Avelient BioPharm Blog

A Virtually Limitless Resource: The Ann Myers Medical Center

As I walk up the steps of the medical building, a stone wall to my left is plainly evident with the photo of a silver-haired woman at the center. She lovingly holds a dog, showing her affection with a kiss, and a love for life atypical for someone who has experienced what she has. The picture welcomes visitors to the institute named in honor of her, the Ann Myers Medical Center, and in fact, as I walk through the doors my name is announced for anyone to hear. However, people are scarce today, not the norm for this center where the halls of this place typically bustle with people.

To my right as I enter is a front desk, but it’s unmanned. The waiting room is pleasant enough, with standard-issue waiting room chairs and a tranquil picture of a pond reflecting trees that appear to be welcoming a late fall day. A book of Shakespearian Sonnets greets me, lying open next to a lilac plant in full bloom. The adjoining hallway has a door marked, “PRIVATE: Dr. Ann Buchanan,” and as I turn and make my way down the hall I see another door marked “RADIOLOGY”.

As I approach, the door opens and out walks CC Carnell, one of the people with whom I am supposed to be meeting today. As we exchange our greeting, another person joins us, this time from out of thin air, as if she had just transported to Earth from a starship far above. It is Dr. Ann Buchanan, the visionary and creator behind the Ann Myers Medical Center. But there are no transporters here, at least not as you might see in a science fiction TV series. The center is one of the first of its kind, an online, virtual learning and collaboration center created within the world, “Second Life.” Dr. Ann Buchanan and CC Carnell aren’t even the real names of the people behind the avatars I see before me, but on their request I have left their true identities out of this post.

As the three of us exchange greetings, Ann excitedly shows CC a new device that’s been created for her use in this virtual world, which eventually will be dynamic enough to show the status of a mock patient to students training to use the equipment in the real world. Right now it’s far from that, but it is a step in the right direction. Almost immediately, the value of the virtual world is evident in that an object can be created, reflecting values and situations in the real world, that can be used in limitless examples to students around the world.

I was invited to follow the pair to a conference room that had been created for such occasions, not to mention lectures and bigger meetings. There were easily 20 seats around the table, and it was probably pretty easy to create a table in this world should they need more. As I make myself comfortable (well, as much as a virtual man can make himself comfortable), I begin our interview in earnest, looking forward to finding out more about this place and its potential.

As we begin our interview, CC and Dr. Ann tell me that the center is in a state of flux right now, as it’s being rebuilt to accommodate new students and fit the mutual goals of Dr. Ann and the college that has offered its support of the project, the Sprott-Shaw College of British Columbia, Canada. This is part of a larger effort of the college to bring a fully-functional online campus to Second Life, where students will be able to participate in college courses, watch lectures online, and exchange ideas with cohorts around the world.

In spite of its rapid growth, however, the Ann Myers Medical Center has humble beginnings as an idea by Dr. Ann as a way for her to honor her mother and her thirst for life. Ann Myers was, according to her daughter, a mathematical genius who was offered a scholarship in the late 1930’s, a feat uncommon for that time. Though she could not take advantage of the award due to an illness with her father, she did eventually achieve success in her career by developing intricate loan analysis tools for major financial institutions and developing the HEAL loan program for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, intended as assistance for those interested in pursuing a career in the medical field.

My conversation with the 2 colleagues continues smoothly and I mention at a certain point what a great synergy and rapport the two seem to have developed as leaders in the development of this community. Both chuckle (virtually) and indicate they’ve never met each other in real life. At first I smirked disbelievingly (really) until I began to consider the environment. Granted, it may take some time before CC and Dr. Ann will come to know each other in the real world, but given the considerable period of time they must spend with each other in order to construct this world from their collective imaginations, it is easy to see why it’s almost necessary to develop a synergy with a person whom you will consider a partner who will help bring a vision to reality (or is it, virtuality?). “We just ‘clicked,’” Dr. Ann says…well…types, “and I find we often have the same thought and progression of ideas.”

