Whole Communities—Whole Health

CHANGING THE WAY SCIENCE HELPS SOCIETY THRIVE
IS OUR GRAND CHALLENGE

Traditional research studies take “snapshots” of people’s lives at different points in time. Those snapshots give us information, but it’s incomplete. That means we might make incorrect assumptions or develop policies and interventions that are not helpful. But through a combination of biological tracking, environmental sensors, and behavioral monitoring, we will have a more complete view — a movie, compared to a snapshot — of the factors that affect a child’s wellbeing. We’ll do this by working with families to figure out what questions they have and then by bringing the most advanced technology into their homes to help get the answers they need. Just as important, families will be able to log on to a secure website to access their information, learn about their health, and find community resources that can help them make improvements. [more at http://wholecommunities.utexas.edu/]

Whole Community–Whole Health is a UT Grand Challenge [Bridging Barriers], and brings researchers and advisors together from wide-ranging backgrounds across UT and Central Texas. Dr Nagy is part of the theme organizing committee and IEL is leading the development of novel environmental monitoring systems.