NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – PatientsLikeMe — a network that connects patients who share the same disease or condition — and the Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health said on Thursday they are collaborating to integrate phenotypic data for clinical use.
The collaboration will integrate PatientsLikeMe's virtual registry of patient data with CATCH's research initiatives in order to develop models of care and translate them to clinical settings. PatientsLikeMe will also bring its patient engagement tools and feedback into the clinic "to help create a shared learning environment between leading doctors and a broad group of patients working together to improve disease care, outcomes, and value," the two organizations said in a statement.
PatientsLikeMe was founded in 2004 as a platform for patients with the same diseases and their family members to share data and information. CATCH is based at Massachusetts General Hospital and develops methods of quantitatively measuring phenotypes in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
It has assembled engineers, physicians, and industry partners to develop new phenotypes and integrative analytic methods for measuring phenotypes in the context of clinical and genetic data, PatientsLikeMe and CATCH said.
"A renewed focus on phenotypes and a democratic, open approach to measuring wellness and disease will enable a new partnership between individuals and their physicians," CATCH Co-founder and Director Dennis Ausiello said in a statement. "This collaboration with PatientsLikeMe will ensure our work is tested and validated in the real world and brought to the discovery and development process far sooner than was ever possible."