Medicine X.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Palo Alto, CA to attend a conference at Stanford University called Medicine X (#MedX for short). In the words of conference organizers, Med X is "a catalyst for new ideas about the future of medicine and health care. The Medicine X initiative is designed to explore the potential of social media and information technology to advance the practice of medicine, improve health, and empower patients to be active participants in their own care. The “X” is meant to evoke a move beyond numbers and trends—it represents the infinite possibilities for current and future information technologies to improve health."

A conference that merges health, technology, and social media (and focuses on the patient)? Heck yes.

What's especially cool about this particular event (aside from "holy crap it's Stanford" and "the guy who designed half of the stuff I use in my kitchen and closets will be giving a keynote" and the obscene number of coffee breaks built into each day) lies in the thoughtful persistence that resulted in around 35 ePatients, myself included, being able to attend through some scholarship help. From what I understand, the historical problem with health conferences is that while they may talk about patients' needs and concerns, they don't typically make efforts to include and engage with them. (This year's ADA Scientific Sessions, for example.) Other DOC faces you might recognize include Dana, Cherise, Chris, Jewels, Lizmari, Amy, and Mike. What a great group!

If you are interested in tuning into the conference via webcast, Stanford recently announced that they'll be offering a high-quality live stream of the event. (Rock!) Find it here, and access the webcast by creating an account and registering for the "2012 Global Access Program". You may also follow the conference conversation via the hashtag #MedX, and you know we'll be tweeting and posting to Facebook as we go, too.

See you next week!