Researcher, futurist, and crypto-enthusiast, Dana Budzyn, advocates for digital autonomy. After spending 70 days in the ICU, she realized that personal health data could not only solve some of the world’s most puzzling medical mysteries, but it could also empower people with a vested interest in and ownership of the cures. This fascinating, user-friendly, content dense talk, discusses the possibility of overcoming privacy infringement, by proposing individual ownership of our personal digital currency as a way to provide innovative solutions to the larger problem. Her best idea? Monetizing your own personal data.
After her first month of college at Lehigh University, 18-year-old Dana Budzyn went into septic shock and was put in a medically induced coma for a month. She went from being a third place junior volleyball Olympian and recruited college basketball player, to learning how to walk and function again.

Dana eventually returned to school, but this time to study bioengineering in tribute to the doctors and engineers whose technology saved her life. She interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developing use cases for space technology in the medical, forensic, and environmental fields. In her research, she realized the potential of aggregated health data and how this could not only help solve some of the largest medical mysteries in the world, but could give individuals a vested interest in and ownership of the cures themselves. With this in mind, Dana came to focus on empowering individuals to own and capitalize their data. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx