Basic yet critical information about most cancers and how they spread through the body just isn’t readily available. Today, CancerBase, a grassroots collaboration of patients, scientists, and social media volunteers, will go live with a way to connect patients all around the world to solve this problem, providing critical information to patients. Our goal is to bring together millions of patients anonymously contribute the “what, when, and where” of their cancers, empowering themselves, each other, and scientists to see cancer more clearly.

CancerBase

Intuitive Experience

For an intuitive sign-in experience, patients will be able to connect to CancerBase using Facebook, Twitter or an email Login, after which they will be able to answer questions about their diagnosis for anonymized inclusion on the global cancer map.

CancerBase

Answers for Patients

CancerBase offers a simple and structured framework to begin to address questions that patients have using curated, real-time data from people who have come just before them. Patients are the ultimate holder of information about their disease and thus can create the largest global map of cancer. Today, the first step for most people newly diagnosed with cancer is to turn to the web, friends, and family, which results in inconsistent and sometimes inaccurate information. Already overwhelmed with details, confusing new information, and fear, people don’t know where to turn to learn more about their cancer. In many cases, they cannot find enough others with similar disease.

CancerBase

Real Time Data

Approximately 1.6 million Americans (and 12 million worldwide) are diagnosed with cancer each year. Over half a million people will die from cancer this year alone. Due to the delay in publishing statistics, but we only find out about them 5 years later. With the current pace of research, the delayed data loses its value. Together, we can reduce this number from 5 years to ‘now’. We can make their data count in real time.

Better Insight

Connecting patients and their insights through the power of social media can bring simple factual knowledge about each patient’s disease. Relating paths most similar to their own, patients can gain better insight about their future.

Meet the Members

CHan CHan CHan CHan CHan
Chris
Jackson
Sara
Will
Naylee

CHRIS

What does CancerBase mean to you?
CancerBase is a startup cancer research company that is trying to shake up the cancer research industry by levering the activism and participation of patients to improve the current database situation. It is the company that I currently helping out through design.

Why do you think CancerBase is useful and valuable?
I think CancerBase is useful if it can amass enough users. Then the database will be superior to any other database out there, helping streamline research.

What part of the project did you work on?
I helped in the UI/UX design as well as the web design and conceptualization of what the profile graphic/visualization should be. An i'm currently working on a video for potentially a promo?

What did you enjoy about the project?
I enjoyed getting to know the cancer industry a little better and seeing the inefficiencies of the current system. 

What have you gained from this experience?
I learned a lot about myself and what I do/don't like. I have a better understanding of what I want in a job. I also learned how complex cancer is

Where do you see CancerBase going in the future?
I think that whatever product that this company is trying to "sell" to its patients needs to be at the forefront and fully ready to go. I think the design of the service is centered around helping research right now and this goes against the foundational roots of the company from my perspective.

What changes would you like to see implemented for version 2?

How do you think CancerBase will impact the future of cancer care?
I'm not sure how much of an impact CancerBase will have. I do not understand the full ramifications of the disease, but from my experience learning how complex cancer is, it would be silly to think that one service will revolutionize cancer research. I think CancerBase will be a good new source of knowledge for cancer patients to get educated about their disease, but the impact on cancer care will depend on the research from the data CancerBase provides.

How would you get cancer patients to use CancerBase?
I would make a product that's so killer that they can't refuse to want it. Promos and designs are definitely crucial, but if they lead to nothing then there's nothing in the service.

NAYLEE

What does CancerBase mean to you?
CancerBase to me is project that i am not doing for myself, but rather a project that i am designing to connect cancer patients together. It means designing for a social cause and designing for efficiency to bridge already existing resources.

Why do you think CancerBase is useful and valuable?
I think it’s useful because when one is ill, they are scared. They scared  because they do not know what to do, they do not know the consequences that will arise from the choices they make and for some, they do not know anyone who was in a similar situation to provide advice and fully understand their situation. Therefore, i think that CancerBase is valuable because it helps provide a go- to place for a worried patient who feels like they are alone in their journey

What part of the project did you work on?
I worked all over aiding each person from their job. From creating initial brainstorm idea with my team about the initial website, creating website mockups, editing the code on the prototypes stages of the website and providing input on the PR marketing presentations that pitched CancerBase

What did you enjoy about the project?
The fact that i got to interact with actual cancer patients and i was creating something that is actually going to be used

What have you gained from this experience?
I have learnt how to design for a user Experience and incorporate feedback from several people to reiterate on the prototypes from design to language to layout

