Dr. Christopher Murray uses Big Data to change the way we look at how and why people die around the globe.
(Photo courtesy University of Washington)

Doctors have always looked at ways to treat the health crisis of the day, from the Black Death to cancer to AIDS. What they have not done, however, is study and compare how, why, and where people die on a global scale… at least, until now. In journalist Jeremy N. Smith’s important book, Epic Measures, he introduces us to the man who has tackled this massive project and is gradually changing health care around the planet.