May is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Awareness Month. As many out there know, PatientsLikeMe was inspired by the life experiences of Stephen Heywood, who was diagnosed with this serious neurological disease back in 1998. Stephen’s brothers (Ben and Jamie) made many attempts to slow the progression of his condition, but their trial-and-error approach just wasn’t working. They knew there had to be a better way, and in 2004 PatientsLikeMe was created.
Every year, about 5,600 people are diagnosed with ALS in the U.S. It can affect any race or ethnicity and there is currently no treatment or cure that will reverse or even stop its progression.[1] By getting involved, you can help change that.
The ALS Association has put together a terrific calendar of events called “31 Ways in 31 Days.” For each day in the month they’ve created a simple way to get involved and help raise awareness.
Looking for more info on non-profits during ALS awareness month? There are a bunch of organizations dedicated to the cause. A fellow PatientsLikeMe community member put together a great list in his forum thread Comparison of ALS/MND Organizations.
If you’re living with ALS, find others just like you in our growing community of almost 6,000 ALS patients on PatientsLikeMe. Learn what they’re doing to manage their condition with symptom and treatment reports, and share your own experience with a personal health profile or in the community forums.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— March 19, 2013—PatientsLikeMe appoints Kim Goodwin and Sally Okun RN to two newly-created positions that will keep patient needs upfront as the company continues to enhance its website and drive industry and government to make more patient-centric decisions. Kim Goodwin has been named Vice President (VP) of User Experience (UX) and Sally Okun has been promoted to VP of Advocacy, Policy and Patient Safety.
PatientsLikeMe Co-founder and President Ben Heywood says the appointments underscore the company’s “patients first” mission. “We’ve been committed to understanding and representing patient interests for years. With Kim and Sally in these roles, we’ll be in an even better position to keep patients at the forefront of all we do – from how we develop our website to how we represent patient interests at an industry and policy level.”
Kim Goodwin In her role as VP of UX, Kim will evolve the information and structure on www.patientslikeme.com to help people live better lives with their conditions. She plans to expand member involvement in the website development process to improve usability and to make sure the website’s content answers their most important questions. She will also make it easier for members to find and connect with people who share not just the same condition, but the same values and experiences. Additionally, Kim and her new team will improve how researchers and providers conduct research and interact with members on the site.
Kim’s expertise in design has made her one of the most distinguished UX experts in the world. She is a frequent speaker and the author of the 2009 bestseller Designing for the Digital Age, which is heralded as the most comprehensive how-to guide in the field. Before joining PatientsLikeMe she was VP of Design and General Manager at California-based design firm Cooper. Over the years, Kim has also worked with clients including Lexus, Cardinal Health, Abbott, Medtronic Diabetes, Boeing, Cisco, and Best Buy. Her healthcare experience includes work for companies delivering diagnostic and treatment devices, consumer health education and tracking, and desktop and tablet-based electronic medical records.
Sally Okun As VP of Advocacy, Policy and Patient Safety, Sally plays a vital role in ensuring the patient voice is heard, collected and disseminated to affect better treatment, services and care. As the company’s liaison with government and regulatory agencies, she will bring the patient voice to worldwide healthcare discussions and educate policy makers on the benefits of sharing health data. Previously, she developed the company’s drug safety and pharmacovigilance platform, which monitors patient data for potential adverse events. In this new role, Sally will continue to expand the website’s drug safety content and ensure the data collected about treatments and their impact become more transparent to the community at large.
Recently named a 2013 TEDMED speaker, Sally joined PatientsLikeMe in 2008 and led the team responsible for the website’s medical ontology and curation of patient-reported health data. She has since been a frequent speaker at policy workshops and forums and has contributed to peer reviewed publications and discussion papers for the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and others. She also co-authored a chapter for Health Informatics: An Interprofessional Approach, an upcoming Elsevier textbook. A registered nurse for over three decades, Sally’s clinical practice specialized in palliative and end-of-life care. In that time she also participated in numerous clinical, research, and educational initiatives of national significance.
About PatientsLikeMe PatientsLikeMe is a patient network that improves lives and a real-time research platform that advances medicine. Through the network, patients connect with others who have the same disease or condition and track and share their own experiences. In the process, they generate data about the real-world nature of disease that help researchers, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, providers and nonprofits develop more effective products, services and care. PatientsLikeMe is a trusted source for real-world disease information and a clinically robust resource that has published more than 30 peer-reviewed research studies. Visit us at www.patientslikeme.com or follow us on our blog, on Twitter or via Facebook.
