Google Tech Talks
August 23, 2007

ABSTRACT

The OpenMRS project is a noteworthy open source community that allows developers to directly contribute towards technology that saves lives. This community began its work in 2004 in response to HIV's devastation upon the developing world. As home to ninety-five percent of this pandemic's disease burden, these resource-poor locations need new health care systems that efficiently manage medical information. A quick survey of the health information technology landscape in this environment yields poor organization, many inflexible ad hoc developments, and poor potential for proper scale.

OpenMRS was designed to serve as an electronic medical record system framework shared among developers implementing in developing countries. It has grown significantly over the past couple of years, as the community learns to integrate some of the open source community's best and brightest interested in pursuing philanthropic software development. To date, OpenMRS has been implemented in eight countries, maintains health information for over 100,000 patients, and is directly supported by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Speakers: Paul Biondich, Burke Mamlin
Dr. Paul Biondich is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and part of the medical informatics investigator faculty at the Regenstrief Institute for Health Care. He cofounded this project in 2004 and today contributes to the project by helping lead the overall design direction and leading community development efforts. OpenMRS is enjoying a rapid period of growth, now utilized in the care of well over 100,000 patients in 8 countries.

Dr. Mamlin received his MD from Indiana University in 1996 and completed an internal medicine residency there as well. Dr. Mamlin continues to practices internal medicine while serving as Associate Director of Computerized Physician Order Entry at Regenstrief Institute. Dr. Mamlin contributes to OpenMRS by helping with technical leadership as well as the overall design direction of the project.

Google engEDU
Speakers: Paul Biondich, Burke Mamlin