(2013-08-10) Dyson Hiccup Community Health

Esther Dyson recently ceased investing to focus her attention on a new challenge, HICCup... an initiative to set up citywide health (Public Health) intervention programs in five or six communities of 100,000 people or fewer. HICCup’s team of “counselors” will work with community leaders and spokespeople in these cities to make small and everyday changes to improve health, like a Friday night soccer game or new school lunch options... HICCup will support these communities in any way it can, including helping them forge partnerships with larger health companies. HICCup will measure over time how some of the new programs are actively making a difference — “‘BigData’ up the wazoo,” Dyson puts it... Dyson fears that many of the early-stage health IT startups are too insulated in Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest communities. She recommends breaking out of “the bubble,” and having conversations with the “99 percent,” people who are balancing family budgets around healthy food every day.