Apple revealed its new software framework and they believe it can solve some of the biggest challenges with medical researchers, including recruiting people for studies and collecting health data more frequently. Called ResearchKit, the framework will allow developers to create apps for medical research studies and turn a smartphone into a diagnostic tool. ResearchKit will be released as open source next month and the first 5 apps are available today. Because it’s releasing ResearchKit as open source, apps can be developed for mobile platforms other than iOS, such as Android. Apple teamed up with several hospitals to develop the initial apps. For example, Massachusetts General Hospital helped create an app for diabetics and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City worked on an app for asthma patients. The other apps involve studies dealing with cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and Parkinson’s disease. The apps allow smartphone users to participant in medical research tests. The app for Parkinson’s disease, for example, runs a test that uses a phone’s gyroscope and accelerator to measure a person’s gait. Another test run by the app measures hand tremors by having a person tap on a phone’s screen. Parkinson’s disease affects the nervous system and impacts a person’s ability to move. Apple will not see any of the health data the apps collect and people decide what experiments they want to participate in and how they want to share information. What do you think of Research Kit ? Could it change the medical field ? Would you participate in it ?
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