About This Site

Background
This site is developed in cooperation with Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Medical Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Texas Children's Hospital. It is a continuation of efforts begun in 1996 to use the Internet as an economical means of communicating to support medical education.

History
Beginning in 1996, several interactive conferences were held between the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia and other locations. The names of the conferences were:

• Recent Developments in the Management of Heart Disease, October 22, 1996
• New Information and Computer Technologies in Medicine, January 30, 1997
• Global Clinic Ventricular Assistance, March 18, 1997

The URL for these conferences is http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/crc/msu.

In these past conferences, Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Chancellor Emeritus, Baylor College of Medicine, either moderated or delivered presentations in real time over the Internet. The presentations had audio and video components and included oral questions and answers between presenters in Houston and the audiences in Moscow.

Acknowledgements
Numerous agencies and institutions have assisted in this effort to date.

• Representatives from NASA, particularly Arnauld Nicogossian, M.D., Charles Doarn, Sam Pool, M.D. and David Meyers provided leadership, resources and good advice.
  
  
• Dr. Ashot Sargsyan's (then from KRUG Life Sciences), knowledge of Moscow State University, advice, and translations were invaluable.
  
  
• The faculty and staff at the Space Biomedical Center for Training and Research and Moscow State University were especially cooperative and helpful. These included Oleg Medvedev, M.D., and Sergey Buravkov, M.D.
  
  
• Jaci Day, Silicon Graphics Incorporated, provided liaison between the project and SGI.
  
  
• Mary Schiflett from the Texas Medical Center has been most helpful with advice and administration.
  
  
• From the Baylor College of Medicine, the contributions have been too numerous to acknowledge all of them. The presenters who are identified at the web site all deserve recognition for their patience and expertise. Tom Oster did an outstanding job making the presentations "web ready". Michael Rushinsky's, Chris Young's, Albert Roy's, and Marc Newman's knowledge of MBONE and related software and their abilities to navigate the Internet were invaluable. Rob Dickehuth staged and directed the actual events in an exemplary fashion. Larry Laufman, Ed.D., attended the first conference in Moscow and provided constructive critique. DeAnna Moore's support and administration were exemplary.
  
  
• Above all, Dr. DeBakey's encouragement, inspiration, leadership and support have served to make this project successful and an example for others.

Current Site
This site is designed to experiment with replicating an educational event for participants who do not attend the actual event. We endeavor to use technology and the Internet to provide the participant with access to the resources, experts and other students that he or she would have if he or she were in the Texas Medical Center. Additionally, the site is designed to develop, test and deploy methodologies that will facilitate an expert's presentation of an educational event on the Internet.

In addition to the presenters on this site, acknowledgement must go to Herbert R. Smith, Jr., Director, Medical Illustration and Audiovisual Education, Baylor College of Medicine. His extraordinary creativity, knowledge and personal effort are an integral part of this site. We are fortunate that he is part of this project.

Please send your comments and suggestions about this project to jekenna@TexasChildrensHospital.org.

September 1999
Jed Kenna
Project Leader

Recommended System

The following are the recommended minimum requirements to use this program effectively:

• 120 mhz processor with 32 mbs memory.
• 15" Monitor displaying 800x600 24 bit true color
  
  
• Internet connection at least 19.2 kbs.
• Internet Explorer 4.01 or later; or Netscape 4.05 or later.
• RealPlayer G3 or later or Microsoft Windows Media Player.

Free Download

If your system does not meet or exceed the recommended minimum system requirements, an older version of RealPlayer is available for download.

In order to view and print the PDF forms that are available in this course, you may first need to install Acrobat Reader on your computer, and/or configure your Web Browser preferences to use Acrobat Reader as a helper application.
	Download Free Adobe Acrobat Reader if Acrobat Reader is not installed on your computer, then follow the step by step instructions for obtaining your free copy.