Earlier this month, PatientsLikeMe Co-Founder and President Ben Heywood, along with marketing intern Jenna Tobey, went to visit the Steve Saling ALS Residence, which is part of the Chelsea Jewish Foundation’s Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea, MA. The foundation has been providing high-quality care for over 90 years and includes the nation’s only specialized ALS residence.
When Steve Saling was diagnosed with ALS, a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease, in 2006, he immediately began to “secure a way to provide for care” as his condition advanced. His expertise as an architect, his keen interest in technology and his diagnosis all proved vital as he worked with Barry Berman, CEO of the Chelsea Jewish Foundation, to create the first-ever, fully automated ALS residence. This state-of-the-art residence soon became a reality and opened its doors in August 2010. Despite this tremendous accomplishment, Steve isn’t done yet. He has also created the ALS Residence Initiative in an “effort to duplicate the project nationwide.” The next facility to open will be in New Orleans.
Steve greeted Ben and Jenna at the door and was excited to get the tour started. Unable to speak on his own, Steve communicates through a sight-based technology that can translate eye movements on a computer screen into audible speech. As he showed Ben and Jenna the residence, Steve demonstrated the independence that advanced technology and the center provide him by opening doors, turning on lights, operating elevators and changing TV channels. The foundation also encourages this independence by getting their residents out and about. Steve described some of their recent excursions, like going to the movies, downhill skiing at Nashoba and traveling to Disney World.
Steve became a PatientsLikeMe member seven years ago following his diagnosis. Since then, he has been a model community member, regularly updating his symptom reports and frequently chiming in on the ALS forum. In his PatientsLikeMe profile summary, Steve says, “I accept my new challenges and take a great deal of satisfaction in adapting to my losses.” The PatientsLikeMe ALS community is nearing 6,000 members, with patients learning from each other’s shared experiences every day. Join the conversation anytime; they’d love to hear from you.
To learn more, check out the video below, in which Steve discusses “the dire need for residential living options for the chronically disabled.”
On Friday, November 2nd, several PatientsLikeMe team members donned their finest to attend the 2nd Annual White Coat Affair, a charity gala benefiting the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI). Founded by PatientsLikeMe Co-Founder and Chairman Jamie Heywood in 1999, ALS TDI is the world’s most advanced research laboratory dedicated to ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
This gala fundraiser was held in conjunction with ALS TDI’s 8th Annual Leadership Summit, which included in-depth scientific presentations by top ALS researchers, a discussion panel with industry leaders and an awards ceremony honoring individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to ALS research and advocacy. (View the summit webcast here.) PatientsLikeMe was a proud sponsor of this annual gathering of the most influential minds in the ALS community. In particular, we were honored to witness the posthumous awarding of the Stephen Heywood Patients Today Award – given annually to an individual who exemplifies what it means to be an educator, role model and advocate – to beloved PatientsLikeMe member Persevering (Rob Tison).
Held at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston the next night, A White Coat Affair was an opportunity for summit attendees to unwind and socialize via cocktails, a dinner program, live music and dancing. In honor of the theme, servers wore white lab coats, name cards were labeled like the periodic table and vases were filled with brightly colored liquid to resemble lab tubes. A special highlight of the dinner program this year was the Young Perspectives on ALS segment, which featured the stories of two young people living with ALS (Corey Reich and Pete Frates) as well as four young people who are the children of ALS patients (Katie Shambo, Sam Ketchum, Jenn Sutherland and Alex Heywood).
As you might have guessed, Alex Heywood is the son of Stephen Heywood and nephew of PatientsLikeMe Co-Founders Jamie Heywood and Ben Heywood. Both ALS TDI and PatientsLikeMe were inspired by Stephen’s seven-year battle with ALS, a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease with an average life expectancy of two to five years following diagnosis.
Approximately 350 guests attended A White Coat Affair, helping to raise $450,000 towards ALS TDI’s efforts to discover and develop effective treatments for ALS. After a decade of progress, the institute is entering a time of great promise, with several therapies in clinical trials and their own work on Gilenya (a drug currently approved for treating multiple sclerosis) and other potential therapeutics moving into the clinical realm. Learn more about ALS TDI’s current research projects here.
To see more photos from the 2nd Annual White Coat Affair, visit the event’s Facebook page.
PatientsLikeMe was a proud sponsor of the 1st Annual Tribute to Champions of Hope, organized by our partner the Global Genes / RARE Project. Held on September 27th in Newport Beach, CA, the gala recognized outstanding individuals who are working to affect change in the rare and genetic disease community. All proceeds from the event – which attracted celebrities, medical researchers, pharmaceutical executives and even Olympic champions – go to benefit programs for patients and advocates.
