The project involved a unique journalism collaboration with data scientists, pharmacologists and cellular researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, most notably data pioneer Nicholas Tatonetti. The team set out to discover drug combinations that might be causing a potentially fatal heart condition. By mining the universe of big data in new ways, then testing in a lab, the team uncovered several potentially risky drug pairs. Two scientific papers resulted, including one in a top cardiovascular journal. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27737742
Roe wrote about the collaborative approach for Columbia Journalism Review: http://tinyurl.com/zpxu6nf Another CJR article lauded the project: https://tinyurl.com/jepg2et, as did Columbia University: http://tinyurl.com/gqmk829
For another story in the series, Roe worked with leading scientists at the University of Arizona and the University of Washington to show that pharmacies often fail to warn patients about deadly drug interactions. The investigation, the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind, resulted in major reforms at thousands of U.S. pharmacies as well as new laws and policies.
The investigation won numerous awards in 2017, including one from the National Academy of Sciences. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Antibiotics as we know them are used in the treatment and prevention of bacterial infections and are deemed a medical marvel because of the huge way they transformed modern medicine.
However, by routinely prescribing these category of drugs for infections that they do not treat, or for which they are not needed in the first place, has resulted in the emergence of untreatable “superbugs” that threaten the basis of modern medicine.
So bad is the situation that early this year, the World Health Organisation warned that antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health.
Overuse and misuse of otherwise good drugs has “encouraged” germs (bacteria) to evolve and develop resistance. One classical case about a growing scourge is the fast spreading resistance to antimalarial drugs in Southeast Asia and there is fear that this resistance has started spreading to some parts of Africa.
This session will explore how journalists and scientists can use data to call attention to this ongoing global crisis, and how developing countries like Kenya can prevent this spread.
