News and Insight - Cancer Awareness Trust Embraces Smart Tech

Source: Wharf Life, written by Jon Massey

Tech Meets Care: Cancer Awareness Trust Embraces Smart Tech

“What we’re creating is a layer above the standard websites that are out there. Cancer Platform will use personalisation and AI to make the information highly relevant to each user.”

We live in an unprecedented age of information. Never before have so many people had access to such a wealth of content at the mere tap of a finger. But with the vastness of a largely unregulated digital world comes the issue of quality. With not only humans (who are bad enough) but Als churning out swathes of answers, opinions and hallucinations as they whisper what it heard or saw, humanity is increasingly submerged in a sea of at best confusion and at worst falsehoods.

It’s not so very long ago that wellness blogger Belle Gibson fooled hundreds of thousands of followers and Apple with her tale of overcoming brain, blood, spleen, uterine and kidney cancers, mostly through exercise, healthy eating and a positive mindset. In reality there’s no evidence the Australian social media personality was ever diagnosed with the disease – but that didn’t stop her developing an app, gaining widespread influence and being embraced by one of the world’s largest tech firms. Her twisted story is especially relevant, given its use of cancer as a jumping off point. About half of us will develop some form of the disease during our lives.

“At the point of diagnosis, the vast majority of people will go online to search for information, as do their loved ones,” said Daniel Woolf. “But they can easily find themselves in the wrong place – TikTok or Instagram, for example”.

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“A short-form video of someone who is very charismatic may lead someone to go away and make life-changing decisions because they are looking for a glimmer of hope. But are they trustworthy? “Something like one in three online sources is either misinformation or not pertinent to a particular individual’s diagnosis. That’s what the development of Cancer Platform is seeking to change. Sitting beneath the
umbrella of the Cancer Awareness Trust – a charity based at tech community, Level39, in Canary Wharf – the mission is to create a free-to-use app which delivers expert information, stories and services.

As the organisation’s chief tech and data officer, it’s Daniel’s job to oversee the app’s development, a task he’s relishing after a long career in the NHS. “I planned to be there for four weeks and ended up being there for 17 years,” he said. “I’ve been an engineer, a data analyst and have directed a number of teams at regional and national level. “But as I moved through the various national bodies, I found I couldn’t have the impact I wanted. There are so many layers and I felt insulated. “With so many different governments the chairs were always being moved around.

What I wanted to do was use technology to help improve people’s lives, “The bureaucracy in the NHS was enormous and so, when it came time for a career change, I wanted something small with the feel of a startup where I could be hands-on, albeit in an organisation with huge ambition.”

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About Cancer Awareness Trust:

Cancer Awareness Trust became members of Level39 back in 2022, and have played a significant role in our tech community.

Backed by a global collective of world-leading experts in cancer, tech, brand and philanthropy. Sir Chris Evans is the founder of Cancer Awareness Trust. Established in the UK, they position themselves as a tech start-up governed by UK charity laws. This keeps them focused on transparency, trust and innovation, and they are responsible for Cancer Platform and Evamore Music.