Toxicologist Dr Mike Bolger sees big data as a double-edged sword for the healthcare industry, and while it can help to forge a new path ahead we must also be careful not to fall on it.

Dr Mike Bolger previously worked in the US Department of Health & Human Services and was recently in Dublin to speak at Predict 2015 about how agencies like the US FDA mitigate the risks and unintended consequences of major public health policy initiatives.

As with the advent of any new technology, Dr Bolger sees both upsides and downsides to data science at all levels. He also recognises that there are good biases and bad biases when it comes to the interpretation of data, and it’s those that knowingly misrepresent data that are on the wrong side of that equation.

Words by Elaine Burke 

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