3-12-10 Community E-Newsletter/Call

Hello, Thanks for your interest in our unbiased, free license and dynamic medical/health knowledge base.

This article serves as E-Newsletter as well as proposed agenda topics for today's OurMed Community telephone call. After the kickoff meeting to design Phase Two of OurMed.Org, the Tech and Content committee team has been working hard to come up with a branding concept, homepage wireframe and definitive user privledges. We'd like to share our work with you and get your feedback. To be consistent with our mission, our non-profit community approach seeks your unbiased contributions to medicine and consumer knowledge on healthcare!

 

Time: Friday (Today!) : 2 - 2:45pm EST

Call in Number : 712-775-7000  Passcode : 634011#

If you would like to opt out of these emails, please let me know. Thank you for your continued interest in the OurMed initiative--we couldn't make this happen without your participation and are grateful for you pitching in!

Greg Miller, Executive Director at OurMed.Org         (212) 740-1850

Watch our OurMed YouTube Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqgYfFxEkLk

Serving up OurMed's Mission - Collaborative Vision and Contributions!
As Director of OurMed, I've received countless calls, emails with site links, calls to action for an unbiased global and extensive site--all tremendously invaluable and supportative and I thank you for each and every one of your ideas and suggestions. But this has got to change. I am not in charge of OurMed--As a community member, You are. For this bold vision to become realized, we count on each and every healthcare professional, patient and philanthropic contributor, to post, edit, debate and add to our collective creation. We share your articles, ideas and edits by creating an account if you don't have one and edit/post whatever you like You can't break the site--nothing will get lost. Just remember the three pillars...Be polite, be referenced and be objective/impartial. Thank you, Greg Miller

OurMed's Technology Update
The tech committee has met twice so far--Once in person with Blueliner Marketing (3-4-10) and yesterday (3-9-10)over a conference call. Blueliner Marketing, with point person Arbab Hassan, has set the team has been set up with various wireframing and project management tools. Vincent Navarro is in charge of the Tech team along with Stan Kachnowski (OurMed Board Chair), Greg Miller (OurMed Executive Director), Elise Pasikoff (OurMed tech Committee) and Stephen Press (OurMed Content Committee Chair) and John Volpe (OurMed Tech/Content Liason).

Vincent has been concurrently working to migrate the server to have a clean backup and MediaWiki upgrade strategy--You can help him with testing speeds and links at our test site: OurMedicina.Org. The following three articles/discussions will highlight our progress on design.

A new look for OurMed...Logo Prototypes!
Blueliner will be helping to rebrand OurMed but will be taking suggestions from our community.

Using the following branding concepts, we have quite a few ideas for logos and hope to settle on one in the next week or so:


 * honesty, integrity, trust, non-commercial


 * openness, transparency


 * global, universal


 * for the greater good, non-profit


 * collaborative, wiki, open-source, free license


 * respected, an authority


 * comprehensive, encyclopedic


 * fresh, clean, easy-to use, web 2.0

To benchmark other sites, Stan suggested we take a look at:

Info Medical Decisions, Redcross, Doctors Without Borders, NPR, Oxfam, The World Health Organization, The United Nations

Our first prototypes from Blueliner are:



Of these, the tech/design committee has supported the simplicity and colors of #7 and #10; Feedback to Blueliner has been to include some type of symbol that represents global collaboration and are looking into hands/arms of multiple ethnicities such as the ones found on this link.

From OurMed Board Member Alex Fotopolos: From OurMed Board Member Oleta McHenry: Likes #2, 3 and 9

From John Volpe: Logo recessed ...OurMed.Org A community of independent, world-wide medical professionals and consumers dedicated to the dissemination and discussion of unbiased medical information.   From Richard Knipel:

HomePage Wireframes: A Beginning!
Please take a look at Blueliner's first wireframe. Our Tech committee has already responded with comments but we'd like to hear what you think are important features which should be displayed prominently.

(RICHARD, PLS INSERT HOMEPAGE WIREFRAME HERE--Thanks!)

Determining Privileges
One of the key issues with development will be to clearly define which users will have what privleges to edit or publish information. As we are set enstilling trust to the medical community, verification of medical professionals and the articles that are contributed will be key for this medical encylcopedia. &lt;/span&gt; ==

Stephen Press and Elise Passikoff are working on defining these users, their privledges and their roles.

Content: Defining Categories
Stephen Press has come up with the following preliminary content categories: &lt;/span&gt; ==

1.Diseases a. Body systems b. Medical Specialties c. Direct search

2. Geographical Location

3. Animal health

a. Species b. Body systems c. Medical Specialties d. Direct search

4. Devices, e.g. stents, replacement joints, etc.

5. Procedures

6. Drugs / Interactions

Recruitment of Healthcare Professionals
Vanessa Moore, has been diligently coming up with a lot of tech and medical writers over the past 6 months. We'd like to check in with the community on ideas to further expand our network of OurMed pioneers.

Spring 2010 Seminar in BioTech Series at Columbia
We've been invited to speak at Columbia's Spring Biotech series. The purpose of this visit will be for us to give a seminar and to interact with their students. Discussions on current web-based health resources, the concept, goals, and logistics of OurMed will be held. &lt;/span&gt; =

Columbia's Master's Program trains students in modern aspects of biology with a particular emphasis on scientific understandings of disease mechanisms and the discovery and development of new treatments. Some of their students seek careers outside the academic laboratories. They wish to utilize their expertise in science and play important roles in bridging science and the society. Although they train their students very well in science, they are lacking in providing exposures outside of classrooms. In the Seminar in Biotechnology Series, experts in diverse fields related are invited to bioscience to give their perspective of the field and share their experiences.

All seminars are scheduled on Wednesday 4 – 6 pm. In general speakers can cover two fronts: The first part is “scholarly discussion”, where the speaker gives a lecture on his or her subject of expertise. The second part is “professional conversation”, where the speaker introduces the days and lives of his or her profession and offers advice in how our students may utilize their scientific training to contribute to similar endeavors. For more info: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/grad/biotech/Seminar_Archive.htm At present these dates are open: 3/10, 4/7, 4/14 and 4/21 are open.

OurMed's Invitation to Free Culture Alliance NYC
Richard Knipel has invited OurMed to attend the Free Culture Alliance NYC:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Free_Culture_Alliance_NYC

This is a great way to network with modern thinkers, movers and shakers!

Posting on OurMed.Org
Now that you have an account--Use it to nudge the OurMed movement forward! You can write about nearly anything, just keep your comments about new ideas,health and medicine.--It's really important that OurMed gets off the ground using a communities collaborative approach to building it, just as Wikipedia did nine years ago.

Please click on this link to make a small post about whatever's on your mind. You can suggest articles, design or features that you'd like to see on the site. http://ourmed.org/index.php/New_Ideas_for_Site

Most Active Authors in past month have been:


 * Savealife Gmiller D Joiner Forneymiller Bluestar T1 Johnvolpe Skywalker Vanesmith

Pioneer Bios
Just like the Wikimedia Foundation that created Wikipedia, OurMed will mostly be driven by volunteers. In addition to the occasional business or technology consultant, the profile for OurMed’s volunteer community will be talented professionals that want to make bring forward the OurMed mission to the end-goal of having a global impact.

To incentivize our founders, we have created the Founding Framer Program. To date, the following folks are eligible and working toward a goal to volunteer more than 100 Communty hours:

Vincent Navarro (Chairman, OurMed Tech Committee/Chief Tech. Officer)
212 444 2633

vnavarro”at”pipeline.com

Research Specialist @ Weill Medical College

Online Database Manager @ Scientists Without Borders

I have done basic science research for over 15 years in the area of prostate cancer. During this time I have had the privilege of working on the development of monoclonal antibodies targeting prostate cancer from concept through clinical trials. This has afforded me a keen insight into development process of therapeutic drugs. In addition, a strong interest in computers has seen me pursue a graduate degree in computer science in addition to my undergraduate in Chemistry. As a result I have designed and developed a clinical trials management system in my laboratory. I am currently the Online Database Manager for Scientists Without Borders. There, I am responsible for the administration of the database and development of the web portal.

Eileen McGinn, MPH (OurMed Content Committee)
MPH/Certificate in Aging, qedeileen”at”aol.com

Worked in international health and development for 25 years, including several years living in Africa and Asia. Currently PT Research Manager for Nathan Kline Institute, working on the interrelation of poverty and mental health and health equity for persons with disabilities. PT tutor for immigrant high school students at Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School. Volunteer work for many different agencies, including health, disability, immigrant, women's, peace, international. Have written for various websites on health issues. Especially interested in translating technical work into comprehensible language, community-based participatory research and the Capabilities Framework for development and justice.

