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Although most people have heard of the World Wide Web, its use at
the medical center and among physicians isn't yet universal. The Web Project of the medical center's
MedNET is to make the World Wide Web ubiquitous here by putting indispensable information resources into
users' hands. This month FACT FILE talks with Ted Shortliffe, professor of medicine and associate dean for
information resources and technology; John Reuling, director of MedNET (the organization's umbrella)' Web
Project manager Michael Fuchs; and Web Project editor Bill Merz. 1. The medical center's MedNET Web Project manages the Stanford server and home page (http://www-med.stanford.edu) and some of the estimated 20,000 pages on it, although most pages are managed by individual groups at the medical center. 2. Some particularly relevant medical center sites for physicians include the Stanford Physician Referral Guide (http://www-med.stanford.edu/referral guide/); The Health Library (http://www-med.stanford.edu/healthlib/); WebMedline (http://www-med.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/med-lookup); and Medical Staff Update (http://www-med.stanford.edu/shs/update/). The Update, and Physician Referral Guide sites were created by the Web Project, while all the other sites are managed by MedNET. 3. The Web Project serves all constituencies at the medical center. The project received $600,000 in start-up money last September from SHS (which now includes Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford) and the School of Medicine. 4. The goal of the Web Project is to help medical center and affiliated groups publish on the World Wide Web, to help medical center users retrieve information from outside sources, and to facilitate transfer of Web-based documents throughout the medical center. 5. Web Project services include maintaining the computers to host Web sites; designing, implementing and maintaining compelling Web sites; providing advice about tools and techniques for transforming existing printed materials into appealing Web documents, as well as offering a suite of production tools for preparing Web documents, including computers equipped with appropriate software, and a lending library of appropriate written, electronic and video materials. 6. The project's technical infrastructure is one of the most advanced (and fastest) in the world. For example, the primary server is a dual-processor Sun Ultra 2 with a fast ethernet connection to Stanford's network. It runs Solaris and the Apache Web server. The Internet connection is 100BaseT, which offers more than 3,000 times the speed and capacity of a high-quality telephone line modem. The key machines and the network hubs are supported by an independent power supply that keeps working when the power fails. 7. The Web Project is one of two units under MedNET, directed by Reuling. The other component is Networking Services, which provides technical links throughout the medical center. Three engineers, including manager Glenn Peacock, provide network installation and support. 8. MedNET is part of the School of Medicine's Consortium for Applied Medical Informatics (CAMIS) under Shortliffe, associate dean for information resources and technology. 9. CAMIS is offering a one-day CME course, "Using the Internet for Patient Care," 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 26 in Fairchild Auditorium. Five CME credits are available for physicians. The course does not presuppose computer or Web knowledge. For information, go to http://www-med.stanford.edu/center/cmecourse.html/ on the Web or contact Barbara Morgan at (415) 725-3385, or (bmorgan@smi.stanford.edu). 10. Shortliffe, who completed his undergraduate education at Harvard College, received a PhD in medical information sciences from Stanford University in 1975. A year later he received his MD from Stanford. After completing a residency in medicine at Stanford, Shortliffe joined the faculty in the Division of General Internal Medicine in 1979. He became a full professor in 1990. In 1995, he was named associate dean for information resources and technology. He is a nationally recognized authority in medical informatics. Shortliffe continues to direct the school's medical information sciences training program. Reuling graduated from Stanford with a BS in mathmatical and computational sciences in 1985-- before a computer science major existed. He worked for the university part time before graduation, and then for two years worked full time in administrative computing with the electrical engineering department. He began working for the Information Systems Group at the medical center in 1987 and was promoted to assistant director about two years later. Five years ago, he established a medical center network group, which was expanded to include the Web Project last September. Merz graduated from Stanford as a history major in 1980 and worked
for several national publications, including InfoWorld and Saturday Review, before returning to Stanford in
1987, to run continuing education courses as a program manager for the university's Alumni Association.
He was editor-in-chief of the Stanford Centennial Alumni Directory and production editor for the Stanford
Health and Exercise Video, a co-production of the alumni association and the Stanford Center for Research
in Disease Prevention. Fuchs joined MedNET as Web Project manager in February 1997 from a position as "Webmaster" for the network security division of Security First Technologies, Atlanta, which launched a pioneering Internet bank. An authority on Internet security, Fuchs attended the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration after graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in philosophy and economics. 11. The Web Project group can be contacted at (415) 498-4012 or by e-mail at webmaster@med.stanford.edu. Go to 
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