PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- doc.ai, a blockchain-based artificial intelligence (AI) platform that connects people, data scientists, developers and the healthcare industry to improve patients' future health outcomes, today announced it is partnering with Anthem, Inc., one of the nation's leading health benefits companies, to launch a groundbreaking AI data trial on the blockchain.

This pioneering 12-month trial, with support from Anthem, will begin in August and explore whether AI can be used to predict when people will experience allergies or allergy patterns. To do so, doc.ai and advisors from Harvard Medical School will develop a framework for using machine learning to identify predictive models for allergies based upon the phenome (e.g., age, height, weight), exposome (e.g., exposure to weather/pollution based on location) and physiome (e.g., physical activity, daily steps) data collected from participating Anthem employees and members of the public. Participants will help accelerate research and benefit from the system's personalized health insights.

"Anthem is focused on leading our industry in the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to create a better healthcare future for all Americans," said Gail K. Boudreaux, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anthem. "We are pleased to partner with doc.ai on this innovative study that can have near-term benefit for our employees and, longer-term, the potential to redefine how we treat disease and manage chronic medical conditions to achieve better personalized health outcomes."

"Our exposomes — including air pollution, pollen, and even the changes in the weather —  can exacerbate and cause allergy and its irritating symptoms. So far, prediction of allergy symptoms for individuals based on their exposomic and health history has been limited and is far from use as a tool for intervention to close the loop. I'm excited to work with the doc.ai platform and team to develop computational tools to predict allergies and observe in real time how effective this information is for allergy sufferers for improving life with the symptoms," said Dr. Chirag Patel, Assistant Professor of Harvard Medical School. 

Data trials that rely on the confluence of blockchain, precision medicine, and artificial intelligence are a fairly new concept. AI-powered data trials are designed to empower individuals to gain control of their own health data and to provide doctors and researchers with more precise real-world data to predict and change health outcomes. In addition, doc.ai's end-to-end solution – which includes all aspects of the trial on one platform, such as recruitment, engagement, ongoing data collection, and the predictive models - shortens the research process and lowers the cost of bringing insights to market.

"Any initiative in healthcare using AI needs scale to succeed. We are very excited to welcome Anthem as our partner in supporting and using technology to enable individuals to collect and own their health data while empowering data scientists using deep learning to collaborate with consumers, doctors and researchers to find personalized healthcare solutions," said Walter De Brouwer, co-founder of doc.ai.

The allergy data trial with Anthem is the first in a series of trials doc.ai expects to host in the coming months to accelerate medical research in multiple areas including epilepsy, Crohn's Disease, Lyme disease and pain management.

doc.ai executed a successful securities token sale offering of its cryptocurrency the Neuron - NRN- in October 2017. NRN will be available in October to fuel the entire marketplace, a first-of its-kind blockchain environment for healthcare that will be open to consumers, data scientists and healthcare providers. This ecosystem is built on the Ethereum blockchain to leverage smart contracts, enabling both user privacy and ownership of data, as well as the integrity and the provenance of the data for the predictive models.

About doc.ai
doc.ai enables consumers to take control over their health data to develop precise, personalized omics-based models that can be used to predict and change future health outcomes. The doc.ai AI platform is built on the blockchain and enables deep learning computations on quantified biology to develop personal health insights and predictive models. For more information, please visit https://www.doc.ai/ You can access the data trial at https://my.doc.ai/  The app is available as an iOS app.

About Anthem, Inc.
Anthem is working to transform health care with trusted and caring solutions. Our health plan companies deliver quality products and services that give their members access to the care they need. With more than 73 million people served by its affiliated companies, including nearly 40 million within its family of health plans, Anthem is one of the nation's leading health benefits companies. For more information about Anthem's family of companies, please visit www.antheminc.com/companies.

Media Contacts
Jennifer Cloer
reTHINKit PR for doc.ai
jennifer@rethinkitpr.com 
503-867-2304

SOURCE doc.ai

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