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About the course
ORTHO 10SC
Preventable chronic disease accounts for more than 60% of deaths worldwide. Over the past four decades, the negative health and societal impacts of preventable chronic disease (e.g. diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease) have been repeatedly highlighted in scientific literature and mainstream media. However, the problem is only worsening. Consider, for the sake of comparison, that in the last 40 or so years humans have landed on the moon; computers and the Internet have taken hold; and the HIV/AIDS epidemic has emerged and largely been contained. During this time approaches to disease prevention have remained unchanged; relying solely on an information model that describes health risks with the expectation patients will change their behavior on their own. We must begin to develop prevention programs that meet people where they are, rather than telling them where they should be. And, we must ask ourselves an important question: Given that the current approaches of addressing noncommunicable chronic disease are not working, what new innovative approaches to changing behaviors might be more successful?
This course will attempt to answer that question through applying design-thinking methodology to identify barriers that limit compliance with evidence-based recommendations for disease prevention, and create a new process in which health workers and patients employ a disease “prevention by design” approach that more effectively reduces risk-behaviors and promotes adoption of a healthy lifestyle. We will learn about the nature of chronic disease, discuss the challenges of prevention given the complexity of chronic disease, and use case studies to empirically investigate the very people who will use the prevention programs. Our goal will be to create a Human-Centered Design Program that complements approaches currently being used for disease prevention and makes a critically important addition by focusing on the unique needs, context, goals, desires, strengths and limitations of the end-user.>
Our time together each morning will include presentations, guest speakers, discussion, and design sessions. Field trips will be organized to allow students to apply what they learn in the classroom. The final week we will focus on an integrated plan for “prevention by design”.
Click here to see Professor Matheson speak about his class
Instructor Bio
Gordon Matheson is a professor in the orthopedic department of the medical school at Stanford. He has a MD from the University of Calgary and a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of British Columbia. Early on in his training, he combined his passion for physical activity and sports with his love for the human body and how it works in health and disease, which led to stints as Team Physician for the Vancouver Canucks (NHL) and Medical Officer for the Olympic Games. At Stanford he is the Head Team Physician athletics, the director of sports medicine, and co-director of the Human Performance Lab. Additionally, he practices medicine, teaches courses to undergraduate students, and has authored nearly 200 publications. Most recently, Gordon has focused on trying to figure out how the principles of sports medicine (exercise training, diet, prevention) can be transferred to the general population to stem the pandemic of preventable chronic disease that threatens the health and economies of all nations globally. He loves skiing, boating, photography and music.