In attendance from PatientsLikeMe were Ben Heywood, Arianne Graham and Deborah Volpe, who got to hear inspirational stories of the work these champions of hope are doing. Highlights included the Biotechnology Award given to Charles Dunlop of Ambry Genetics and the Mauli Ola Foundation, which organizes therapeutic surf experiences for kids with cystic fibrosis, and a preview of the documentary Here. Us. Now., which chronicles a family with twin daughters diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C, a rare, incurable and fatal genetic disease. Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Henri Termeer, the former President and CEO of Genyzme, aptly summed up all those who received awards as “people that have a sense that if they focus, they can make a difference.” (Click here to read about all eight Champion of Hope honorees.)
After uplifting musical performances and talks by celebrity presenters Jason George (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Nestor Serrano (Act of Valor), the night ended with a heart-stopping, impromptu rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” performed by several rising singer-songwriters, including Chris Mann and Katrina Parker from the “The Voice,” Elliott Yamin from the fifth season of “American Idol” and Gracie Van Brunt, a young girl battling a rare genetic disease called Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome who performed her own original song earlier in the evening.
The gala was followed the next day by the 2012 Patient Advocacy Summit, a forum where patient advocates could discuss issues that directly affect them, from resources to policy. PatientsLikeMe Co-Founder and President Ben Heywood was featured on the Innovative Technologies and Platforms panel, sharing the stage with Dr. David Eckstein of the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Discussing the topic of “Accessing the Science,” they each gave an overview of how patient registries and clinical trials are promoting change and advancing medical research.
As a prime example, PatientsLikeMe joined forces with the Global Genes / RARE Project last year to create the RARE Open Registry Project, a resource for patients and families fighting rare and genetic diseases. What makes it different from other registries is every time you enter data into the system, you receive information back showing how your data compares to others fighting similar diseases or taking similar therapies. If your family is impacted by a rare or genetic disease, we invite you to join the registry today.
Patient-Based Research Aims to Produce New Insights Into Most Common Autoimmune Disease in U.S.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Aug 13, 2012 — PatientsLikeMe announces it has entered into a collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, to evaluate the impact of psoriasis on patients and to inform a novel approach to improving outcomes.
“A broader and more human view of psoriasis will help patients and their doctors understand the true nature of the disease,” says Ben Heywood, President and Co-founder of PatientsLikeMe. “We’re excited to collaborate with patients and Merck to uncover insights about the disease that may lead to better approaches for patients managing their condition day-to-day; providers creating care plans; and researchers developing treatments.”
According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, psoriasis is a non-contagious, chronic, autoimmune disease that appears on the skin and is associated with other serious health conditions including diabetes, heart disease and depression. It is estimated to affect over 7.5 million people in the United States.
“Effective use of health information provides the path forward to patient-centered care and personalized medicine,” said Dr. Sachin H. Jain, Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer, Merck. “Our collaboration with PatientsLikeMe is an important part of Merck’s strategy to establish and apply innovative solutions that improve disease management and enhance the patient experience.”
Under the agreement, PatientsLikeMe will work directly with Merck’s clinical researchers and epidemiologists to analyze and interpret psoriasis patient-reported data.
PatientsLikeMe has an active community of psoriasis patients, where nearly 2,000 people share data and stories to reveal what it’s like to have the disease and what they do to treat it. Health profiles, forum postings and journal entries highlight their experiences, and a new survey reveals how the summer season affects them physically and emotionally. Go to http://plmjoin.com/psoriasis to learn more.
About PatientsLikeMe
PatientsLikeMe® (www.patientslikeme.com) is the world’s leading online health data sharing platform. PatientsLikeMe® creates new knowledge by charting the real-world course of disease through the shared experiences of patients. While patients interact to help improve their outcomes, the data they provide helps researchers learn how these diseases act in the real world and accelerate the discovery of new, more effective treatments. [Follow company news on Twitter.com/PatientsLikeMe and http://blog.patientslikeme.com.]
(This post has been repurposed from an article written by PatientsLikeMe’s Ben Heywood for eyeforpharma’s Patient’s Week 2011.)
Real-world, patient-reported data is becoming more important to you, the patient, as well as everyone in healthcare. One source of that data is patient registries.
According to the US Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a patient registry is “a database of confidential patient information that can be analyzed to understand and compare the outcomes and safety of health care.” Ultimately, the goal of capturing and analyzing this data (shared by multiple sources like hospitals, pharmacies, physicians and patients) is to learn from one another and improve healthcare. Like registries, PatientsLikeMe understands the importance of capturing data in a meaningful, computable and quantifiable way.
However, behind every piece of data is a patient.
