Introduction
One of the features that characterizes the best medical journals and the best newspapers is the presence of an outstanding, diverse, and active Editorial Board. I believe that as the medium of the Internet evolves, its most reliable and trusted information sites will also be characterized in part by such boards. Having a highly visible board of recognized, representative, and influential experts who position their reputation, knowledge, and energy with a Web site will be a key to success.
The senior management of Medscape, founded on May 24, 1995, has decided that it is now time to create such an overarching Editorial Board. Medscape has utilized the service of experts on its Advisory Panels, usually specialty-specific, for years and will continue to rely on these dedicated and productive individuals for their helpful services. In fact, we intend to create additional specialized panels as Medscape continues to expand.
But we saw a need for a board of volunteers to oversee all matters editorial and ethical, and relevant to content. It has been traditional for prestigious medical and scientific primary-source, peer-reviewed publications to pay the members of the Editorial Board no money, but to compensate with recognition and honor and the opportunity to influence a field. Such is also the case with Medscape.
We announce today the first 16 members (of perhaps 20 ultimately) of the Medscape Editorial Board, who will also serve as the Editorial Board for Medscape General Medicine (MedGenMed), our newest offering.[1] With the common features of consistent, demonstrated excellence and caring for science, health, and people, the members have been chosen to comprise a Board diverse in age, race, gender, field of expertise, and geography. So far, 16 were invited to serve; 16 agreed to serve.
Their abbreviated biographies follow and will remain featured on Medscape. Enjoy, and join us in welcoming this stellar bunch.
Stephen M. Barrett, MD
PO Box 1747
Allentown, PA 18105
Tel: (610) 437-1795
Email: sbinfo@quackwatch.com
Stephen Barrett, MD, a retired psychiatrist, is a nationally renowned author, editor, and consumer advocate. An expert in medical communications, he operates three Web sites and is consulting editor of "Nutrition Forum," a newsletter emphasizing the exposure of fads, fallacies, and quackery. His 46 books include The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America (Prometheus) and five editions of the college textbook Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions (McGraw-Hill). Dr. Barrett is board chairman of Quackwatch, a board member of the National Council Against Health Fraud, a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health, and a Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). In 1984, he received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery.
Saveli Bashinski, MD, PhD
Media Sphera Publishing Group
PO Box 54
127238 Moscow
Russia
Tel: (7) 095-482-5336
Fax: (7) 095-482-4312
Email: svl@cardio.msk.su
A native of Moscow in the former USSR, Dr. Saveli Bashinski received both his MD and PhD from the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. After postgraduate work at the Cardiovascular Research Center and the Research Center for Preventive Medicine in Moscow, Dr. Bashinski served successively as scientific editor of Kardiologiya, general director and president of the Media Sphera Publishing Group, and editor of the International Journal of Medical Practice. Dr. Bashinski participated as a founding member of the World Association of Medical Editors in Bellagio, Italy, and currently is a member of its Education Committee.
Barbara Bolsen, MDiv
The Night Ministry, Open Door Shelter
5953 N. Magnolia
Chicago, IL 60660
Tel: (773) 784-5783
Email: bolsen@flash.net
After graduating from Medill School of Journalism of Northwestern University, Barbara Bolsen worked for 22 years as reporter, editor, and Vice President of the American Medical Association, mostly with its very successful weekly newspaper American Medical News, which she headed for five years. A long commitment to faith-based action for social justice led Ms. Bolsen to obtain a master of divinity degree in 1998 from the Chicago Theological Seminary. Ms. Bolsen currently serves as Chaplain at The Night Ministry's Open Door Shelter for homeless adolescents of the Night Ministry in Chicago and facilitates a support group for women with HIV/AIDS. Still committed to good journalism, Ms. Bolsen teaches medical and environmental reporting at Northwestern.
Peter P. Budetti, MD, JD
Director, Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies
339 E. Chicago Ave.
Room 711
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: (312) 503-2941
Fax: (312) 503-2936
Email: p-budetti@nwu.edu
Dr. Peter Budetti received his medical degree from Columbia University in New York and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. A pediatrician by training, Dr. Budetti has spent most of his career in health policy research and development, first at the University of California, San Francisco, then as Counsel to the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in the United States House of Representatives and at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Dr. Budetti is now Director of the Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he holds professorial appointments in the Medical School, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and the School of Law.
Arthur L. Caplan, PhD
Center for Bioethics
University of Pennsylvania
3401 Market St., Suite 320
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308
Tel: (215) 898-7136
Fax: (215) 573-3035
Email: caplan@mail.med.upenn.edu
Probably the best-known and most frequently quoted American medical ethicist, Dr. Arthur L. Caplan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and was educated at Brandeis and Columbia Universities, receiving his doctorate in 1979. Author of numerous published books and hundreds of articles in professional journals, Dr. Caplan is currently Professor of Bioethics, Molecular and Cellular Engineering, and Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he also heads the Center for Bioethics. Formerly associated with three other universities, frequent advisor to state and federal government agencies, and recipient of numerous prestigious awards, Dr. Caplan brings to Medscape extensive experience in consumer education on ethical issues via print and electronic public media.
Tom Delbanco, MD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Chief of General Medicine and Primary Care
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617) 667-3992
Fax: (617) 667-2854
Although the violin may be his greatest interest, Tom Delbanco is best known as one of the world's finest -- if not the finest -- proponents of and experts in general internal medicine. Dr. Delbanco's early life, formal education, and training were in New York City at Columbia, Bellevue, Harlem, and Presbyterian Hospitals. He settled in Boston at the Beth Israel Hospital at Harvard Medical School in 1971, where he remains today as Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care. His influence stems from creating what were among the first hospital-based primary care practices, residencies, and fellowships in general internal medicine. One of the founders of the Society of General Internal Medicine, he was its President in 1986-7. A Master of the American College of Physicians and active with the National Public Health and Hospitals Institute and the American Public Health Association, he has directed three Salzburg Seminars and chairs The Picker Institute, evaluating patient perceptions of quality of care. In addition to writing and editing numerous scholarly articles and books, Dr. Delbanco has headed up the "Clinical Crossroads" series -- a monthly, modern clinical pathological conference (CPC) for the Journal of the American Medical Association -- for the past 4 years.
Karen Donelan, ScD
Dept. of Health Policy Management
Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 432-3829
Fax: (617) 432-4494
Email: kdonelan@hsph.harvard.edu
Generally recognized as medicine and public health's best young survey researcher, Dr. Karen Donelan is a pure Harvard product (bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees). After an eight-year stint in various research, education, and administrative roles at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Donelan has been a member of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health since 1988, where she is Managing Director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program. Wife of a physician, mother of three, and active in church and community service, Dr. Donelan brings to Medscape an applied interest in the impact of electronic communication (particularly direct-to-consumer advertising) on the patient-provider relationship.
Craig Frances, MD
Chief Medical Officer
YourPharmacy.com
3801 Ultra Comp Dr.
Earth City, MO 63045
Tel: (314) 522-4142
Fax: (314) 770-9149
Email: cfrances@express-scripts.com
Or:
3436 Pierce St. Apt 10
San Francisco, CA 94123
Tel: (415) 474-3715
After earning his undergraduate and medical degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca and Manhattan, New York, Dr. Craig Frances completed his residency and fellowship training in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was chief resident. Winner of several prestigious awards at each level of education, Dr. Frances is currently authoring or co-authoring a sequence of clinical books and papers emphasizing quality of care. His key interest in consumer education as a prime method of improving patient care led him in 1998 to become Chief Medical Officer of Drug Digest, a specialized drug information service on the Internet.
Vincent Fulginiti, MD
Children's Hospital
1956 East 19th Ave. B-158
Denver, CO 80209
Tel: (303) 733-6134
Fax: (303) 764-8189
Email: Vincent.Fulginiti@UCHSC.edu
Dr. Vincent Fulginiti is a renowned physician, pediatrician, academic administrator, educator, and editor with a distinguished research and teaching career at the Universities of Colorado and Arizona, as well as Temple University in Philadelphia and Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Currently Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine/Biometrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, he has served as dean of medicine at Tulane and Arizona and as chancellor at Colorado. Recipient of numerous prestigious awards, particularly emphasizing achievements in pediatrics and infectious diseases, Dr. Fulginiti was the Editor of the American Journal of Diseases of Children for 11 years. An accomplished and prolific author and leading public citizen, Dr. Fulginiti also brings a record of pioneering computerized education for medical students to his new role at Medscape.
John Bernard Henry, MD
SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse
Dept. of Pathology
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 13210
Tel: (315) 464-7185
Fax: (315) 464-6817
Email: henryjb@vax.cs.hscsyr.edu
Any list of the most prominent physicians in pathology and laboratory medicine would have Dr. John Bernard Henry at or near the top. As editor and contributing author for the last six editions of the most widely read textbook in clinical pathology -- Todd-Sanford-Davidsohn Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods (W.B. Saunders Co.) -- his influence has been profound. Dr. Henry's professional education was at Cornell (AB), Rochester (MD), Washington University (intern), Columbia (resident), and New England Deaconess/Harvard (resident and fellow). At the State University of New York Health Science Center, Syracuse, he was Director of Clinical Pathology (1964-79), President (1985-92), and Professor (1992-present). At Georgetown, he was Dean of Medicine (1979-84). Dedication and enthusiasm characterize Dr. Henry's work and life -- numerous awards, 28 years of naval service, skiing and sailing, "husbanding" (spouse Georgette), and parenting (six children).
Murray Kopelow, MD
Executive Director
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education
515 N State St.
Chicago, IL 60610
Tel: (312) 464-4117
Fax: (312) 464-2586
Dr. Murray Kopelow has been the Executive Director & Secretary of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) since August 1995. Dr. Kopelow is a graduate of the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, and is certified as a specialist in pediatrics by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In addition to his pediatric practice in Winnipeg, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, for the University of Manitoba. His academic pursuits included the development and administration of personalized and remedial assessment and educational programs for practicing physicians. Dr. Kopelow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School and a member of the Academic Pediatric Primary Care Program within the Division of General Academic Pediatrics of Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.
Mitzi R. Krockover, MD
VP Women's Health
Humana Inc.
500 West Main St.
Louisville, KY 40202
Tel: (502) 580-1501
Fax: (502)580-2570
Email: mkrockover@humana.com
As Vice President of Women's Health for Humana Inc., Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Mitzi R. Krockover serves as the company's chief healthcare strategist and spokesperson for the company's initiatives in women's health. Previous to her position with Humana, Dr. Krockover was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCLA and the founding Medical Director of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center. A graduate of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Dr. Krockover completed her internal medicine residency at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Krockover has served as a frequent contributor to national publications and broadcast news programs on women's health issues. She brings to Medscape an unusual combination of interests in women's health, managed care, needs of the homeless, and experience in TV education for physicians and the public.
Aliza A. Lifshitz, MD
Cedars Sinai Medical Office Towers
Suite 1140E
8631 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Tel: (310) 659-2078
Fax: (310) 470-9338
Email: draaliza@aol.com
A native of Mexico City and medical graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Dr. Aliza A. Lifshitz trained in internal medicine and clinical pharmacology at Tulane University and the Ochsner Medical Foundation in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in endocrinology at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Lifshitz maintains an active practice in metabolic diseases, endocrinology, and diabetes in Los Angeles, California. But it is activism in women's and Hispanic health issues and both print and broadcast consumer education focusing on Hispanic health information needs for which she is best known -- indeed acclaimed -- in the American West and throughout the US.
Daniel J. Ncayiyana, MD
205 Bremner Building
University of Cape Town
RONDEBOSCH 7701
South Africa
Tel: (27) 21-650-4002
Fax: (27) 21-686-0475
Email: aesdjn@bremner.uct.ac.za
A native of Port Shepstone in the Kwa-zulu Natal (KZN) region of South Africa, Dr. Daniel Ncayiyana's education and professional career span three continents -- Africa, Europe, and North America. He attended university in South Africa, but received his medical degree from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands after fleeing arrest for political activities in South Africa in 1963. Dr. Ncayiyana trained in obstetrics and gynecology at New York University from 1970-1975. He is a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Named Editor of the South African Medical Journal by the South African Medical Association while apartheid was still the rule, Dr. Ncayiyana is also Deputy Chancellor and Honorary Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Cape Town.
Magne Nylenna, MD, PhD
Editor
Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association
PO Box 1152, Sentrum
N-0107 Oslo
Norway
Tel: (47) 23-10-90-00
Fax: (47) 23-10-90-40
Email: magne.nylenna@legeforeningen.no
Dr. Nylenna, a native of Norway, received both his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Oslo. He is a specialist in community medicine and served for many years as a primary care physician and a public health officer. Dr. Nylenna has been Editor in Chief of Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening, the national medical journal of Norway, since 1987. His research interests include primary care, preventive medicine, communication, medical publishing, and ethics. He has been a member of the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (the Vancouver Group) for 12 years and helped to found the World Association of Medical Editors. Dr. Nylenna and his wife Ellen, a teacher, have three children.
David L. Sackett, MD, FRCPC, MSc
The Kilgore Trout Research and Conference Centre at Irish Lake
RR #1
Markdale, Ontario
Canada N0C 1H0
It is easy to make the case that Dr. David L. Sackett has done more than any other living physician to develop and promote the field of evidence-based medicine. A US citizen by birth with BA, MD, and training in internal medicine and epidemiology in Wisconsin, Illinois, Buffalo, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, Professor Sackett has performed the majority of his professional work in his adopted country of Canada (mostly at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario), as well as in England and Ireland. Using clinical epidemiology and biostatistics as the prism, and promulgating these methods via writing, speaking, and development of colleagues, Dr. Sackett spearheaded a complete scientific re-evaluation of what physicians do and why, and what physicians should do and why. Personally recognized by innumerable prestigious awards, Dr. Sackett's organization and leadership of the Cochrane Collaboration from Oxford and its worldwide systematic clinical reviews over the past several years will probably stand as his most important contribution.
The growth and development of Medscape continues to be gratifying.
Please feel free to contact any of us to let us know how we can serve your medical and health information needs even more fully.
George D. Lundberg, MD
Editor in Chief
Christina Myers
Administrative Coordinator
Reference
Lundberg GD. Medscape General Medicine: Launch of a new journal and invitation to authors and readers. Medscape General Medicine April 9, 1999.
Medscape General Medicine © 1999
Cite this: Introducing the Editorial Board of Medscape - Medscape - May 04, 1999.
