6-11-10 Community E-Newsletter/Call

Hello All,

Friday's community call will discuss the technology being worked on to get through Milestone2.

This is an open invitation to get more involved with the world's first ever, unbiased, free license and dynamic medical/health knowledge base. Time: Friday June 11 at 2pm EST 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=CjAqbMl1dVk

Milestone1 Celebration
Last Saturday June 5th, about 15 of us "OurMedians" gathered to celebrate the completion of the design and discovery phase of OurMed's Phase 2 development project, created by Blueliner's Arbab Hassan and OurMed (OM)'s Tech Committee. Thank you Arbab for taking the pictures! More on what we've accomplished so far is documented here.



Greg gives a "Tofu Toast" to celebrate Milestone One!

From left, Vincent Navarro - OM Tech Committee (Chair), Gary DiPinto - OM Tech, Greg Miller - OM Director, Dr. Jill Baron - OM Content)

Right side of table, Vincent Navarro - OM Tech Committee (Chair), Gary DiPinto - OM Tech, Dr. Jill Baron - OM Content, Dr. Stephen Press - OM Content Committee (Chair), Richard Knipel - OM Content Left side of table, Sou Cee Lee - OM Content, Vanessa Moore - OM Recruitment Committee (Chair), Elise Passikoff - OM Tech



From Left, Professor Tony Wasserman - OM Tech, Marilena Tsangourlis - OM Marketing



From Left, Sou Cee Lee - OM Content, Vanessa Moore - OM Recruitment Committee (Chair), Elise Passikoff - OM Tech

From Left, Vincent Navarro - OM Tech Committee (Chair), Gary DiPinto - OM Tech



From left, Dr. Stephen Press - OM Content Committee (Chair), Richard Knipel - OM Content, Greg Miller - OM Director

Free Cultural Alliance June 19th
OurMed is a proud member of the Free Culture Alliance formed by our friends at the NYC Chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. The next Free Culture Alliance NYC meeting is on Saturday June 19 at 1PM @ Jefferson Market Library in Manhattan, arranged with the help of Ann Matsuuchi and also the NYPL.

This will be a successor to the first successful Free Culture Alliance NYC meeting, which we held at David Goodman's Brooklyn home in April, with 8 organizations in attendance. It would be a good idea to have a little pre-planning for this meeting on the mailing list first.

If people have some ideas or joint projects they would like to have raised at the meeting, and we can prepare some kind of rough agenda beforehand, that would be great, and would benefit the whole discussion.

Any suggestions or comments please contact Pharos at pharosofalexandria"AT"gmail.com

Patients with serious illness connect on the Internet
John Volpe came across an article discussing how patients who are affected by serious illnesses are using the internet to stay connected with friends and family as well as telling their story.

To read more click here

Biased Agenda? A Law School, India and Drugmakers
Eileen McGinn came across an article discussing "the hope of convincing GW officials to “resist the use of the university by industries interested entirely in commercial profits,” and to present a wider scope of IP issues that reflect a need to protect public health, as well as changing the patent system so more innovative meds for neglected diseases are produced and access to needed meds is widened."

To read more click here

Tom Insel: Who Needs A Conflict Of Interest Shop?
Eileen McGinn came across another article discussing the need for a “COI shop” to help handle the "conflicts of interest involving academic researchers who accept federal grants and industry funding last year."

To read more click here

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight
TED.com has fascinating videos on many topics. In this video Jill Bolte Taylor discusses a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain  functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story.

To watch the video click here

OurMed's Technology Update
We've completed Milestone1 and are on to Milestone2!

To look at the work that has been done on Milestone1, go here: 1) Milestone1has been completed.  Vincent Navarro's Assessment, Blueliner's Arbab Hassan's view forward and some of the design comps are listed as well.

For Milestone2, we will first focus on building out the homepage and create a solid user account registration page.

According to Arbab Hassan, Blueliner's Project Manager for our project, the articles section of the new OurMed site will be built out using MediaWiki, the design will likely be fluid to mazimize the most real-estate. The target date for completion of our Homepage Design in MediaWiki is Thursday June 24th that will be functional on a "staging server".

Secondly, one of the first considerations for Milestone2 will be the User Registration Screen.

