Healthline Establishes Medical Advisory Board
World-class team of physicians named to advise on Healthline’s consumer-facing content, tools and resources 

SAN FRANCISCO – February 6, 2006 –  Healthline (www.healthline.com), the first Internet search engine dedicated to consumer healthcare, today announced it has formed a Medical Advisory Board. Chaired by Paul Auerbach, M.D., and staffed by a world-class team of physicians, the board will ensure Healthline’s commitment to excellence through advice on all aspects of the company’s medical content and search practices.

Dr. Auerbach, who currently serves as clinical professor of Surgery in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University, is an extensively published physician and renowned wilderness medicine expert who has held university teaching positions at Temple, Vanderbilt, and the University of California. He will oversee the Medical Advisory Board, whose founding members include James Dougherty, M.D., former deputy physician-in-chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Beverley Kane, M.D., chair of the  Internet Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association and former chief medical officer of Philips Medical Systems’ MedGRID Team; James Norman, M..D., a world-renowned endocrine surgeon and founder of YourDoctor.com, the company that preceded Healthline; and Robert Parry, M.D., a nationally recognized pediatric surgeon at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland and assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University.

The Healthline Medical Advisory Board will be involved in numerous oversight and evaluation activities for Healthline, including reviewing and evaluating consumer health content, tools and resources for licensing; collaborating on the maintenance and expansion of the Healthline taxonomy and Medically Guided SearchSM platform; contributing articles and postings to the Healthline website; and identifying and speaking at conferences and industry events on healthcare issues affecting consumers. The board will also interface with Healthline’s strategic partners that are offering the Healthline search experience.

“The U.S. healthcare system is in the midst of a massive transformation, and Healthline is offering what I believe is the most comprehensive, accessible means for consumers to become more knowledgeable and self-reliant in the face of this inevitable evolution,” said Dr. Auerbach.  “As the chair and a founding member of Healthline’s Medical Advisory Board, I look forward to contributing to making Healthline an even more effective healthcare tool for both consumers and doctors.”
 
“We’re very pleased to announce the formation of this board of doctors, which will act as a liaison between our site users, Healthline, and the medical community,” said Dean Stephens, president and chief operating officer of Healthline. “All parties will benefit from the collective knowledge and invaluable direction this group of highly experienced physicians offers.”

Healthline’s unique Medically Guided SearchSM capabilities, combined with its health channels, make it easier for users to find relevant healthcare information and interact with the results in a manner that offers a direct path from search to discovery. A centerpiece of Healthline’s search experience is the company’s proprietary HealthMaps®. Developed in conjunction with more than 1,100 leading physicians and medical informatics professionals, HealthMaps enable users to visually explore all of the information related to a disease, drug or condition without the need to repeatedly type new queries into the search box.

About Healthline

Healthline Networks, Inc. provides the easiest way for consumers to find, understand and manage healthcare information, empowering them to make more informed decisions that lead to better health. Created in collaboration with 1,100 physicians and medical specialists, Healthline’s unique Medically Guided SearchSM experience is powered by a consumer health taxonomy that encompasses nearly one million medical terms and synonyms – the largest of its kind, and one which translates everyday language and precisely matches it to complex medical information. Healthline is defining the HealthWeb, a filtered directory currently consisting of more than 66,000 health-oriented websites and 90 million pages of medical content. Combined with the company’s visual HealthMaps® and personalization tools, Healthline connects users with the information, people and resources not readily available through general search engines or today’s online health destinations. Based in San Francisco, Healthline is backed by VantagePoint Venture Partners, Reed Elsevier Ventures, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and JHK Investments, LLC.

Company information:
Bill McGee
Senior Vice President, Marketing Services
415-281-3113
bill@healthline.com

Press Contact:
Colby Zintl
Healthline Networks
415-281-3110

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