediatricians are using technologies including texting, social media and blogs to reach out to their young patients and give them medical guidance.
Sounds helpful. But wait a minute. What’s a mother to think if she sees a Web page link sent by a doctor on her daughter’s smartphone and it’s about depression or eating disorders?
A column about the trend in the New York Times caught my attention both as a mom and as IBM’s new chief privacy officer. It shines a light on the conundrums we face when dealing with privacy in this era of mobile communications, social networking and Big Data. Thorny issues confront policymakers, businesses and society at a time when advances in technology and media have the potential to solve complex problems yet at the same time could expose so much sensitive information about individuals.
