Fig. 1.

Paul Wicks is Vice President of Innovation at PatientsLikeMe, an online community for people living with medical conditions. Specializing in the conduct of clinical research using the Internet, Paul is responsible for shaping the scientific validity of the PatientsLikeMe platform and generating insights from personal health data shared by members. This sharing of online medical data has led to over 70 novel studies including a patient-led observational trial of lithium in ALS, digital tools to develop patient-reported outcome measures, a “dose-response” curve for the benefits of friendship between patients, and new methods for gaining patient input into clinical trial design. Prior to joining PatientsLikeMe, Paul worked at the Institute of Psychiatry (King’s College London) studying cognition and neuroimaging in rare forms of ALS, and the psychological consequences of Parkinson’s disease. In 2011, he was awarded MIT Technology Review’s TR35 “Humanitarian of the Year” award and was recognized as a TED Fellow in 2012