Tech-Enabled Personalized Health Care

The rise of personalized medicine is transforming the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to health care. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling treatments specifically tailored to an individual’s genetic profile. For example, CRISPR-Cas9 technology allows for precise gene editing, which has shown great promise in treating genetic diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Additionally, doctors are using digital twin technology to predict how patients will respond to specific treatments and adjust care accordingly. Combined, these technologies hold significant promise in the identification and treatment of major genetic diseases.

In the planning realm, using big data to create human digital twins could enhance urban digital twins, enabling planners to explore the relationships between the built environment and health outcomes to make more informed decisions. But while digital twin and gene-editing technologies might enable the flagging and treatment of genetic diseases, questions remain as to whether such innovations might further widen health-care inequities. There are major ethical issues regarding the use of these tools for needs that might not be considered medically necessary. This may point toward a future that will see major progress in dealing with longstanding medical issues, but this progress may not be evenly distributed or equitable.