Dr. Geoff Hayden, MD (OurMed Content Committee)
Geoffhayden@gmail.com 615.479.6499 (Cell)

I am a practicing Emergency Physician, splitting time between NYC and South Carolina. I have been in academic practice since 2005 (Residency at Vanderbilt University, Fellowship at University of Pennsylvania), with an emphasis on resident education and emergency ultrasound. My interest in OurMed.org stems from a dissatisfaction regarding the abysmal state of preventive care and a general lack of health care coverage in the U.S. I see OurMed.org as an essential resource to connect patients to health information and health providers.

I imagine my role with OurMed.org in terms of producing content, recruiting other physicians for ongoing contribution, and assisting Greg with the development of a user-friendly, comprehensive clearinghouse of useful health care information.

Geoffrey E. Hayden, MD, FAAEM, FACEP

Adjunct Clinical Professor Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine Nashville, TN Piedmont Medical Center Emergency Department Attending

222 South Herlong Ave Rock Hill, SC 29732

Vanessa Moore (Chairman, OurMed Recruitment Committee)
MVanellen@ourmed.org 914-665-4534 (home) 914-751-9758 (cell)

Vanessa Moore is a native New Yorker who brings 7 years recruiting experience to the Ourmed recruitment effort. She would like to leverage her experience recruiting volunteers to Ourmed, a forward thinking and progressive approach to disseminating unbiased healthcare information to the public. She has worked in both corporate and nonprofit settings including a consulting engagement for the Department of Education and most recently at the Westchester Independent Living Center, an advocacy group for people with disabilities. She studied Social Sciences at the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University.

Dr. Stephen Press, DC, PhD, CCSP, FACSM, FICC, ICSSD (Chairman, OurMed Content Committee)
Email: sjp@sport-dc.com; Tel: 201-569-1444 A practicing Chiropractic physician (33 years). Was chief physician for the "Unified Team" (former USSR) at the XVIth Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France in 1992. Founded the World Governing body for sports Chiropractic known as "FICS", for Fédération Internationale de Chiropratique du Sport, now headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland at the Maison Internationale du Sports, and administered in Toronto, at the World Federation of Chropractic offices. I served on the Medical commission of two IOC recognized World Sports Governing bodies; 1st as Chairman for the Fed. Int'l de Roller Sports, and then as Vice-Chairman for FIDE (Chess). Founded the website IAOCO.org, and co-founded WikiChiro.org. Today, I serve as advisor for the International Sports Chiropractic Association, which is the liaison body interacting with the World Olympian's Association. I speak, English, French, Russian and Spanish, play the cello and clarinet, compete in pool, and follow biblical archeology and do artist blacksmithing, making swords and medieval armor as hobbies.

John Volpe (OurMed Tech Committee)
johnvolpe1@yahoo.com 516-221-4692

My background is primarily in accounting, finance and business operations, primarily in the financial services industry. While I'm not a technical professional, I have participated in and managed numerous technical and business projects, primarily involving financial systems. I also worked as a management consultant for a Virginia based company that I did consulting work for the federal and state governments. I am currently retired. In addition to playing tennis and engaging in other physical activities, I volunteer my time and an Account Director with an NYC based organization that provides service grants in the form of a volunteer project team that manages strategy, financial, marketing and development projects for non-profits. My interest in this project is really from the perspective of someone who is a consumer of medical information and is interested in the efficient delivery of medical information to the public.

Richard Knipel, OurMed Content Committee
I have been a volunteer for Wikipedia and other free culture efforts for several years, with a special focus on outreach initiatives to New York area cultural institutions, such as Wikipedia classes at the New York Public Library, museum photography with Wikipedia Loves Art, and urban photography with the TOPP nonprofit with Wikis Take Manhattan. I have served as President of the nonprofit Wikimedia New York City since September 2008. I hope to bring these experiences in helping to build Ourmed into an innovative and rich online healthcare community along the wiki model.

Elise Passikoff, OurMed Tech Committee
From a background in print and educational publishing, I entered the online world as an editor and technical writer at a start-up software company. There I learned the tools of the trade and gained valuable experience in writing, editing and posting online content. In 2000, I moved to the New York Academy of Sciences [www.nyas.org], where, first as online producer and then as web senior project manager I led the development, implementation, and maintenance of complex online projects, including the ground-breaking website Scientists Without Borders scientistswithoutborders.org].

