Patient empowerment through social media

Our guest educator, Dave, has recorded a new video just for this course. It is a short introduction of his experience and research.

“e-Patient Dave” deBronkart is a stage IV kidney cancer survivor and advocate for “participatory medicine,” in which patients are active partners with the medical system. He will be visiting professor at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, USA, in March.

Dave deBronkart, known on the internet as e-Patient Dave, author of Let Patients Help: A Patient Engagement Handbook advocates for patient engagement. After undergoing treatment for stage IV kidney cancer in 2007 he became a blogger, health policy adviser, and international keynote speaker. Over the past two years he has attended over 200 conferences and policy meetings and testified in Washington for patient access to the medical record under meaningful use.

A co-founder and board member of the Society for Participatory Medicine, e-Patient Dave has appeared in Time, U.S. News, USA Today, Wired, MIT Technology Review, HealthLeaders ( “Patient of the Future”). He has published articles in The BMJ, Soc. for Gen. Internal Medicine Forum, and the Journal of the American Society for Clinical Oncology. In 2009 HealthLeaders put Dave and his doctor on their annual list of “20 People Who Make Healthcare Better.” Volunteers have added subtitles in 26 languages to his TED Talk, Let Patients Help, indicating the global appeal of his message.