 |
 |
I joined the list a few days ago but wasn=92t going to jump in until after = I=20 returned from vacation. However, there were several interesting topics I ju= st=20 had to reply to, so I shall go ahead and formally introduce myself. I retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1987 and returned to college to get my= =20 graduate degrees in Information Systems. I originally had a B.A. in Governm= ent=20 and Politics specializing in International Relations (which is why I was an= =20 intelligence analyst in the Air Force}, but found out that I had a real=20 affinity for computers and programming. I therefor started taking computer= =20 related courses and before long had a B.S. in Information Systems. But a funny thing happened to me on my way to a Ph.D.--I was diagnosed with= =20 Parkinson=92s Disease in 1988. Of course, in retrospect, the earliest sympt= oms=20 appeared about 1982 but had been misdiagnosed as arthritis. This is not an= =20 uncommon experience, especially for Young Onset Parkies. (N.B. The first=20 symptom was a decrease in my bowling average due to a decrease in my abilit= y=20 to control the ball.) The main effect on my life has been to put me a couple of years behind=20 schedule in my graduate work. I didn=92t get my M.S. until 1992 and I am ju= st=20 now getting started on my doctoral research. Having PD also changed my area= of=20 specialization from Management Information Systems to Medical Informatics. = My=20 research interest is in developing a computer model of each patient that ca= n=20 then be compared to a medical database thereby not only indicating those=20 medical conditions for which the patient is at risk, but also indicating th= e=20 most probable successful treatment. I am using a Multidimensional Database= =20 Architecture to develop the model. My dissertation title is "=93The Effect of Multidimensional Database=20 Modeling on Predicting Complications During Pregnancy"=94. Although my=20 approach could be applied to any medical condition, I chose pregnancy=20 because: 1) there is a very large database compared with other conditions, 2) the factors are fairly well controlled, and 3) the condition has a relatively short life cycle (only 9 months). Naturally, I hope to eventually apply this methodology to Parkinson=92s Dis= ease. Besides being a Doctoral Candidate, I am also on the faculty at the Univers= ity=20 of Maryland, Baltimore County. I am active in an organization called Volunteers for Medical Engineering wh= ose=20 mission is to apply technology to help the handicapped. Their crowning=20 achievement is the construction of Future Home, a completely computerized= =20 house for a quadriplegic. All the technology used is off-the-self (mostly f= rom=20 Radio Shack). My role in VME is in assembling, installing, and providing=20 training on home computer systems for handicapped persons. I have an articl= e=20 about Future Home posted on my Home Page at the university. This list seems to be a very active one, and I am looking forward to=20 participating in it. Bruce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bruce G. Warr "Experience is what enables us to recognize Healthcare Informatics Lab a mistake the next time we make it." Information Systems Dept. University of Maryland Baltimore County http://umbc.edu/~warr/ (V) (410)455-3206 (F) (410)455-1073 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =20