Beyond Blue: February 2009 Archives

This video was taped the afternoon of Johns Hopkins's Mood Disorders Symposium, right after I heard Kay Redfield Jamison speak on the topic of creativity and mood disorders. Given my tumultuous week at that time, I literally wept at parts of her presentation.

Here is what I learned.

Sorry. I'm getting a little anxious for the bell to ring. It's next weekend, March 8, that Daylight Savings starts.

Some of you may remember when Dr. Val Jones of Revolution Health interviewed me for their site. Now I have the opportunity to return the favor as Dr. Val has just launched her own company, Better Health, a multimedia enterprise with a mission to provide better health information to people like us, who have to work pretty hard for it. You can get to Dr. Val's website by clicking here.

1. Dr. Val, you have more energy than just about anyone I've met. Where does your drive and inspiration for better health information come from? When did you become so passionate about better health and why?

Dr. Val: My passion for accurate health information blossomed during my time as a medical reviewer for a consumer health website. I was astonished by the poor quality of a lot of the health content, and how potentially harmful it could be for patients to follow its advice. As I researched the basis for many of the medical claims being made I became aware of an entire pseudoscience industry - where writers just parroted the same misinformation they found online to get a quick buck.

One day I reviewed an article that recommended parents take their autistic children to a DAN practitioner for chelation therapy. Some children have actually died from this treatment, and there's certainly no evidence that it improves autism in any way. It made me so upset that I decided to do everything I could to help people find trustworthy information and to protect them from false and misleading medical claims.

2. Can you tell us a little about your company and why you started it? How is it different from other medical sites on the Internet today?

Better Health is an online media company focused on health education through medical blogging. Better Health's medical blogger team includes some of the most popular nurse, biotech and physician bloggers on the Internet. They are available for consulting and writing. We give 10% of all post tax profits to non-profit health organizations.

Better Health's ultimate goal is to create an economic model to support talented medical bloggers and further disseminate their opinions online. It is my hope that by helping to support them, there will be a shift in the kind of health news out there - more thoughtful analyses of policy/advocacy work (created by MDs and RNs) will replace press releases and cheesy pundit opinions. One day, Better Health may become a dominant force in online health information, replacing the sites that rely on repurposing pseudoscientific health articles.

I wanted to create a company that is ethical, transparent, and supportive of both bloggers and non-profit health organizations.

To learn more about Dr. Val and Better Health, tune into a podcast interview by The Entrepreneurial MD by clicking here. Or click here for a summarized interview.

Dr. Philippa Kennealy writes:

Val Jones MD is one smart, energetic and articulate cookie.

As seminarian-turned-physician, and now part-time clinician and President and CEO of Better Health LLC, Val has navigated so many career paths, it's enough to make one dizzy.

She refuses to be defined by the term "physician" and instead embraces a Whole New Mind approach to her life and work.

In this fascinating 22 and a half minute podcast interview with Val Jones, she shares her story and her secrets to having fun and success as an entrepreneurial physician. She also outlines her ambition to connect the dots between science, "un-hyped" health education and real ("better") health. She plans for Better Health to be an influential voice in the development of healthcare policy that reflects and acknowledges the reality of the working lives of her constituency -- healthcare providers.

What an opportune time to have her around!

[Remember to click on the grey button next to the title (with "Pod" on it) to hear the interview - and wait a minute or two while the audio loads.]

And if you want to catch her musings and information on Twitter, you can do so here.

This Onion video is the best laugh I've had all day. Courtesy of John McManamy. Thanks, John, for the laugh. As always.

FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful