Dr. Michael VanRooyen and Starting a Company

Dr. Michael VanRooyen is the Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.  He's also the founder or co-founder of four start-up companies including Ibex, a patient tracking system for Emergency Departments that was eventually bought by Picis.

From 2002 to 2004, I worked as one of Mike's International Emergency Medicine fellows within the Johns Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine.

This is a video clip of Mike's talk at our 2009 Medical Fusion Conference.  While Mike is most well-known for his humanitarian work, he's also a very astute businessman and entrepreneur.  If you're a Wilderness Medicine aficionado, you are probably familiar with Mike's work in international health, but in this video you get to see another side of him through his entrepreneurial experiences.

One of the purposes of this blog is to introduce you guys to the personalities behind the research and field work.  Mike is one of those dynamic individuals who is a leader in his field, and a great prototye for those interested in making Wilderness Medicine a career focus.

Emergent Field Medicine

In a prior post I mentioned the Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) course for those who are interested in working in disaster areas providing humanitarian assistance.

Reviewing information about the HELP course reminded me of a great manual for those interested in humanitarian assistance.

The book Emergent Field Medicine was published a few years ago to help those who are providing care in under-developed regions and disaster areas.  My view of this textbook is biased– mainly because I am friends with a number of the editors and contributors of this text– but I still believe it is a great tool for anyone going to a remote area to provide care.

The text was written by a stellar group of experts and provides an overview of a variety of topics including public health, tropical infectious disease, refugee health, nutrition, and dental emergencies to name a few.  The format provides a reader with information that is easily accessible and of appropriate depth for a field manual.

For those who are considering working in a remote area, Emergent Field Medicine is a good way to prepare before you go, and a good resource to use while you’re away.