Paul Wicks, Ph.D.
R&D Director
Paul Wicks, Ph.D., is the director of research and development (R&D) at PatientsLikeMe. An internationally recognized expert in psychological aspects of neurodegenerative conditions, Dr. Wicks is responsible for shaping the scientific and medical validity of the PatientsLikeMe platform. As R&D director, he leads a team of experts charged with conducting scientific research that generates insights from the personal health data shared by patient members.
Under Dr. Wicks’ direction, the PatientsLikeMe R&D team has produced over a dozen peer-reviewed publications, which have appeared in major scientific journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Movement Disorders and European Journal of Neurology. Highlights include an innovative patient-led trial of lithium use in ALS, a survey of pathological gambling in Parkinson’s disease and an extension of a gold-standard patient-reported outcome measure. In addition to working with elite research organizations, including Johns Hopkins, Penn State and Forbes-Norris Pacific ALS Centre, the R&D team also provides professional services to the company’s commercial partners.
Prior to joining PatientsLikeMe, Dr. Wicks worked directly with patients from around the world, studying cognition in rare forms of ALS and the psychological consequences of Parkinson’s disease. Those research findings have also been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals.
A frequent conference presenter on the power of personalized medicine in improving health outcomes, Dr. Wicks has twice won the British Neuropsychiatry Association prize for best speaker. He completed his Ph.D. thesis at King’s College London at the age of 24.
Published Research Highlights
- Nature Biotechnology (Apr 2011): Accelerated clinical discovery using self-reported patient data collected online and a patient-matching algorithm
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (Jan 2011): Patient-reported Outcomes as a Source of Evidence in Off-Label Prescribing: Analysis of Data From PatientsLikeMe
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (Jan 2011): Use of an Online Community to Develop Patient-Reported Outcome Instruments: The Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Adherence Questionnaire (MS-TAQ)
- British Medical Journal (Dec 2010): Sharing access might increase engagement
- Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (Oct 2010): The Potential Research Impact of Patient Reported Outcomes on Osteogenesis
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Dec 2010): Modifiable barriers to enrollment in American ALS Research Studies
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (Jun 2010): Sharing health data for better outcomes on PatientsLikeMe
Media Highlights
- Technology Review (Aug 2011): Networking patients to combat chronic disease
- The Washington Post Innovations (Jul 2011): The do-it-yourself health-care revolution gets a boost