The Human Genome Project and advances in personalized medicine would not have been possible without "leaps" made in information technology, says former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt. To keep the innovation coming, business and government leaders need to understand that tomorrow's scientists require a nurturing that goes beyond textbooks and traditional teaching methods.
"Everything we do in medicine requires investments in communication," said Gephardt, in a Chicago Sun-Times report, adding that "We need a moon shot program to get kids interested in all of this."
Gephardt visited Chicago in April to moderate a panel of biotech executives and researchers hosted by the Council of American Medical Innovation. Attendees heard that as information technology plays a greater role in medical advancements, corporations and the government must understand that younger generations are increasingly more fluent with communication tools than they are, writes Brad Spirrison.
Today's high school freshmen "cannot fathom a world that does not revolve around a World Wide Web," he writes. "We are now seeing the first serious studies of the cognitive impacts of lives spent largely online. The Internet is literally changing how we think."
- check out the Sun-Times article