IBM and the American Cancer Society (ACS) have formed a collaboration to create the first virtual cancer health advisor using Watson.

Watson will be able to anticipate the needs of people with different types of cancer, at different stages of disease, and at various points in treatment, and it will become more personalized the more a patient engages with it.

Once the platform is developed, Watson will use 14,000 pages of information from ACS’s cancer.org concerning 70 cancer topics, healthy lifestyles, risk reduction, and early detection, along with ACS National Cancer Information Center’s data about self-management, support groups, health/wellness activities, and cancer education.
“Our hope is to put the advisor in the hands of all who would benefit from it. We want to have the greatest impact for the greatest number of people,” Rich Wender, chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society, told HCB News.

A person with breast cancer experiencing unusual levels of pain could ask Watson what might be causing pain, according to the announcement. The advisor would respond with information on symptoms and self-management options related to the patient’s current and future treatments.

Down the road, Watson will have voice recognition and natural language processing technology, enabling users to ask questions and receive audible responses.

“It won’t replace consultations with one’s own physician, but it will likely help patients have more educated and meaningful dialogue with their physicians,” Wender said, “Not only that, it will help patients learn from experiences that other patients have had.”

Gary M. Reedy, CEO of the American Cancer Society, added that it’s about providing the right information to the right people at the right time.

The final format and capabilities of the advisor have not yet been confirmed, but IBM and ACS are aiming to have the service available early next year, said Kyu Rhee, chief health officer at IBM, according to Fortune. It could potentially work as an app on a phone or tablet.

Longer term, ACS and IBM hope to integrate the advisor with IBM’s existing Watson for Oncology for doctors, said Rhee. Watson for Oncology is a clinical support tool that helps doctors make personalized, evidence-based treatment decisions for their patients.

With the integration of the ACS advisor, clinicians could share personalized guidance on resources including educational materials and social services and programs.

IBM is currently working with researchers, clinicians, and cancer institutions to apply Watson technology through partnerships with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Business Affairs Homepage