Health eHeart is an ambitious study to end Heart Disease. Anyone can join -- whether you have Heart Disease or not.
Launching Health in ChatGPT
Health in ChatGPT now lets eligible U.S. users securely connect medical records and Apple Health to get more personalized insights and better understand their health.
Crowdsourced Health Research Studies: An Important Emerging Complement to Clinical Trials in the Public Health Research Ecosystem
Background: Crowdsourced health research studies are the nexus of three contemporary trends: 1) citizen science (non-professionally trained individuals conducting science-related activities); 2) crowdsourcing (use of web-based technologies to recruit project participants); and 3) medicine 2.0 / health 2.0 (active participation of individuals in their health care particularly using web 2.0 technologies). Crowdsourced health research studies have arisen as a natural extension of the activities of health social networks (online health interest communities), and can be researcher-organized or participant-organized. In the last few years, professional researchers have been crowdsourcing cohorts from health social networks for the conduct of traditional studies. Participants have also begun to organize their own research studies through health social networks and health collaboration communities created especially for the purpose of self-experimentation and the investigation of health-related concerns. Objective: The objective of this analysis is to undertake a comprehensive narrative review of crowdsourced health research studies. This review will assess the status, impact, and prospects of crowdsourced health research studies. Methods: Crowdsourced health research studies were identified through a search of literature published from 2000 to 2011 and informal interviews conducted 2008-2011. Keyword terms related to crowdsourcing were sought in Medline/PubMed. Papers that presented results from human health studies that included crowdsourced populations were selected for inclusion. Crowdsourced health research studies not published in the scientific literature were identified by attending industry conferences and events, interviewing attendees, and reviewing related websites. Results: Participatory health is a growing area with individuals using health social networks, crowdsourced studies, smartphone health applications, and personal health records to achieve positive outcomes for a variety of health conditions. PatientsLikeMe and 23andMe are the leading operators of researcher-organized, crowdsourced health research studies. These operators have published findings in the areas of disease research, drug response, user experience in crowdsourced studies, and genetic association. Quantified Self, Genomera, and DIYgenomics are communities of participant-organized health research studies where individuals conduct self-experimentation and group studies. Crowdsourced health research studies have a diversity of intended outcomes and levels of scientific rigor. Conclusions: Participatory health initiatives are becoming part of the public health ecosystem and their rapid growth is facilitated by Internet and social networking influences. Large-scale parameter-stratified cohorts have potential to facilitate a next-generation understanding of disease and drug response. Not only is the large size of crowdsourced cohorts an asset to medical discovery, too is the near-immediate speed at which medical findings might be tested and applied. Participatory health initiatives are expanding the scope of medicine from a traditional focus on disease cure to a personalized preventive approach. Crowdsourced health research studies are a promising complement and extension to traditional clinical trials as a model for the conduct of health research.
Home | Your Local Epidemiologist
Join 365k+ readers getting accurate, unfiltered, and easy-to-digest information on the rapidly changing public health landscape, so you can feel secure in making important health decisions for you and your family.
.png)
KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Use of AI For Health Information and Advice | KFF
This poll finds that about as many adults are turning to AI for health information as social media, with health care costs and access driving many users, particularly younger users.
Meta’s New AI Asked for My Raw Health Data—and Gave Me Terrible Advice
Meta’s Muse Spark model offers to analyze users’ health data, including lab results. Beyond the obvious privacy risks, it’s not a capable stand-in for a real doctor.
Researchers | alphaXiv
Browse researcher profiles on alphaXiv: publications, citation metrics, research areas, and the papers behind them.
Two Research Papers Published on PatientsLikeMe - SPM Blog
Two research papers were published this month on the Health 2.0 website, PatientsLikeMe. PatientsLikeMe is arguably the only “real” health social network online today, because it lets patients share actual […]
For Small Businesses
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) supports transformative research ranging in scale from molecular to societal to deliver health breakthroughs in years, not decades.
Nikhil Krishnan on Twitter / X
yeah there used to be a company called Eureka that powered these types of observational, more lifestyle style studies (here's an example looking at coffee's effect on different biomarkers/conditions)https://t.co/urQRvTVTb7I think it can work if you have enough people in…— Nikhil Krishnan (@nikillinit) September 14, 2025
KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Use of Social Media and AI For Health Information and Advice | KFF
This poll finds that about 3 in 10 adults turn to social media for health information and advice at least monthly. Community connection and the need for immediate answers are the top reasons why people are turning to these tools. Slim majorities of those who use social media for health are confident they can tell what is true, and relatively few take steps to check the information they receive.
Beyond APIs: Collecting Web Data for Research using the National Internet Observatory
Widespread Internet use offers unprecedented opportunities to study human behavior at scale, yet researchers face significant ethical and technical barriers when attempting to collect data for academic studies.
Archive: New COVID-19 ‘Citizen Science’ Initiative Lets Any Adult with a Smartphone Help to Fight Coronavirus
The online study would try to help researchers gain insight into how the virus is spreading and identify ways to predict and reduce the number of new infections.
Ramez Naam on Twitter / X
There was a site years ago called CureTogether where patients could share information in a structured way on their disease, regimen, and progress, working towards a sort of bottoms-up clinical trial. 23andMe acquired them and it seems to be mostly dead.— Ramez Naam (@ramez) September 14, 2025
ProbablyFrens, Contextual Feeds and Intent-Based Discovery
It’s that time of the year—ETHDenver is just around the corner! Index will be there, and if you’re attending, we’d love to connect! But that’s not all—Index has been evolving, bringing new experiences to make discovery more intuitive and personalized.Meet ProbablyFrens: The Matchmaker AgentWe’re introducing Index’s Matchmaker Agent, an autonomous connector that helps you find the friendships, collaborations, and conversations that should already exist. Whether you’re looking for thought partn...
Google AI Overviews put people at risk of harm with misleading health advice
Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation finds