So, in the spirit of putting patients first, we began thinking about the next generation of a patient registry where you benefit in real-time from what you share. It would need to be a situation where you could openly share longitudinal demographic and clinical data about your disease while using online tools to improve your outcomes. It couldn’t be just silos of health data focused on one disease at a time; it would need to encompass data on all diseases and inspire you to share information about those co-morbidities too.
If this next generation of a “registry” could ensure long-term data sharing, can you imagine how much meaningful insight would be available for patients and industry alike? We could…and that’s what we’ve been building at PatientsLikeMe for the last five years. We’re excited about what that means for patients like you each day, as well as what it means for the future of medicine.
We know you believe in community—we’ve seen it in your one-for-all mindset where you can share what you experience and see the same for every other patient like you; a mindset where you expect us to then pass on those experiences to researchers, companies and others who want to learn together and improve healthcare. When we tell you how we make money (by sharing your de-identified data with our trusted partners), many of you have said, “Great. Share! Share! Share!”
We have no doubt that sharing is the essential ingredient in accelerating research, ensuring patient safety and making better treatments. As we look beyond the chat room and beyond the traditional patient registry, we see a world where patients like you are openly sharing meaningful, computable and quantifiable data with each other to make your lives better…and, in turn, making all of medicine that much better too.
Can you see it too? Tell us your thoughts on what the ideal patient registry should include.
Last November, we shared our takeaways from TEDx Cambridge, a one-day event featuring 30+ speakers and lots of Ideas Worth Spreading (TED’s mission). The theme for this particular gathering was “Thrive.” How can we as individuals – and communities – not just survive but thrive?
One of the speakers to take a crack at that question was PatientsLikeMe Co-Founder and President Ben Heywood, who talked about the story behind PatientsLikeMe. In addition to sharing how it all began with his brother Stephen’s diagnosis with ALS, and what PatientsLikeMe is trying to do (“a revolution of openness”), Ben focused on how we can thrive as a company against big expectations – both external and internal.
Tune in to the video below to find out just that. Congrats to Ben on an inspiring talk – not to mention his standing ovation!
The holidays are a time for thinking about everything you hope and wish for in the coming year. They’re also a time for appreciating everything you already have. As our season’s greetings to you, we wanted to share a wish expressed by each member of our management team.
“I wish for every patient and family dealing with illness to know that they are not alone and that we are all in this together.” –Ben Heywood, President and Co-Founder
“I hope Santa brings you all your health data and that you will share it with other patients like you!” – Paul Wicks, PhD, Research & Development Director
“I wish for people to have the most happy, healthy, and joyous holidays filled with the unparalleled love from those who matter in their lives.” – David S. Williams III, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of BusinessDevelopment
“My wish for patients everywhere is that they continue to learn about their chronic conditions and keep updated on the latest treatments from multiple sources.” – Robert Palladino, Chief Financial Officer
“All of us at PatientsLikeMe wish you and those you love a holiday of joy and grace.” – Jamie Heywood, Chairman and Co-Founder
Patient Experience Manager Kate Brigham and I attended TEDx Cambridge last week, a one-day event full of thought-provoking and inspirational talks about Ideas Worth Spreading (TED’s mission). The participants didn’t want to just survive, they wanted to Thrive, which was this year’s theme. Speakers, including our President and Co-Founder Ben Heywood, enlightened the crowd with how we can help ourselves in small ways and inspire others in the process.
Throughout four sessions packed with 30+ speakers on the topics of Mind, Body, We, and Beyond, many shared how people can improve themselves individually, by being part of a community, and by giving back to others. Some advice is expected—sleep more, drink less caffeine, eat more vegetables, try yoga—but other points were more novel.
For example, we were encouraged by Matt Daniell to try something, anything, for a month as “time becomes much more memorable when undertaking 30 day challenges.” Using research on the effects of body posture on hormones, Amy Cuddy shared that doing a power pose for just a few minutes (like putting your feet up on your desk) is minimal effort, but can benefit your brain as well as others’ perception of you. (Note: she recommended we put our feet up in private, not in a meeting!) One of the lessons that seemed to resonate most was from Priya Parker, who encouraged the audience to not worry about keeping all options open—that it’s FOMO (the fear of missing out) and FOBO (the fear of better opportunities) that contribute to many people’s anxiety and stress.
In addition to Ben talking about PatientsLikeMe, other speakers shared the importance of connecting people with others like them, making data more accessible and empowering patients to take control of their health. Greg Epstein and Jesus Gerena, although in different fields (a Humanist Chaplain and Activist, respectively) arrived at the same conclusion: that when people come together and help one another, the entire group is empowered and everyone benefits.
