Ep. 93: Keeping Patient Data Private and Accessible - Georgina Kyriakoudes (CEO DCentric Health)

Health Unchained Podcast

Georgina Kyriakoudes, CEO of DCentric Health, is paving the way for patients to be

able to take control of their data. DCentric is the creator of Aria, an app designed to

make accessing medical records quick and easy while giving patients the ownership

and privacy that comes with blockchain technology. Georgina explains why blockchain

technologies are actually built for compliance. She also discusses why the accessibility

of patient data is important for the future of the health industry.

Topics:

• How Georgina got her start in the healthcare industry after working with an

accounting firm and doing her graduate thesis on medical data and blockchain.

• The medical emergency that prompted Georgina's and her partner to start DCentric.
• How DCentric is handling regulations like GDPR to make blockchain solutions

compliant with new privacy regulations.

• How DCentric uses a multichain solution to create an interface between patients

and providers that provides privacy and accessibility.

• Why DCentric chose to focus on development and product before marketing and
• how COVID caused them to pivot from their initial strategy

Connect with Georgina

Twitter: @GKyriakoudes

LinkedIn: Georgina Kyriakoudes

Website: MyAria

Resources Mentioned

Federal Public Health Laws Supporting Data Use and Sharing

Health Gorilla

News Corner

Researchers generate the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome --

ScienceDaily

The Human genome project was an international scientific research project with the

goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA and physically and

functionally mapping all the genes of the human genome. It was formally launched in

1990 and declared complete on April 14, 2003 but only included 85-92% of the genome.

Over the last 20 years, scientists and researchers have developed better laboratory

tools, computational methods and strategic approaches to decipher the complex

sequence.

In early 2022, the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome, two decades

after the Human Genome Project produced the first draft human genome sequence.

According to researchers, having a complete, gap-free sequence of the roughly 3 billion

bases (or "letters") in our DNA is critical for understanding the full spectrum of human

genomic variation and for understanding the genetic contributions to certain diseases.

According to consortium co-chair Adam Phillippy, Ph.D., whose research group at

NHGRI led the finishing effort, sequencing a person's entire genome should get less

expensive and more straightforward in the coming years.

This milestone marks a new era for breakthrough medical treatments and overall

improved understanding of how the human body works. Given all the potential, I hope

scientists and doctors will consider the importance of bioethics and data privacy when

drafting new protocols for sequencing patients’ whole genomes. Web3 technologies,

blockchain, and privacy preserving solutions can recreate the way health data is owned,

managed, and shared. What more identifying data do we have than our individual whole

genome sequence? It is literally the blueprint of our existence and we should leverage it

to help research but not sacrifice our individual privacy and agency along the way. What

do you think?

Health Unchained Links

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Twitter: twitter.com/Healthunchaind