Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6 4.1. Summary and Opportunity 522 The growing presence of patient-driven health care models may be central to the evolving health ecosystem. Individuals are starting to better manage their health, independently, with peers, in large aggregated online affinity communities and in consultative co-care with medical professionals. Tools, demographics and financial incentives may combine to accelerate the achievement of improved health outcomes for all ages. Individuals and groups of individuals as new classes of participants in the health ecosystem could be beneficial at many levels from the practical, inspiring the launch of resources, services and businesses, to the theoretical, helping to inform the general inquiry of health and to supplement the traditional scientific method with empirical data. More health resources and alternatives are starting to be available, consumers can control more of their own data and are becoming empowered to make their own choices; traditional medicine is no longer the exclusive source of health solutions. The individual can obtain relevant information more readily and act upon it. Health information databases and patient registries by condition are emerging as a significant public resource. The emerging patient-driven technology-enabled health care models have focal points at every node of the wellness cycle, particularly at earlier stages, targeting prevention rather than therapy. Uptake could advance quickly given the more open attitudes of younger generations regarding trust and privacy and their facility in using Internet models for information-seeking, communication and action- taking. Self-collected digital data could be an input to quantitative analysis, predictive outcomes and biosimulation. Consolidated reflection on reductionist self-measurement activities could be extrapolated into new perspectives such as a shift in the overall conceptualization of health, and the meaning of wellness to the individual and society. For both consumers and all manner of medical and public health and environmental research professionals, this could be a time of great opportunity. There is a potential chance to learn and apply the emerging models, to invent new tools, to reach out to a global peer audience in collaboration, to embrace technological change and to make progress on systemic challenges that may have previously appeared intractable. References 1. 2. 3. 4. Cassman, M.; Arkin, A.; Doyle, F.; Katagiri, F.; Lauffenburger, D.; Stokes, C. Systems Biology: International Research and Development, 1st Ed.; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2007; pp. 3-10. Anderson, C. The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete. WIRED Magazine 2008 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-07/pb_theory (accessed June 23, 2008). Engineering Biology: A Talk with Drew Endy. Online text from Edge: The Third Culture series ‘Life What a Concept!’ Brockman, J., Ed. 2008 http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ endy08/ endy08_index.html (accessed June 23, 2008). Hill, C.T. The Post-Scientific Society. Issues in Science and Technology 2007 http://www.issues.org/24.1/c_hill.html (accessed October 9, 2007).