Objective
One core goal of the Oracle Cancer Research Cloud (OCRC) initiative is to create a major inflection point in medical research, diagnosis, and treatment. This inflection point will not be based on a single scientific discovery, but rather on the ability of the medical and scientific communities to integrate and share large complex datasets of clinical and biological knowledge. These datasets include models of molecular mechanisms of action and biological processes, multi-omic patient profiles, longitudinal patient data, and patient outcomes.
Alan Nugent, SVP Cloud Initiative Oracle, delivering an overview & benefits of the Oracle Cancer Research Cloud#oracleic17 @RizkManagement pic.twitter.com/UuKi48jbRv
— OracleHealthSciences (@OracleHealthSci) March 22, 2017
My Role
My approach as a Principal UX/UI lead on this project was also a Product Thinker, following Nikkel Blaase, who said "…Life is to short to build something nobody wants…" My role extended beyond "traditional" UI/UX designer responsibilities performing extensive research of users need, designing and building UX/UI, and also involved exploration, assessment of potential, open source solutions (capabilities) to meet users needs and integrate them into the platform. One example was a Benchling, an electronic Lab Note Book, a cloud solution for molecular biologists. I carried "there is no task beneath me" attitude, and in addition to the above duties, I designed and developed Oracle Cancer Cloud product website, worked on data visualization and animation for biological pathways, designed curation tool and made things happen to ensure that MVP reached users on time and on budget.
Challenges
Lack of understanding User Experience role in the newly created team ("Can UX develop production ready code?"), so evangelizing and educating team members wasn't an option. Very complex domain had to be studies be able to conduct user research and understand lingo of participants and internal team of scientists. One major UX challenge was how to build a product that meets needs of variety of personas with a large degree of divergence, while ensuring consistent user experience and keep it simple and usable.
Solutions
Pathway curation solution
Our scientist emailed me this photo and asked for help to automate pathway curation process
Platform External Webstie
I designed and coded Oracle Cancer Research Cloud website