Greg Miller, OurMed Executive Director
at OurMed greg.miller@ourmed.org 212-740-1850

Have 17 years of Corporate Finance and Marketing experience for Fortune 500 companies including nine years abroad (Germany, England and Japan). I've been here in New York since 1996, always passionate about developing new brands, ideas and products. Did Marketing Analysis for ANA, a Japanese Airline, Finance for Cablevision's HD Satellite business and Revlon. Since 2005, I've been inspired by non-profits, created New York's Dance Parade and have worked on OurMed since the Fall of 2008. I'm inspired by the transparent, non-profit approach to the democratization of healthcare. OurMed has a small office at Columbia Medical Center's Audubon Business and Technology Building--Come by and visit us!

3960 Broadway (Entrance on 166th Street) Suite 301 o (212) 740-1850 c (917) 627-7155 greg.miller@ourmed.org

Watch the OurMed Presentation: http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Ad4ohgeyfGzCZGRoNnFuNW1fMzljMmh2OW5jdw&amp;hl=en

Florence Devouard
OurMed Board Member fdevouard@anthere.org

Florence Devouard served as one of the elected representatives to the Wikimedia Foundation Board starting June 2004, and was the Chair of the WMF Board from October 21, 2006 until July 16th, 2008. Florence was born in Versailles (France). She grew up in Grenoble, and has been living since then in several French cities, as well as Antwerpen in Belgium and Tempe in Arizona. She holds two masters, one in Agricultural Sciences (a 5-year degree in agronomical engineering (Diplome d'Ingénieur Grande Ecole) from ENSAIA and the other a postgraduate degree (DEA) in Genetics and Biotechnologies from INPL.She has been working in public research, first in flower plant genetic improvement, and second in microbiology to study the feasability of polluted soil bioremediation. She was employed until 2005 in a French company, to conceive decision-making tools in sustainable agriculture. She is now a consultant in Internet Communication Strategy. She joined the Wikipedia adventure in February 2002 and is known as a contributor under the pseudonym Anthere. Florence is 39, and lives in Clermont Ferrand with her husband Bertrand and her three children, Anne-Gaëlle aged nine, William eleven and Thomas two. On May 16 2008, Florence was made a knight in the French National Order of Merit, proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as "chair of an international foundation"

Alex Fotopoulos
OurMed Board Secretary alex@broadwaylawoffices.com

Alex Fotopoulos has served on the board since October 2008. He attended Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ and then received his Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern University in Los Angeles, California in 1990. He has experience as a litigation attorney and as an entrepreneur. He has held held positions as an attorney and as part of the management team of such high technology companies including AT&amp;T Wireless, T-mobile, Nextel, Metricom, GTE Internetworking as well as small local start-up ventures. He is a licensed Attorney in New York, New Jersey and California.

Stan Kachnowski
OurMed Board Chair swk16@hitlab.org

Stan Kachnowski is one of America’s distinguished scholars in health-care information policy and management having taught e-health and health-care e-business for nearly 20 years. He has authored over 100 scholarly papers and presentations for the world’s leading journals and societies in health-care technology management, informatics and e-governance. In 2003 he was elected as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Medicine in the United Kingdom for his research with the National Health Service in using handhelds to track patient data. In 1996 he was elected to the US-based College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. Stan is currently a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India.

Oleta McHenry
OurMed Board Treasurer Newsgirl_fl@hotmail.com

Oleta McHenry was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Ohio. After graduating high school, she briefly attended Wright State University in Dayton, studying Political Science. She transferred to St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, FL and received her A.A. degree in Liberal Arts. Oleta earned her B.S. in Accounting from Florida Metropolitan University in Clearwater, FL in 2006.

Oleta worked for the Pulitzer prize winning newspaper, St. Petersburg Times as a circulation manager. After receiving her degree in accounting, she worked briefly in the insurance industry before joining the Wikimedia Foundation as the fulltime accountant of record. While at the Wikimedia Foundation, Oleta helped put in place accounting practices that would help the company in growth and development. She did not follow Wikimedia to San Francisco and now works for a large medical supply company managing the General Ledger for several regions within the United States. Oleta resides in St. Petersburg, FL and works as an accountant.