Who do you think is researching or promoting the most important work in preventive medicine

[l2silver]

Just curious if there's any one person people think is really leading the charge in understanding how to prevent chronic illness with apoe 4/4 ? I was turned onto these forums through Dr. Bredesen, but I'm seeing a lot more books these days on the holistic defense against AD and chronic illness.

[TheresaB]

Just curious if there's any one person people think is really leading the charge in understanding how to prevent chronic illness with apoe 4/4 ?

From my personal observation, I'm hearing more and more doctors/researchers are indicating they are aware of ApoE4, but no one is focusing on ApoE4 singularly. THIS WEBSITE is leading the charge.

[floramaria]

From my personal observation, I'm hearing more and more doctors/researchers are indicating they are aware of ApoE4, but no one is focusing on ApoE4 singularly. THIS WEBSITE is leading the charge.

I agree. For comprehensive information on ApoE4 and all of the ways that
the allele can impact health and what to do about reducing associated risk there is no other resource like this website.

[NF52]

Just curious if there's any one person people think is really leading the charge in understanding how to prevent chronic illness with apoe 4/4 ? I was turned onto these forums through Dr. Bredesen, but I'm seeing a lot more books these days on the holistic defense against AD and chronic illness.

[Emphasis added]
You pose a fascinating question, 12silver! People on this forum are proving every day that determined individuals can and do improve their biomarkers and their overall health. It is also true that billions of dollars, much of it to researchers in academic centers from governments, non-profits, billionaires like Bill Gates and countless millionaires, in addition to money from pharmaceutical companies funding those same researchers and clinical trials.

But perhaps it's not "one person", but "all of us"-- in our own ways?
One example of that requires computing power that would have been impossible 10 years ago: large scale genomics studies that can then be correlated with personal health histories, imaging studies, knowledge of diet, exposure to pollution, etc.
As one doctor who was a participant in a Canadian personal genome study noted, he has "26 genetic defects" that have not yet led to illness, including some that should have caused life-threatening illness, yet he is healthy:
"They know that these defects cause genetic illness, because that's how it was first identified – in people who had the illness. But what they don't know is how many people have these defects that don't have the illness – and the question is why," he says. "Maybe the thing that's stopping it in me may point them in a direction for treating people who may have this in the future."

So I nominate as those "leading the charge" people who volunteer for studies like All of Us:

All of Us Research Program is a historic effort to gather data from one million or more people living in the United States to accelerate research and improve health. By taking into account individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and biology, researchers will uncover paths toward delivering precision medicine.

In the field of "genomics", here's a guide to how much various countries think this is a potential game changer:

The United States is building a one-million-genome-strong database under its Precision Medicine Initiative. With its brand new Big Data Nanjing Centre, China will be capable of decoding half a million genomes a year. In December, Finland announced FinnGen – a six-year project to combine the genomes and digital health records of 500,000 Finns. Britain is at work on the 100,000 Genomes Project; Turkey has launched its own project, and Israel's is in the works.

Cracks in the code: Why mapping your DNA may be less reliable than you think

Maybe we truly are the breakthrough we've been waiting for!

[l2silver]

Wow. I did not realize how progressive these forums were. That's really encouraging. You know I'm sure that in every time period people are always excited by the research happening to fight certain illnesses, but it does really feel like a bit of a revolution is going on now, and that genetics holds a lot of answers.

Thanks everyone!

[SusanJ]

I personally watch the work of Chris Masterjohn and Ben Lynch. While neither is an AD researcher, they both carry E4s and focus on strategies for achieving your best health. Masterjohn's methylation work and Lynch's book Dirty Genes both have had a big positive impact on my health and lab markers.

[Fiver]

I tend to jump into the scientific literature. While there are some really productive labs and some well known people I find that E4 work is pretty broadly scattered around the world - that's a good sign.

[TheresaB]

I personally watch the work of Chris Masterjohn and Ben Lynch. While neither is an AD researcher, they both carry E4s and focus on strategies for achieving your best health

Good point Susan! I'd add Rhonda Patrick to that list, she also is an E4 carrier and often explores areas applicable to us. Dave Feldman is also an E4 carrier, but he is singularly focused on cholesterol and doesn't seem to incorporate E4 status into the mix, but he's still fascinating and relevant for those struggling with their lipid numbers.

[apod]

Lately, I'm pretty fascinated by the merging of healthcare research and new trends in data science (which is itself a field that's only been around since... maybe 2008... with tensorflow now just two years old.)

This is the tip of the tip of the iceberg: https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/02/asses ... ctors.html -- In this small proof of concept example, you're looking at preventative medicine that outperforms doctors, works in the most remote villages, and works for free... and it's something that a gifted 17 year old coder anywhere in the world could contribute toward -- here's just one kid's github and related TED talk. With medicine framed in terms of open data, a task like discovering new cancer treatment drugs can legitimately be given as high school homework assigned to non-biochem trained students. It really opens the door wide open for rapid innovation.

I'm not sure who will turn out to be the most influential players in this arena, but the community that's springing up around this stuff is brilliant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLx4ey4d8DQ

[l2silver]

Very interesting @SusanJ , I've definitely noticed a lot of talk on this form about dirty genes and Chris Masterson.

@apod in terms of data analysis and ai, on this front I'm a little skeptical. I work in this space, and I've seen a lot of disappointing results. I think the most successful applications have all involved image analysis, but we'll see what the future holds.