If you’re like me and wonder why- oh- why our medical education system is not embracing the information age more quickly, then an editorial recently written by Dr. Joe Martin at the Boston Globe is for you. Dr. Martin is the retiring Dean of Harvard Medical School and like me, a neurologist. His contributions to neuroscience, neurology and medical education are of such standing, that having him hop on this bandwagon can not go uncelebrated. Although Dr. Martin doesn’t specifically note the role of patients in this new paradigm, the handwritting on the wall is clear in this exerpt- “A generation ago, doctors were taught that they were all-knowing healers whose judgment was sacrosanct. But today, there’s simply too much to know. With the overwhelming advancement of innovative drugs and procedures, doctoring has moved from an individual endeavor to a team effort, and it is technology that binds the team together.”

Dan Hoch

Dan Hoch is a neurologist based at the Massachusetts General Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. An early developer of online resources for patients, Dan helped found Braintalk and is active in the American Academy of Neurology, the American Epilepsy Society, and the American Medical Informatics Association.