Every year, digital marketing geeks (like me) descend upon Austin, Texas for a conference called South by Southwest, a.k.a. SXSW. What started as a music and then film festival, the conference’s biggest draw is now the “Interactive” category. That’s where you’ll find all the latest digital innovations that everyone is talking about. Typically, there hasn’t been a whole lot at SXSW focused on healthcare. But SXSW 2011 will feature a one-day health track for the first time.

Why am I telling you this? Each year SXSW selects the sessions and speakers for the conference from submissions by combining input from the SXSW staff, an advisory board, and us…the public. Anyone can submit a proposal for consideration. This year there were 2,800 submissions across the three categories of film, music, and interactive. I submitted a presentation about a topic that I have a lot of passion for and have written about a number of times on this blog. It’s also the topic that I’m going to cover in the book I plan to actually start writing someday soon (info on the topic below).

My request to each of you is for your support. It’s simple. Head over to my proposal on the SXSW “Panel Picker” site and give it a thumbs up and leave a comment. From what sources have told me, the comments are even more important than the votes, so since you’re already there, please leave a comment too. It might take you one minute if you’re not registered (to prevent voting fraud). If you’re already registered, it’ll take 10 seconds.

I know, I know. Registering. Voting. Commenting. What a pain.

I’d rather not beg, but I will try to lay some guilt on you.

If you’ve gotten something useful from this blog in the past (like, say, the Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Wiki, which probably includes a link to your blog/site/Twitter), then maybe you can do is take a look at my proposal and vote for it if you like it.

A cheap tactic, I know, but that’s the best I could come up with. So, that link once more: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/5499

I’d recommend voting now, as it’s only open for a limited time.

By now you’re probably wondering what you’re voting for. Here’s my submission:

Your Computer Is the Next Wonder Drug

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A few times each year, the press buzzes about the latest scientific advance that will someday cure any one of the diseases we fear the most. Nearly every one of these will turn out to be nothing more than a news story and far from a pill that can help improve our health. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every day on research, as we struggle to find the “magic bullet” that will rid the world of conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. We almost never find the magic. While the big, historic scientific advances may be what dominate the headlines, in the end, it’s the small improvements and better utilization of the technology we have already have that will ultimately lengthen our lives and improve its quality.

These technologies don’t come from labs filled with test tubes or cell cultures, but rather from labs filled with computers and the programs that run them. In the future, it will be digital technologies that prevent, treat, and finally cure diseases and not the latest “blockbuster” drug that has yet to be discovered (and might never be). Digital technologies can already help us understand which treatments are best for us, what diseases pose the greatest risk, and how diseases spread among us. They can improve our interactions with doctors and improve access to care for everyone. Instead of waiting for the next miracle drug to be developed, you might find the miracle was there all along right inside the computer you use every day.

Questions answered from this presentation:

1. How math (and not science) will transform the future of disease diagnosis and treatment?
2. Which technologies will fundamentally change the way people gather information about their health, whenever and however they want it?
3. How will advances in technology for healthcare lead to a greater willingness in people to give up their healthcare privacy?
4. What changes in technology will completely change the way we manage and track our health and how we share that information with others?
5. When will technology improve access to and and the quality of healthcare for everyone who needs it?

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If that sounds good to you, whether you’re attending SXSW or not,  I’d love to have your support for my proposal.

And if you’re feeling really generous, feel free to send out a tweet, update your LinkedIn status, or click the Like button on this post to spread the word to your social networks.

Thanks in advance for your support.

UPDATE (8/12): Thanks to Rohit Bhargava for including my submission in his “25 SXSW 2011 Panel Ideas Worth Getting Excited About”

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