The Therapy Insights Podcast Episode 03: Josh Rubin, James Laskin, and the Learning Health System

What would it look like if, as a healthcare system, we were able to draw from data points from real experiences of real people around the world? What if we could magnify the power of existing medical research methods by incorporating a broader range of people, experiences, and perspectives, including those of practicing clinicians? One of the biggest challenges we face is bridging the gap between clinical research and clinical practice. The concept of the learning health system is not one magical platform that offers to solve this problem, but rather it is a way of thinking, of collaborating, and of experiencing the world that has the potential to radically transform healthcare.

Our guests

Josh Rubin
Josh Rubin serves as program officer for learning health system initiatives at the University of Michigan Medical School’s first-in-the-nation Department of Learning Health Sciences. Rubin also is president and CEO of the Learning Health Community and serves as executive director of the Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation, the only philanthropic foundation founded by a patient, with the mission of realizing the learning health system vision. Rubin previously served as a senior policy fellow at eHealth Initiative and as a senior consultant at IBM Global Business Services, working at the intersection of health information technology, health care policy, consumer engagement and public health arenas.

James Laskin
James grew up off the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He is a Canadian trained physical therapist and has been a professor of physical therapy for 24 years, the past 20 at the University of Montana. James holds bachelor degrees in Human Performance/Kinesiology from the University of Victoria and Physical Therapy from the University of Saskatchewan, a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Saskatchewan; and a PhD in Exercise Physiology/Adapted Physical Education from the University of Alberta.

Currently James’ teaching focuses on topics in Applied Exercise Physiology, Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Health Promotion and Wellness. He is the founder of the New Directions Wellness Center, which is a fitness and gym program in his lab at the University of Montana. Over the past 19 years, New Directions has served the Missoula and surrounding areas with a safe and inclusive fitness program primarily staffed by student volunteers.

James  has a strong presence Internationally. Most recently he spent the 2017/18 academic year aboard at Mahidol University in Bangkok while being supported by an ASEAN Fulbright Research award for his work in both Thailand and Laos. He continues his teaching and research collaborations with Mahidol University, Thailand; Chiang Mai University, Thailand, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education, Poland; and University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France.

Ready to have your mind shift and start answering some of the biggest questions of our time? So are we.

Show links:

• Learning Health Community
• Josh Rubin bio at Bridging Clinical Research & Clinical Health Care
• Swiss Learning Health System
• Dave deBronkart: Meet e-Patient Dave | TED Talk - TED.com
  When Dave deBronkart learned he had a rare and terminal cancer, he turned to a group of fellow patients online -- and found the medical treatment that saved his life. Now he calls on all patients to talk with one another, know their own health data, and make health care better one e-Patient at a time.
• Bridging Clinical Research & Clinical Health Care Collaborative
• 2020 Clinical Research as a Care Option (CRAACO) conference
• Transforming the future of health together: The Learning Health Systems Consensus Action Plan
• The Peer Review Podcast: Episode 5: Crowdfunding science: Is it possible for the collective public to fund our research projects?
• Decolonization of knowledge, epistemicide, participatory research and higher education
  This article raises questions about what the word ‘knowledge’ refers to. Drawn from some 40 years of collaborative work on knowledge democracy, the authors suggest that higher education institutions today are working with a very small part of the extensive and diverse knowledge systems in the world.