Why Blockchain Can help combat Covid-19, Yael Bizouati

What is your own background briefly?

I’m French and have been living in the US for 20 years. I’ve been a journalist for that long. I was a full time financial journalist in NYC, then moved on to work as a VP/senior content writer for New York-based financial firms. (New York Life and MSCI) There, I led the thought leadership efforts around several platforms, including whitepapers, articles, economic outlooks, marketing brochures and blogs.

I left NYC a couple years ago and started freelancing. I started writing about blockchain “by accident.” I quickly became extremely interested in this emerging tech and ended up co-authoring this book with Sean!

I hold a Masters in Journalism from New York University and a Masters in Russian Studies/Politics from Universite Toulouse-Jean Jaures, France.

Does it seem like a logical background to what you do now?

Absolutely. Everything I’ve done both personally and professionally led me to this.

How was the last 12 months? What were your big wins?

They were exciting, intense, stressful. I had the honor to interview experts for the book and I learned a lot. The big win is having this book come to fruition!

Why did you get involved with this book

First because I trust Sean. We became connected when I interviewed him for several blockchain stories I was writing. He helped me connect with other experts, pointed me to specific research etc. A few months later, he offered to co-author the book.

When Sean offered me to work with him on this book, one of my drivers was the fact that I believe in blockchain and what it will achieve. I don’t believe this technology is a magic wand which will resolve all the world’s problems and cure all ills.

Rather, I believe blockchain is an accelerator, of vision, ideas and truth.

This notion, when applied to healthcare and medical science is the difference between life and death.

And this is what blockchain can achieve: hasten everything.

The second driver for me to write this book was a personal one. I lost my 17 year old son to an illness. And nothing was done fast enough. There were 6 weeks between the day he was diagnosed and the he died. And nothing  happened fast enough for him.  Research for a cure is still moving very slowly.

The various meds he took weren’t working fast enough.  I was also faced with reality: research was not being done fast enough, communication between various doctors was not being done fast enough. And that necessity for speed- faster cures, or faster miracles- really hit home.

Why do you think it is such a powerful idea?

I think it’s a powerful idea when we take a step back and look just at the philosophy behind it. Which is actually quite simple, in the end, trust, speed and transparency are the ultimate goals of blockchain.

This notion of the need for one single version of truth, when applied to healthcare and medical science, is the difference between life and death.  It translates -for one- in faster research. Research that is verified, shared and distributed in a more efficient way. In turn, this means faster clinical trials and faster treatments for patients. This could also help contain pandemics.

And this will help bring back patients at the center of medicine.

How can people find out more about you personally & your work?

On linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yael-bizouati-kennedy-172aa410/

Who and where do you get inspiration from?

From talking to people, from learning, from reading.

From asking questions.

From nature, the ocean and from my son who keeps me hoping from above, who continues to inspire me and gives me strength.

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

I hope people, decision makers pay attention to blockchain and implement it as soon as they can. We see in this COVID crisis how many issues could have been resolved or at least alleviated with it. (and other emerging technologies.) From supply chain tracking to faster vaccines.

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 30,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview, or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles.

Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully we can share your story too and reach our global audience.

Irish Tech News

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking