Donald West King, M.D.
FNLM Chairman
How are computer networks and digital technologies changing the future of health care? Will you and your healthcare provider communicate better in the digital future? What is personalized medicine?
Some of the nation's top health researchers, computer experts, and scientists offered answers to those questions during a conference April 6-7, held on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md. "The ePatient: Digital and Genomic Technologies for Personalized Health Care" was co-sponsored by the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (FNLM), the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and South Jersey Healthcare.
Conference keynoter Dr. David Blumenthal (top) detailed the Obama administration's push for personalized medicine while "e-Patient Dave" deBronkart (below) described how it empowers cancer patients.
"We are delighted with the success of this conference," says Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., director of the National Library of Medicine. "The presentations and discussions at the conference encompass some of the most important and dramatic challenges and opportunities that healthcare providers and patients will face in the next few years."
Presentations and panel discussions focused on defining personalized medicine and demonstrating how it has affected research on cancer and brain disorders. Patient advocates identified the characteristics of ePatients—"equipped, enabled, empowered, engaged, educated, expressive, expert, and electronic."
Educating and empowering our readers are also the goals of each issue of NIH MedlinePlus magazine. We hope you find this issue both useful and enlightening.
Sincerely,
Donald West King, M.D., Chairman
Friends of the National Library of Medicine
To read more about the conference, visit www.fnlm.org.
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