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Lyme Innovation Roundtable Highlights and Next Steps

Summary: 
The Lyme Innovation Roundtable Summary Report, published by the Center for Open Data Enterprise, is available with an overview of highlights, recommendations, and actionable next steps that participants discussed at HHS on December 4, 2018, to harness the power of collaboration, data-driven innovation, and emerging technologies for Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

The first-ever Lyme Innovation Roundtable hosted by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) brought together roughly 80 scientists, clinicians, patient advocates, and other diverse participants with an interest in Lyme disease and tick-borne conditions. Roundtable highlights and outcomes are now publicly available in the Lyme Innovation Roundtable Summary Report published by the nonprofit Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE).

The Roundtable was held under Chatham House Rule, so to prepare this report, CODE gathered all of the anonymized conversations and individual input from three breakout sessions across four table themes: Prevention. Diagnosis. Treatment. All Hazards. Then, CODE synthesized this information into one document with “actionable next steps” for federal government. This report is not a HHS document, yet is an input from individual stakeholders to help guide HHS and emerging public-private partnerships for addressing Lyme and tick-borne diseases through collaboration, data, innovation, and emerging technologies.

This Roundtable was a collaborative effort between the HHS Office of the CTO, The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, Ensemble, and CODE. Roundtable participants came from very different backgrounds, yet were united by a common purpose statement: “Harness the power of collaboration, data-driven innovation, and emerging technologies for Lyme and tick-borne diseases.”

Participants identified needs and opportunities for government to improve its response to Lyme disease and other tick-borne conditions. The full Center for Open Data Enterprise report is available here.

As next steps, HHS leadership is working with the HHS Office of the CTO to scope public-private partnerships and collaboration opportunities to leverage the power of emerging technologies, and data for Lyme and tick-borne diseases. We are in the nascent stages of our Lyme Innovation initiative, actively gathering ideas and input from individual stakeholders. If you have suggestions, please email: [email protected]. We are especially interested in how patient-powered research, emerging technologies, and innovation (e.g., hackathons, citizen science, crowdsourcing, prize challenges, and innovative public-private partnerships) can radically transform the medical landscape.

Innovation often comes from unexpected places. Solutions demand all hands on deck! Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #LymeInnovation.

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