Hi! My name is John Schrom. I’m a 26 year old epidemiologist turned developer, living and working between Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. I’m interested in helping people lead happy, healthy lives – and I believe this can be accomplished by utilizing a combination of public health, medicine, technology, and policy.
I’m excited to have been accepted to medical school, and intend to matriculate in the Fall of 2011 2012. In the mean time, I work for a health technology startup, and am pursuing a number of related side projects. My professional interests can be bucketed into the following categories:
Health 2.0
With the advent of Web 2.0 (3.0?), it’s time for our health care system to get up to speed with other industries. It’s clear that we’re underutilizing current technologies to the detriment of both patients and providers. This isn’t about needing to implement some clunky EMR in every clinic across the country (that should have been done a decade ago) — it’s about figuring out ways to use social networking, web apps, or smartphones to the benefit of patients.
Open Government
I believe that public officials work for the public. They should, therefor, be held accountable for the work they do. With current technologies, there’s no reason why we can’t have an open and transparent government that’s accountable to its constituents through the use of public data. An accountable government will lead to an engaged population, which will facilitate useful and innovative policy.
Health Policy
There’s no greater opportunity to improve public health than through the implementation of policy. This isn’t a solution for every problem (e.g., you can’t legislate against stupidity), but it remains a tool for use in many public health dilemmas.
In addition to those interests, I am personally interested in theatre, concerts, camping, and traveling. I enjoy meeting and interacting with new people, and I try to find value in every place that I go.
As a side note: the views expressed here are mine, and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer; any government body, committee, or council; or any other organization (regardless of my involvement with them).