Where do you see CancerBase going in the future?
I see it becoming Facebook 2.0 for Cancer patients

What changes would you like to see implemented for version 2?
Better layout and making it a website that people would enjoy using

How do you think CancerBase will impact the future of cancer care?
It will think about the patient for once and not just look at numbers and statistics but instead, make Cancer a humane experience

How would you get cancer patients to use CancerBase?
I would make the website very easy to use and very appealing to the eye and use cancer influencers to talk about it and make it like a pop trend

WILL

What does CancerBase mean to you?
My grandma died from breast cancer when I was younger but I didn’t really understand what cancer was (or for that matter metastasis etc.). It’s been an awesome experience not only learning more about the disease and getting a better understanding of the current state of cancer care but also being able to use my skills, even though I’m not a scientist by any means, to hopefully progress cancer care and research. I’ve always disliked being boxed in as a “designer” or “artist” because I think the method that goes into designing something -- being able to understand a human need and create a solution for it --  can be applied to practically anything. Being able to work on CancerBase has been an awesome experience because it confirmed this belief of mine and motivates me to continue thinking how I can apply my skills to areas other than just “traditional” design.

Why do you think CancerBase is useful and valuable?
I think CancerBase can drastically change the current state of cancer care and research. Before working on this project I was unaware how crude cancer care is today and hopefully CancerBase will be able to demystify a lot of the confusion patients currently go through as well as provide more useful information for scientists to work from.

What part of the project did you work on?
I had my hand in a little bit of everything helping out wherever people needed me. At the beginning I was working predominantly on developing what the functionality of the app would look like designing the cancer progression “bars” and the mobile web app question cards. I also helped on the early stage iterations of the logo design and more recently I worked on the script for the CancerBase promotional video.

What did you enjoy about the project?
My favorite part of the project was meeting with the patients and getting to see their reactions to what we were building first hand. As a designer up until this point I’ve predominantly created something and then sent it out to the world for others to enjoy but it was a unique experience seeing directly how what I was helping create could effect someone else.

What have you gained from this experience?
I’ve learned how much work can get done in such a short amount of time. I’m usually a pretty slow worker because I’m very detail oriented and like to be meticulous but working on CancerBase taught me that this is not necessarily at odds with creating and iterating at a rapid pace.

Where do you see CancerBase going in the future?
I see CancerBase becoming the primary resource for patients, physicians, and scientists interested in a comprehensive set of cancer data to help influence treatment and research.

What changes would you like to see implemented for version 2?
I think the most important thing to focus on for version 2 is giving the patient more functionality in return for entering their data so they come back. We should focus on allowing patients to see “similar patient profiles” and their treatment paths to help influence their decisions. This seems to be the real strength of what CancerBase could accomplish, especially after talking with the patients.

How do you think CancerBase will impact the future of cancer care?
Further down the road I see CancerBase being able to tell a patient very accurately how their disease is likely going to progress based on previous patient data as well as the most effective treatment options given the current and future state of their disease.

How would you get cancer patients to use CancerBase?
I think the added functionality I mentioned in the “changes to CancerBase” question is the most important component of the tool to keep users engaged. While the idea adding to a global cancer data pool is nice, I don’t see users coming back if they are not directly getting anything out of the experience in return. From what I’ve observed from our conversations with patients thus far, it is crucial that CancerBase somehow or another allows patients to view others’ experiences to help clarify their own path. At this point in time CancerBase does not do that.

JACKSON

What does CancerBase mean to you?
It means everything that I’ve listed in the questions below. But if you don’t want to read it all I’d sum it up as: Napster/Waze/Insight Timer for cancer. By that I mean that it provides an open-sourced platform for patients to discover their best pathway through Cancer and for researchers to discover new ways to understand and combat it.

Why do you think CancerBase is useful and valuable?
Right now, I think its value relies on it’s potential. It’s ability to collect the data of any and all cancer patients is massive, but only if it is built and expanded upon. See “How do you think CancerBase will impact the future of cancer care?” for more.

What part of the project did you work on?
Working out the function and implementation of the CancerBase idea. Designing the site and experience. Ideating various other components. Bridging the gaps between the varied interests and ideas of the varying groups working on Cancerbase.

What did you enjoy about the project?
I enjoyed the sense of meaning behind it and the fast-paced work environment. It is always difficult for me to work towards something when I don’t believe in it, and the energy that Peter displayed towards the impact CancerBase could make had a great effect on me.

