Cedars-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute is partnering with WellPoint to develop the first medical application utilizing the technology of IBM’s computer system, Watson, which recently had a stint on “Jeopardy!.” With Watson’s new medical assignment, there may be a growing risk of confusing it with Sherlock Holmes’ famous friend and assistant. To clarify matters, we offer the following, shall we say, elementary chart.

Name	Watson: Named for IBM’s first president, Thomas J. Watson	Dr. John Watson
Born	In the minds of IBM researchers in NY	In the mind of an author from Edinburgh, Scotland
Maker	IBM	ACD (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Interested in	Patient cases	Cases more than patients
Input	Is being fed vast amounts of clinical information, including content from Cedars-Sinai cancer experts led by William Audeh, MD, director of the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center	Is fed large breakfasts by Mrs. Hudson (that is, if he gets a chance to eat before Holmes demands his immediate attention to help solve a crime)
Purpose	To assist oncologists in choosing the best courses of treatment by computing large amounts of information such as medical literature, patient histories, clinical trials, side effects, and evidence-based outcomes	To assist a computer-like detective in effecting positive outcomes for distressed clients
Jeopardy!	Defeated human contestants on the game show	Put himself in harm’s way guarding Sir Henry Baskerville from a diabolically inhuman hound
Processes information	At 500 gigabytes per second	Somewhat more slowly than Holmes
Language	Understands natural language	The Queen’s English
Evidence	Cites relevant evidence-based data to support recommendations	Frequently overlooks evidence