Taking The Science Out Of Medicine: Online Health Fiascos Revealed

Lecture "Truth" written and recorded by Todd Rundgren. ©2003 humanoid music. Used by permission.

Dr. Jones discusses her personal experiences with consumer health websites, and deconstruct their "good intentions" from a scientific perspective. She will review specific online tools meant to "empower consumers" and follow their misguided algorithms to their illogical conclusions. Dr. Jones will then remind the audience of the most common biases that are introduced into data analyses (from the Hawthorne effect to the placebo effect), and argue for redoubled efforts in health literacy (especially online), and improved science training in medical schools.

Val Jones, MD is the President and CEO of Better Health, PLLC, a health education company devoted to providing scientifically accurate health information to consumers. Most recently she was the Senior Medical Director of Revolution Health, a consumer health portal with over 120 million page views per month in its network. Prior to her work with Revolution Health, Dr. Jones served as the founding editor of Clinical Nutrition & Obesity, a peer-reviewed e-section of the online Medscape medical journal. Dr. Jones is also a consultant for Elsevier Science, ensuring the medical accuracy of First Consult, a decision support tool for physicians. Dr. Jones is the author of the popular blog, “Dr. Val and the Voice of Reason,” which won The Best New Medical Blog award in 2007. Her cartoons have been featured at Medscape, the P&S Journal, and the Placebo Journal. She was inducted as a member of the National Press Club in Washington, DC in July, 2008.

Click here to view a printable flyer for this event.