What have you gained from this experience?
Firstly: a much better understanding of what it is like to work on a professional project. Secondly: a lot a bout cancer and various other medical/scientific topics. Thirdly: the importance of purpose in your work, especially when it comes to long-lasting motivation. Et Al.

Where do you see CancerBase going in the future?
I see it as a home base for cancer patients and cancer researchers. An open, fact-driven space where they can interact (either directly or indirectly) and work for the mutual benefit of each other.

What changes would you like to see implemented for version 2?
Step away from the idea of the “Global Cancer Map”. Cancerbase has potential to be so much more. Labeling it in that way restricts it to something with minimal impact. Instead the mission should be to create a home base to collect data and represent it in a meaningful way to both researchers and patients. This can be achieved through further implementation of questions (particularly in an engaging format such as the cards) Relevant data visualizations for the patients. Patient matching and forecasting. Using the patient’s unique perspective and understanding to provide others with the things that their doctors cannot (such as how they feel and reacted to the drugs and direct communication between each other).

How do you think CancerBase will impact the future of cancer care?
In two main ways: 1.     It will reshape the way patients live and learn while they are outside of the doctor’s office. It will create a new age of better informed and better connected cancer patients. 2.     It will provide and unprecedented open-source wealth of cancer data to professional and at-home researchers alike. Databases like this have historically allowed for great advancements in the subjects they represent.

How would you get cancer patients to use CancerBase?
First and most important is supplying them with a beneficial experience, one that will provide enough for them that they want to tell their friends and fellows about. Once that function is realized at CancerBase, it should not only reach out to current cancer communities, but it should create it’s own. Alongside these efforts CancerBase should make it easy for users to connect with others in a similar situation. This should reach out of the app by implementing utilities such as a list of your Facebook friends who are “the most involved with cancer”. This could be implemented by scraping their friends data and then providing a list of their friends who have mentioned or shared things relating to cancer the most. Once this list is created it should be made actionable so the patients can both inform those on the list of CancerBase (because they would be the most likely to use it) and reach out to them for their own questions.

SARA

What does CancerBase mean to you?
CancerBase is the chance to change the way medical data is shared. By crowdsourcing data and then making it open source, CancerBase is opening up the field of medical research to numerous possibilities.

Why do you think CancerBase is useful and valuable?
At the micro level, it allows for everybody to gain a deeper and more thorough understanding of cancer. At the macro level, it aims to change the way general medical data is shared. Currently, the data is scattered and outdated, but by using crowd-sourced data, the data used for research can fresh and comprehensive.

What part of the project did you work on?
I helped define the visual branding of CancerBase through the logo design. I worked together with my teammates to craft the user experience by creating early stage wireframes and mockups. Together, we developed a timeline to illustrate patients’ experiences with cancer. Much of the process for designing the site and strategizing the content included speaking to cancer patients for feedback.

What did you enjoy about the project?
I enjoyed solving visual challenges such as creating the timeline and the logo. It’s also been rewarding to speak to cancer patients and learn how much our project can impact real lives.

What have you gained from this experience?
In the past month, I’ve had the chance to spend time with and speak to people working in a research lab, a space where I had not explored before. It’s been an educational experience to not only learn how life in a research lab works but also how a designer adds value to a field that typically doesn’t hire visual designers.

Where do you see CancerBase going in the future?
CancerBase will be the go to place for patients to learn about how a treatment might affect their daily life and use that information as a metric to decide whether or not a treatment fits them. Researchers will rely on CancerBase for large sample sizes of fresh data. For everyone else, it will become the place they go to get information about cancer that is not overly simplistic but also not entrenched in medical jargon.

What changes would you like to see implemented for version 2?
As more data is collected, more functionality can be added to CancerBase. For version 2, CancerBase will be providing more data to the patients that focuses on letting them know where they stand among other patients and what options they have in terms of treatments.

How do you think CancerBase will impact the future of cancer care?
CancerBase will make everyone involved with cancer care more informed. By giving them access to more knowledge, patients will become more active participants in deciding their own future, researchers will have fresh data to work from and policy makers will have more accurate statistics to refer to when making important decisions.

How would you get cancer patients to use CancerBase?
By putting patients first in terms of design, we would able to create an experience that patients would want to engage in. At the beginning, that includes telling them the potential CancerBase has to aid in giving better data for research and how it’s up to the patients to help create it. Later on, it will be the accessibility of relevant information patients will gain to better understand their situation and what they can do.