AN IRISH RESEARCHER based in New York has won a $100,000 award for an app which monitors mood disorders.
Dr Mark Matthew, originally from Harold’s Cross in Dublin, won the Open mHealth Award for MoodRhythm, an app which allows users to chart their mood in line with their diet, exercise routine, and other daily activities.
The information gathered from the app can be analysed by the user’s doctor, to either diagnose or treat mood disorders
(Image Credit: Mark Matthews)
Dr Matthews told TheJournal.ie that the app was designed alongside medical professionals, and the finished app received a positive reaction. He says that it moves the study of mood disorders “beyond anything they can currently do, as doctors are limited to pen and paper right now”.
The app, the development of which started in Trinity College Dublin, is the first in a “suite of tools” which would allow other medical conditions to be monitored in a similar way.
Dr Matthews said the prize money will be used to fund MoodRhythm and to “make it available to as many people as possible”.
A number of studies have shown that the body’s biological clock can dramatical impact on health, both positive and negative.
Bipolar disorder causes dramatic swings in the mood of the person affected, ranging from “highs” to bouts of depression. It affects as many as 40,000 people in Ireland.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say