Publisher: Webicina Kft.
Copyright 2015 by Dr. Bertalan Mesko
All rights reserved.
Editor: Dr. Richard E. Cytowic
Cover Design: Roland Rekeczki
Interior Design: Roland Rekeczki
Illustrations: Richard Horvath
This book was selfpublished by the author under Webicina Kft. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without the express permission of the author. This includes reprints, excerpts, photocopying, re- cording, or any future means of reproducing text.
If you would like to do any of the above or need information on bulk purchases, please contact the author at
.
Printed by CreateSpace, An Amazon.com Company. Printed in the United States of America.
References appear at the end of the book.
The content of this book is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional medical advice, legal advice, diagnosis, treatment or recommendation of any specific treatment or provider of any kind. Individuals should always seek the advice of qualified professionals with any questions or concerns about their health or treatment. Neither the author nor any of the content in this book is meant to recommend or endorse specific hospitals, physicians, cities, hotels, facilities, or procedures. We advise readers to do their own research and due diligence, make their own informed decisions and seek their own medical and legal advice. Reliance on any information provided in this book is solely at your own risk.
About the Author
Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD is a medical futurist who gives presentations at institutions including the World Health Organization and Yale, Stanford, and Harvard universities on how to establish a mutually positive relationship between the human touch and innovative technologies. He is the author of The Guide to the Future of Medicine, featured in Amazons top 100 books. He is a medical doctor with a PhD in genomics.
One of the worlds leading biotech thinkers, Dr. Mesko serves as a consultant for pharmaceutical and medical technology companies. He works to educate health care professionals on how to use disruptive technologies effectively to converse with patients. He is the managing director and founder of Webicina, the first service that curates the medical and health-related social media resources for patients and medical professionals.
His work has been featured by CNN, the World Health Organization, National Geographic, Forbes, TIME, BBC, the New York Times, and Wired Science among others.
Advanced praise for My Health: Upgraded
Dr. Bertalan Mesko, the consummate medical futurist, takes us on an extend- ed technological tour one that bodes well for how healthcare can advance.
Dr. Eric Topol,
author of The Patient Will See You Now, Professor of Genomics, The Scripps Research Institute
Dr. Bertalan Mesko has been called a thought leader thanks to his views on the future of medicine, and his latest book proves yet again just why he deserves that title. Dr. Meskos thoughts on digital health are comprehensive and innovative, but most importantly, they are accessible and easily under- stood. This thrilling book is a must-read for patients, providers, and all other stakeholders interested in taking control of their own health.
Dr. Larry Chu,
Executive Director, Stanford Medicine X
Sit down, loosen your mind, and settle into this book. Its an extraordinary, liberated tour of what health and treatment will be like when we no longer starve for information and when everything physical is digital - which is far closer than you think.
e-Patient Dave deBronkart,
e-patient thought leader, speaker, author
Only few have the gift of being transformative nd using it; Dr. Bertalan Mesko is one of them. This book bridges Hype, Hope & reality in a way that fits both the world of technology and medicine. Definitely a must read if youre on the intersection of technology & medicine.
Lucien Engelen,
Director of the Radboud REshape Innovation Center
An easy to read guide to future health. Introducing recent history and ev- eryday examples of progress as evidence of trends, it looks to the future of health technologies and their interactions with everyday lifestyle with informed optimism, avoiding unnecessary jargon. Covering areas from personal health recording to cheap DNA sequencing and AI assistance, it shows how the reader can take control of their own health and the many future opportunities for improving it. It also explores when we will get the technologies we see in sci-fi movies. All of this makes it a compelling but easy-going read.
Ian Pearson, Futurologist,
Author of You Tomorrow
Dr. Bertalan Mesko has written an amazingly interesting book that explores the future of medicine and how it will affect our health. As a transhumanist and politician, I highly recommend this book to all those who are interested in how technology is going to impact our bodies and change our lives.
Zoltan Istvan,
futurist and US Presidential candidate
Three in one, My Health: Upgraded is a didactic snapshot of digital health today and to come, a practical how-to guide on self-tracking, and responses to real questions from the audience. And Dr. Bertalan Mesko dares to answer them all. While I see many digital health books and articles, My Health:Upgraded is definitely not to be missed!
Denise Silber,
Founder of Doctors 2.0 and You
This one is just fantastic, an encyclopedic work by one of the recognized experts. No need to Google about the future of medicine, this book is like a search-engine on itself, about the amazing facts & possibilities of our health, but upgraded!
Dr. Rafael J. Grossmann,
FACS, Surgeon, Healthcare Futurist & Innovator
Introduction
The technological revolution has posed big questions. What is the purpose of the human race? Can we retain the human touch in medicine while at the same time embracing disruptive innovations? Should we upgrade our health with everadvancing technologies? Shall we keep our distance from artificial intelligence or robotics used in healthcare?
News every day makes us feel as if we live in a science fiction world. Exoskeletons let paralyzed people walk again. Algorithms diagnose medical conditions. The wearable revolution and a swarm of new sensors offer society amazing advantages but create risks we have never had to think of before. All this, and yet there are still many areas on earth where no care is delivered at all.
If we dont improve our skills and creativity, then robots and software will not only get better at doing our jobs but also render digital care without human interaction or empathy. The future we desire most should not be determined by technology, but by our chance to live healthily in freedom. It wont happen without us taking concrete steps. We should work harder to demonstrate why the human brain is the most complex object in the universe.
Rising healthcare costs in the face of decreasing quality of care should lead to the use of more and better technologies than what we have now. I hope to persuade you that we can make healthcare accessible and affordable worldwide, and to show that the road to it is paved with disruptive technologies. Ill further illustrate how technology can increase empathy, the human touch, and the doctorpatient relationship.