Jim Cavan, CEO and President of Backpack Health is featured on this episode. He has great passion for helping healthcare companies tackle systemic problems, and 20 years of executive health research and startup leadership experience. The development of Backpack Health is the result of several key goals of his, including improved access to and control of medical information, and less obtrusive collection of research data.

Backpack Health is a mobile and cloud-based app that helps people with chronic, serious and rare health concerns better manage their health journeys. The Backpack Health mission is to empower patients by making it easy for them to access, own and control all their health information to support better health for themselves, their loved ones and their communities. Just like a real backpack, the portable, multimodal, multilingual app allows users to carry around what matters most – their personalized, comprehensive medical information and documents – in one central location. Backpack Health also provides a platform for organizations to engage patients, collect up-to-date data and build communities around the globe.

On This Episode We Discuss:

How Backpack Health Started

Jim’s Role at Backpack Health

Backpack Health’s Services for Patients and Caregivers

Specific Groups to Benefit

Languages and Countries Covered

How Users Can Access and Edit Their Information

Data Security and Sharing

Backpack Health’s Role In Research

Patient Advocacy and Resources

Learn more on Backpack Health’s website and stay updated with them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on January 4th, 2019. This episode is part 2 of the discussion about the genetic counseling graduate school application process. In part 1 on episode #87 we discussed preparing for applications, how to apply to programs, and general advice. We also surveyed over 50 incoming students to capture more insight. I will be joined by the same panel of guest who are fellow genetic counseling students and we pick up where we left off by discussing the second half of the application process: interview, rank, and match.

The show will be shifting to a new release schedule for 2019 by releasing episodes on a monthly basis on the first Friday of every month.

See what else I am up to on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and iTunes. As always it’s great to hear from listeners, so feel free to send your questions and inquiries to [email protected].