Kayte Spector-Bagdady explores how health data are currently being collected and by who, as well as ways we can both serve and protect our patients in the future. Our data are collected at every turn: where we drive, who we email, what we google, what we buy. Perhaps a last bastion of expected privacy protections surrounds our health data—but while some systems (like healthcare providers) have stringent governance, others (like wellness apps) do not. Ready access and linkage of medical information can help us provide better care to our patients, but it can also serve to harm, alienate, and erode trust.

Spector-Bagdady is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School and the Service Chief of the Research Ethics Service in the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine (CBSSM). She is a former drug and device attorney and Associate Director of President Obama’s Presidential Commission for the study of Bioethical Issues.

Emergent Research events are aimed at better understanding the various types of research undertaken across campus, particularly as they relate to library services and support, opportunities for collaboration, data management and preservation, and beyond.