Predrag Klasnja

I am a postdoctoral research scientist at the Information School, working with Prof. Wanda Pratt and the iMed research group.

My research is in the areas of Health Informatics, Human Computer Interaction, and Ubiquitous Computing. In particular, my central research interest is in investigating how technology can help patients to manage their health more effectively. Over the course of my PhD, which I recently completed under Prof. Pratt, I was fortunate to take part is several projects with this aim. My dissertation explored the use of mobile phones to support care-related information management needs of cancer patients; UbiFit investigated the use of on-body sensors and glanceable displays on mobile phones to encourage physical activity; and Change of Heart, which is currently underway, looks at the use of mobile phones and web technologies to support heart disease patients in making lifestyle changes needed to reduce their cardiac risks.

Going forward, I plan to use the methodological and design skills that I have developed in these projects to investigate problems in two areas. First, I am exploring how to leverage mobile devices and information derived from sensors and social networks (Foursquare and Twitter) to provide chronic disease patients with social support, persistent awareness of their health goals, and timely information about opportunities for health-promoting behaviors. And second, I am interested in investigating how data captured by patients can improve physician-patient collaboration by supplementing information in the electronic medical record and by making concrete information about the patient's activities available for clinical interactions. Progress in these areas, I believe, could have a significant impact both on the patients’ ability to manage their own health and on the effectiveness of clinical care.

Finally, given the sensitivity of health information, I am very interested in the privacy issues that arise when mobile devices which are often seen by other people are used to manage health information. Similarly, there are a number of important and challenging privacy and institutional issues related to to the use of patient-captured data in clinical interactions. A careful consideration of such issues will be key to taking full advantage of patient-centered technologies.