This is a (very) non-comprehensive list of areas I think are interesting or important
- Medicine
- Computation: how can we most effectively use ML and/or physics based methods to accelerate the development of new medicines? This was our primary thrust at Reverie Labs.
- Cancer: how do we solve the problem of resistance? The portrait painted by the latest research on resistance to next-generation KRAS inhibitors is a humbling one. I believe that combination therapy, in tandem with better trial design and patient selection, will be a crucial part of overcoming resistance. Immunotherapy response rates are typically well below 50% -- how can we broaden the impact of immunotherapy?
- Neurodegeneration: neurodegenerative diseases are a massive worldwide burden, but we know very little about their underlying causes.
- Infectious diseases: novel antibacterial and antiviral drugs are urgently needed, but the incentives for developing such drugs are broken.
- Affordability. The societal value of new medicines still under patent protection is diminished due to cost barriers, particularly in the developing world. Efforts like that at ICER to measure the impact of new drugs and set prices are greatly needed, though as Peter Kolchinksy and others have pointed out, they underestimate the power of stimulating further development and the value of the eventual generic to society. The Medicines Patent Pool seems like a good effort to improve access to life-saving medicines in the developing world.
- The health of American democracy. Our government is caught in a negative feedback loop. The 2020 election was decided by a razor thin margin in a few states, despite Joe Biden winning the popular vote by roughly 7 million votes. The Senate is 6 or 7 percentage points redder than the country as a whole. The Supreme Court has a durable conservative supermajority. Our republic is no longer representative of the people who live in it.
- Climate Change.
- Mass Incarceration. More than 2 million people are currently incarcerated in the US, frequently in horrific conditions. A couple places to donate.
- AI
- Music