Ideally, precision medicine will lead to improved diagnosing and customized treatment based on personal genetics, and include a feedback loop to monitor effectiveness. UCSF already has a number of related initiatives on board.

There is no perfect way to judge doctor quality. But that's why it's so fortunate that health care consumers have these new tools at our disposal. Closed-loop review systems are currently one of the most powerful ways to discern doctor quality.

If there's one thing I learned from seeing all the great mobile technology being developed at TEDMED, it's that these mobile health applications can not only empower doctors, but patients too. It can help people like me have a better understanding of my own health.

The future of a quality, efficient health care system rests in our ability to press industry players to embrace collaboration and push for the creation of a connected ecosystem where, from patient to payer, mHealth technology acts as the ember to spark ongoing innovation.

There is a need for a new way of working, one that is designed for the end-user, the worker, the human. It is not just about adding wellness programs to unhealthy work -- it is about designing work so that it is itself healthy.

Personalized health care on a digital platform can reconstruct our current expensive and inefficient sick-care approach into a cost-effective, health-enhancing system with individuals at the center of their care.

Do you think that mole on your arm is suspicious? There's an app for that. Several in fact. But a brand new study found if you rely on skin cancer apps for a melanoma diagnosis, you could be putting your life at risk.

As evidence mounts that innovations such as smart devices can improve the health and care of an individual, more resources must be focused on their development and integration into the health care system.

One of the greatest gifts in life is being able to be in touch with your own intuitive guidance from the heart. It's that still small voice inside each of us. Life just seems to work better and feel easier when I follow mine.

There were many contenders for this year's prize for stupidest diet. The desire to shed weight seems to breed an endless stream of particularly magical claims, supernatural devices and silly, dangerous plans.

We live and practice in an increasingly technology-driven society. Email and texting are default methods of communication, and our patients request that we friend them on Facebook and follow health advice delivered in brief 140-character bursts on Twitter.

The lack of a publicly-accessible database of labels is inhibiting the innovation in the area of healthy nutrition and marginalizes the benefits of using labels by the consumers.

The reason we don't always make healthy choices is simply because it is hard. Even people who are highly motivated and have strong willpower may fail to establish healthy habits in the long term if they don't adopt the right methods.

There is no single silver bullet in fighting obesity. Government legislation, corporate responsibility, education and personal responsibility, combined with web and mobile services, can all help people eat healthy and fight obesity.

Relationships are crucial to health. We know that people with more and stronger social connections are more likely to be well and happy, and social media can bolster that.

Imagine you have trouble sleeping. Perhaps you can't fall asleep at night or you wake up in the middle of the night and you're unable to get back to sleep. Maybe this has been going on for a few months -- or maybe years.

Physicians should not be fearful or threatened by the emerging smartphone-centric revolution of health care.

We need a healthy wireless infrastructure and healthy pro-marketplace governmental policies to ensure health -- not just for men, but for our country and for our economy.

More people die from TB today than ever before -- 1.4 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Part of the reason is that TB is still diagnosed in most parts of the world using a method invented in the late 19th century.