Can smartwatches take the guesswork out of medicine?

VPM | By Manoush Zomorodi, Avery Keatley and Sanaz Meshkinpour

Published July 10, 2026 at 1:10 PM EDT

Part 2 of TED Radio Hour’s “Tracking what your body needs“

What if your smartwatch could tell you were sick, even before your first symptom? Genetics professor Michael Snyder says wearbles are ushering in an era of highly-personalized, precision medicine.

About Michael Snyder

Michael Snyder is a professor of genetics and director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University. He has published over 1,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, and is the author of the book Genomics and Personalized Medicine: What Everyone Needs to Know.

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Related TED Talk: How “digital twins” could help us predict the future

Related TED Talk: The vital data you flush down the toilet

Related NPR Links

Morning Edition: Scientists See Upside And Downside Of Sequencing Their Own Genes

TED Radio Hour: Want to predict the future? Digital twins that model planes, climate — even cancer

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Manoush Zomorodi

Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.

Zomorodi is a co-founder of Stable Genius Productions and is the co-host and co-creator of ZigZag, the business podcast about being human. She also created, hosted, and was managing editor of the podcast Note to Self in partnership with WNYC Studios, which was named Best Tech Podcast of 2017 by The Academy of Podcasters.

Prior to her time at WNYC, Zomorodi reported and produced around the world for BBC News and Thomson Reuters, including a few years in Berlin.

She was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Gracie for Best Radio Host in 2014 and 2018. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy."

Zomorodi received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in English and fine arts. She is half-Persian and half-Swiss but was born in New York City, where she lives with her family.

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