G-Med, the world’s first and only global social-professional network exclusively for physicians, allows doctors anywhere to consult with colleagues, manage multinational research projects and offer virtual services to patients.
by Abigail Klein Leichman , Israel21C
‘The ability to have discussions on medical and
paramedical issues between physicians all over the world is very exciting,’
says Israeli neurosurgeon. Launched in Israel last year, G-Med proved so popular
that its founder, Hagar Mordoch, took it global at the end of 2013. Today this
unique social network has about 20,000 users from more than 50 different
countries.
That kind of diversity was just what Dr. Sagi Harnof
needed when he recently began planning brain surgery for a patient who is a
Jehovah’s Witness. This religion forbids blood transfusions. Harnof, deputy
chief of neurosurgery at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, rarely encounters
Jehovah’s Witnesses and so he presented the case via G-Med.
“I got comments from colleagues in North and South
America and Europe,” says Harnof, who is one of the site’s two medical
advisers. The online guidance helped him strategize the best surgical procedure
for the patient’s health and religious beliefs.
“For me, the ability to have discussions on medical
and paramedical issues between physicians all over the world is very exciting.
There are no borders for medicine, and it’s only natural to talk between
professionals and share thoughts,” Harnof tells ISRAEL21c. “It’s only the
beginning, but I feel it’s a very nice platform to communicate between
physicians.”
Consultations and research
G-Med members are categorized by medical specialty,
making it simple to find an expert in a particular field. Mordoch points out
that specialists often need a consultation in a different specialty, for
example an obstetrician needing advice on treating a pregnant patient who has
an infectious disease.
“In any consultation, you can see each medical case is
being solved from the input of many physicians from a lot of different
specialties and countries,” she tells ISRAEL21c.
Users can join and create physician groups and expert panels around common interests, ideas, activities or events. They can comment on posts and publications of peers, and post job offers, text, pictures, videos and files under their real names or anonymously. They can participate in professional surveys, focus groups and distance-learning courses.
Users can join and create physician groups and expert panels around common interests, ideas, activities or events. They can comment on posts and publications of peers, and post job offers, text, pictures, videos and files under their real names or anonymously. They can participate in professional surveys, focus groups and distance-learning courses.
Because of its international nature, the website’s
common language is English, though physicians may write queries in their native
language. “There is social networking just for US physicians and
a few in other countries such as Germany, all in the local language, but until
G-Med there was no international closed network,” Mordoch says.
One heavily used feature is managing research projects
that span more than one country. “I’m running several clinical trials internationally,
and all the participating physicians are in a unique group on G-Med where we
can share information on patients and protocols and solve problems,” says
Harnof. This secure feature is compliant with the US HIPAA
regulations for patient privacy, and can also be used for promoting research
and publicizing requests for recruiting trial participants.
Private clinics coming next
Mordoch reveals that the Tel Aviv-based G-Med will
soon provide the option of private online clinics, giving any physician, or
group of physicians, exposure to patients around the world via text, audio and
video components. “A lot of users are interested,” says Mordoch.
“Hundreds of physicians want to start their clinics now. This will give
patients anywhere the ability to speak to the best doctors in the world without
leaving their home.”
Mordoch expects this will be popular especially in
areas where it’s difficult to get healthcare services. At some point, she also
wants to start a separate pro-bono medical consultation program for needy
locales.
Her original intention was to build a social network
where patients could share their opinions about specific physicians, with a
feature for viewing physicians according to their professional ranking, in
order to help users choose doctors in the most objective manner.
“That was a couple of years ago, and we started to
build something along those lines,” says Mordoch, whose background is in
finance. “In working with doctors, however, we saw that what they needed is to
talk to each other, to consult in a secure way and build an international
community. So we decided to start such a community in Israel and see what
happens. We got a few thousand doctors participating here, and decided to open
it globally. It’s amazing how we’re growing.”
G-Med was launched with private equity and continues
to be supported by private investors as a new funding round begins. The staff
currently consists of eight employees.