Although October is a ways away, it’s never a bad time to shed light and awareness on the
remarkable strides Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as well as hundreds of other hospitals, are doing to find a cure for breast cancer.This month, Apple announced a new app they have launched in collaboration with Boston’s own Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, among a few other organizations that are aiming to transform medical studies forever.
The Share the Journey app is a first-of-its-kind software application for those living with breast cancer to communicate regularly with researchers with regard to their own personal battles with cancer; those using the app might share how they feel post-treatment, or simply just share day-to-day symptoms that they are experiencing. Researchers will then collect the provided data and examine it in order to determine what could potentially be affecting their post-treatment days of recovery. Participants will be asked to set personal exercise goals, track mood changes and take note of all symptoms, both positive and negative. Researchers will now have instant access to data from contributors across the world, which is why they are calling this app a “game changer.”
Share the Journey is one of multiple apps as 
part of Apple’s new ResearchKit, a platform where researchers are able to take advantage of the pool of features the iPhone has to offer and use them to collect data like never before. They are working towards this platform being capable of monitoring blood pressure, blood alcohol levels and stress in the future. ResearchKit is being used to further study other serious diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Diabetes, Asthma and Cardiovascular Disease.
ResearchKit is just one of the many technology advancements researchers are working towards daily to help find a cure for these life-threatening diseases. These developments are shaping medical studies into something that everyone can play a role in, even you!
To learn more about ResearchKit and Share the Journey visit: https://www.apple.com/researchkit/
-Katelyn O’Sullivan