The goal of the simulation is to provide an environment for medical students where they can learn to better explore a patient’s medical history while also sufficiently reviewing their patients’ physical examination results, including, perhaps, telemetry generated from medical devices. “I have had students tell me that they have learned more interacting with physicians in specific fields within Second Life than in the classroom setting,” says Dr. Ann, citing that kind of response as the reason she believes the program is working. It was that kind of response that also inspired a manager of Sprott-Shaw college, Davis Stastny, to become involved in November of 2006. “They are more than supportive,” Dr. Ann indicates, “[the Ann Myers Medical Center] would not be here today and be progressing in this way if it were not for them.”

Though considerable progress has been made in the creation and development of the center, there is still much work to be done, the two tell me. “We are interested in fostering more professional activities and teaching,” Dr. Ann starts, “but also conferences and scientific meetings. We would like to see more people join who have the ability to teach and truly want to share their knowledge, not just take a back seat while others do it. We would like students to become more interested in getting involved - they are free to present, form meetings, whatever they can envision. We would like to see that happen for them so they may open the learning potential to themselves and others.”

Help is also welcome at the center, and though it seems there is a strong core group both Ann and CC want to encourage growth. “People can help in any way,” expressed CC, “visiting us, with donations, telling others that we are here, building, scripting, and of course, demanding. Feedback helps us know what people would like to have here.”

A unique use of the center that Dr. Ann would like to promote is as a consulting center in Second Life. “I would [...] like to encourage people who are non-mendical and need to talk to a physician or student with knowledge to come - we do some consults. Patients need someone to HEAR them and to know they are heard and to feel secure in the fact they are getting some solid advice.” Personally, I see this also as an opportunity to speak with some level of anonymity to someone with a medical background that might be able to help with an embarrassing condition, or something they might just want to keep private. Would you take the opportunity to speak with a doctor about a condition you might have, even if that doctor is virtual? Would you pay a nominal fee for that service?

What of the future? Dr. Ann is quick to describe her vision for future development at the center. “We will have a sort of ‘curriculum’ nailed down within the next year. We should have a Practical Nursing Program through Sprott-Shaw developed and working. We should be completed with teaching tools, such as scripted monitors to show a student cardiac issues, from which they should be able to make a correct diagnosis.” In addition, from where I’m sitting in the center, there are conference rooms, whiteboards, and offices which could easily hold a conference or perhaps give a professor the opportunity to hold office hours in a virtual world. I saw the radiology room when I first entered the center, which housed several devices familiar to those who have ever gotten an MRI, CAT scan or X-Ray. Each of these are also likely new ideas being fostered and developed within this encouraging world.

At the end of my hour, I got up from my chair that exists only on my screen and a server somewhere in California to bid my hosts adieu. Though my avatar looks no worse for the wear, I must get up myself in real life to stretch a bit. I say my goodbyes to Dr. Ann and CC, and as I quit the application I’m sure that I disappear instantly in Second Life. I sit for a moment in awe of the technology that just brought the three of us together, each thousands of miles away from the other, outside of the pixels that make up the walls of the Ann Myers Medical Center.

Real life goes on. What kind of potential do you see for an online virtual world? Aside from medical applications, what other kinds of businesses would benefit? How does this kind of environment foster better collaboration than, say, a piece of video conferencing software?

For now, you can read more about the development of the Ann Myers Medical Center at their blog, www.ammc.wordpress.com, or just visit the center itself in Second Life. Many thanks to Dr. Ann and CC for their time today, I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

UPDATE, November 14, 2007:

I have arranged an online meeting with the director of the Ann Myers Medical Center, Dr. Ann Buchanan, on December 10th, 2007 at 7pm EST. If you are interested in joining us for this adventure into the realm of virtual reality, check out the “New York Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Meetup” group for details as to when, where and how you can participate in this event. To get some background information on the Ann Myers Medical Center, see their blog by clicking here.

I look forward to “seeing” you online!