KQED Launches Extensive Coverage of the Digital Health Revolution with "Future of You"

Contact: Sevda Eris, seris@kqed.org, 415.553.2835

Future of You Documentary Premieres on QUEST Wednesday, November 5

San Francisco, CA – A new era in health care is taking off spurred on by Silicon Valley. High-tech tools are allowing people to unlock information about their bodies and track everything from sleep to stress – even the bacteria in their guts. KQED is the first public media company to examine this new digital health trend with in-depth, on-going coverage through Future of You. This new multimedia initiative launches with a half-hour television documentary that explores how new technologies could reshape medical research, forever change our relationship with our doctors, and impact the treatment of chronic illnesses. Future of You premieres on QUEST, Wednesday, November 5 at 7:30pm on KQED 9.

“While working on this documentary, it became clear to me that the digital disruption that has transformed banking, the music industry and other sectors is finally disrupting health care,” says Sheraz Sadiq, the documentary’s producer.

Sadiq interviewed prominent individuals at the forefront of this digital health movement including:
•Dr. Jeffrey Olgin, chief of cardiology at UC San Francisco Medical Center, who is leading the world’s first all-electronic heart disease study using smartphones, apps and wearable devices;
•James Park, CEO of Fitbit, the leading manufacturer of activity tracking devices;
•Dr. George Savage, chief medical officer of Proteus Digital Health, a company that developed the world’s first FDA-approved ingestible sensor; and
•Halle Tecco, managing director of Rock Health, a San Francisco firm that invests in innovative health care startups.

“This consumer-centric approach could eventually transform health care,” says Andrea Kissack, KQED’s senior science editor who is leading the Future of You multimedia initiative and has been following the digital health space closely. “Although this trend offers a lot of promises, it also raises a lot of questions that we will explore, from privacy issues to a new digital divide."

The multimedia project will cover the intersection of medicine, health care and emerging technologies through ongoing news reports such as “Apple Jumps into Health and Fitness Market,” radio reports such as “Do Wearable’s Belong in the Doctor’s Office?” and blog posts like “Health Trackers May Be the Rage, But How Useful Are They?”

KQED will further explore these new trends in an upcoming free public event, “Tracking the New Digital Health Revolution,” at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose on Thursday, November 20 from 7-9pm.

Other new QUEST episodes this fall investigate life on Mars, Napa wineries and climate change, disintegrating sea stars, a ban on the sale of shark fins, a new law to help protect the endangered California condor and more. Episodes air Wednesdays at 7:30pm on KQED 9 through December 17 and can also be watched online at kqed.org/quest.

About QUEST
Launched in 2007, QUEST is KQED’s award-winning, multimedia series covering science, environment and nature stories from the Bay Area and beyond. Support of QUEST and Future of You are provided by the National Science Foundation, HopeLab, The David B. Gold Foundation, S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, The Vadasz Family Foundation, George G. and Jeanette A. Stuart Charitable Trust and the members of KQED. QUEST and Future of You are projects of KQED Science. KQED Science is the largest science and environment reporting unit in California.

About KQED
KQED serves the people of Northern California with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. Home to the most listened-to public radio station in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program, and as a leader and innovator in interactive technology, KQED takes people of all ages on journeys of exploration — exposing them to new people, places and ideas.