Our ears also perked up when Sandy Pentland, a social scientist at MIT, discussed how important data is and stated that “personal data is the new oil of the Internet.” Further affirming the importance of data, John Sheffield talked about how he wants to make sure that genomics analysis is accessible, repeatable and shareable. He’s found in his field of data architecture that’s it’s all about connections with others, a point of view we certainly share!
One story that perhaps applies most to what we’re doing here at PatientsLikeMe was presented by Hugo Campos, a heart patient who is literally on a quest to liberate data from his own heart. Although he has a high-tech cardiac defibrillator, he doesn’t have access to the data collected by this device. We’re with you, Hugo: “We all have the right to our own health information!”
At PatientsLikeMe, we help people Thrive by connecting patients so that they can share their experiences, find others like them and, together, learn how to best improve their health. From disease-specific outcome scores to our Quality of Life survey and InstantMe tool, we offer all sorts of ways to monitor your health and assess the impact of various treatments and interventions.
How do you help yourself and others Thrive? Share your thoughts in the comments section. Also, check out the video of Ben’s talk.
“I got this call from my brother Stephen, and he said the news doesn’t look good.At that point, he’d been through enough processes to know what that meant – he had ALS.So I began this journey with my brother and my family…. We were thinking there had to be a way to make this about the patient.But it started like everyone else. You get that phone call, and your life changes.” – Jamie Heywood, Co-Founder
Recently, we launched a new and improved About Us page that included a short video about our company history.Now, we’re pleased to unveil a longer, more in-depth video that allows you to hear our founding story from four PatientsLikeMe executives and learn what drew each of them to become a part of our groundbreaking concept.
Tune in below to hear where it all started and why, five years later, we’re committed to continuing the journey we’re all on – as a company, as patients and as family members of those affected by disease.
You can also watch this insightful piece (~15 minutes) in three smaller segments: Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.
“We’re just getting started on a long road to really impact your individual disease and your quality of life…”
Each week this month, we’ll be posting a video interview with a member of the PatientsLikeMe executive team. You’ll hear from Ben Heywood, Jamie Heywood, David S. Williams and Paul Wicks, Ph.D. about what the recent changes to PatientsLikeMe mean for patients, research, industry and the entire medical establishment.
Today, listen in to hear what Ben has to say about why we’re on this “road,” what has been improved with the recent upgrades and how sharing your own health journey moves us forward. You can also see last week’s video teaser here.
“I think we can see there are a lot of ways where openness can be powerful. What’s necessary is to help facilitate openness and reduce the barriers to sharing medical information.” – Ben Heywood
PatientsLikeMe Co-Founder Ben Heywood has blogged previously about openness and sharing – and how important they are for patients. In this edition of PatientsLikeMeOnCall, he talks about the progress we’ve made in achieving openness within the healthcare industry and his vision for the expansion of the patient voice.
How can we put patients back at the center of healthcare? What barriers do we need to break through so that patients like you can openly share your health information? Ben answers these questions and more in the fourth and final episode of our “A Look Ahead” podcast series.
PatientsLikeMeOnCall™ is proud to present a new podcast series called “A Look Ahead.” Through these dynamic podcasts, we will be diving into the major shifts PatientsLikeMe sees ahead for patients, patient care and patient/industry collaboration.
At the end of 2010, PatientsLikeMeOnCall released an episode called “The Patient Rules.” In this group podcast, we sat down with Co-FoundersBen andJamie Heywood, Chief Marketing OfficerDavid S. Williams III and R&D DirectorPaul Wicks PhD to discuss how far patients like you have come in sharing health information and driving the healthcare process.
In this new four-part series, we will again be talking to each of them about the future of the healthcare industry. What changes are ahead in 2011? And what role will you play? To get you geared up for this series, here is a quick preview clip from my interview with David Williams about the importance of patients and industry working together.
The series premiere for “A Look Ahead” launches this Friday, March 18, 2011, with an interview with Paul Wicks.Look for the other interviews to run every Friday for the next three weeks. To tune in, subscribe to the series on our iTunes page or listen to any of our podcasts on our PodBean page.
At PatientsLikeMe, people with every type of condition are coming together to share their health experiences, find patients like them and learn how to take control of their health. The result is improved care for patients as well as an acceleration of real-world medical research.
Stay tuned to our blog for the latest happenings with our company, our patients and our mission of opening up the healthcare system.
You can also find upcoming awareness events on the ALS Therapy Development Institute calendar. There will be picnics, charity golf tournaments and “The Cure is Coming” 5k and awareness walk. And don’t forget, we’d love to sponsor your run/walk team through our PatientsLikeMeInMotion program. Your whole team will get free t-shirts, a donation and more!
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