Ex-Windows boss leads new health data startup "Truveta"

Terry Myerson, who ran the Windows unit for part of his 20-year career at Microsoft, is on a new mission to make data more central in medical treatments, with Truveta, the startup he runs that’s backed by 14 health systems.

Why it matters: Too many important decisions are still made based on doctors' personal experiences.

The big picture: The company aims to aggregate an anonymized data set from its 14 backers, as well as potentially other health systems that want to join in the effort.

• "We need data to really understand health and there is no data set like this anywhere in the world," Myerson told Axios.

Context: Myerson, who left Microsoft in 2018 and has been an adviser at Seattle's Madrona Venture Group, said the pandemic persuaded him to get involved in a health science startup.

• "It went from a really important, interesting project to an imperative," Myerson said of the effort.

What's next: Truveta is currently working with test data, but Myerson said the goal is to build out a fuller data set this year.