Last month, we reported how the language preferences (up to 10 in Phase2) will be managed using a "thick box" upon signin for new users. When a new user enters the site, they will select their native language and then if no content exists in that language, we will work with them to become administrators of that language.

At first users will be able to browse content without a user account but they will not be able to post or edit content. This is similar to YouTube, Flikr or other content sites. To edit or publish (post articles/content), users will be required to fill out a registration form.

User Registration will follow a format/strategy similar to Facebook--We are aware of Facebook's "aha moments" and also strive to follow a similar user-loyalty strategy. A fast-track registration will allow current users to quickly get basic "commenting" privledges without revealing who they are. A secondary level of registration will occur to query users about their knowledge and expertise in a medical or healthcare related field.

After a user registers his or her initial username, password and real name, email verification will occur. After an OurMed account is set up, a user will then be provided a further invitation to register to edit, publish or be a part of a Healthcare Professional Forum. To that end, we would like to verify with the community the types of users here.

Building content – What to write about?
Changes or additions can be made easily with our WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get), making it much easier than Wikipedia and cutting the volume ramp up rate to the new site significantly faster.

At times posting new material may be difficult to give attributions for so it may be easier to publish previously published work Alternatively, you can choose content from one of the many free content ("copy left") sites such as much of the content on:

1. Medpedia.com

2. NIH's PubMedCentral.gov from the National Library of Medicine

3. Wikipedia.org

4. GanFyd.org (original medical wiki site that claims Medpedia copied them and boasts 2000 site visitors per day)

5. PubMed.org

6. Medline

7. Open.Michigan from the University of Michigan

8. WikiChiro.Org

8. Others?

Posting on OurMed.Org
In addition to the Symbiosis Project, OurMed offers writers of original work to publish a vast range of medical topics. Under the three pillar approach of 1) Being Referenced 2) Being Bold and 3) Being Polite, OurMed strives to be a forum through which multiple health and medical issues are presented and debated.

To write, you must have a free OurMed account. 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.

We are furthering our editorial policies to include a Style Guide. Feel free to suggest ideas to make this a global "go-to" resource for all healthcare needs fit for any patient or healthcare professional.

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 The Past Month: 


 * Savealife * Gmiller * M.tsangaroulis * Vnavarro * D Joiner * Pharos

OurMed's MedTool Project
As we develop OurMed's Phase 2 site, we want to announce a competition to inspire our content contributors to come up with the most useful healthcare diagnostic tools from around the world.

Submissions will eventually be open-sourced and written in Joomla so that it will "plug-in" to our new site as well as be available to all around the world in a copy-left offering. To contribute, a contestant need not be tech savy but only be familiar with common health and medical needs. Will it be a simple Body-Mass calculator, Symptom Disease matcher, Diabetic Insulin calculator--the list may go on and one but we want the most popular, best and easiest to use!

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:

Vincente Navarro, OurMed Tech Committee Chair
212 444 2633 vnavarro@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@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.

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, OurMed Recruitment Committee Chair
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.

Stephen Press, DC, PhD, OurMed Content Committee Chair
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 Content Liaison
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
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].

Diane Joiner, OurMed Content Committee
I have more than 25 years experience in print publishing. I began my career in publishing with Scientific American Magazine; and then transferred to Scientific American Medicine where I was a member of the production department. While at Scientific American Medicine I produced the 2,500 page, two volume, loose-leaf for internal medicine (Scientific American Medicine), as well as the 2,200 page two volume, loose-leaf for surgery (Scientific American Surgery: Practice and Principles). In 2000 I became a member of WebMD’s Professional Publlishing Division. While at WebMD I continued to produce books, pamphlets, and on-line products.

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

Marilena Tsangaroulis, OurMed Marketing Intern
After recently completing a 3D animation program at the New York Film Academy, I'm excited to begin an internship at OurMed. Prior to this, I received a BS degree in Biology from Rutgers University. My internship program at OurMed will focus on supporting OurMed's marketing committee with social media updates as well as helping Greg to put together the weekly e-newsletter. To support the tech committee, I'll be gathering freely licensed images and creating some images and videos for the Phase 2 development of the OurMed new website. I really feel that the new site will surely be successful because as far as I know, there isn't really an easily navigatable global healthcare site on the web yet. My specific interest in developing my career is along the lines of 3D medical imagery and animation. I'm excited to be a part of the competition to produce that kind of thing for OurMed's homepage!

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.