This article was taken from the March 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online. "At my medical-school interview I told them I was never going to practise medicine," says Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, a Cambridge-based GP originally from Bahrain. "I wanted to write software. I was going to be the doctor who would learn all about programming."
In 2008, Al-Ubaydli founded Patients Know Best, a website that gives patients online access to their medical data. "Our software lets patients teach their doctors how to treat them," says Al-Ubaydli. "They can access their own medical notes, monitor their health, and exchange health information securely with doctors in real time. That's when you have the patient and doctor working as a team." The site is free to NHS patients, and organisations such as Bupa and the Thalidomide Trust are also starting to offer access. "Our goal is that, in five years' time, one million people will trust us with their records."
Al-Ubaydli, 35, hopes he'll also help users to avoid "lifestyle" diseases such as diabetes as well as heart disease. "Patients will be able to see how their health is doing and what effects their lifestyle changes are having."
All medical records on the site are controlled by patients.
Others, such as family members or insurance companies, can access them only if the owner gives permission. "All data is encrypted with a password so that only the patient has access," says Al-Ubaydli. "As a taxpayer your medical records are your data.
People assume they belong to the doctors. They don't. Data
of the citizen should be controlled by the citizen."
Name: Mohammad Al-Ubaydli
Occupation: CEO and Founder of Patient's Know Best
Location: Cambridge, UK
Why you need to know him: He'll let you be your own doctor
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
