The University of California (UC), Berkeley School of Public Health has teamed with Internet entrepreneurs, doctors, researchers and other health professionals to create Medpedia, an online medical encyclopedia that will become the web’s largest body of medicine and health information. The web site can be previewed currently at www.medpedia.com, and will officially launch at the end of this year.

Modeled after Wikipedia, the online resource will be written and edited only by trained health professionals and organizations.

The school has signed on to help build Medpedia’s comprehensive medical clearinghouse, along with Harvard Medical School, Stanford University School of Medicine, and the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. John E. Swartzberg, professor and chair of the editorial board of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, provided advice and guidance during the planning stages of the project.

Dean Stephen Shortell of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, said, "Our work with Medpedia will expand our commitment to provide the most current evidence-based health information to the widest possible audiences."

The site will eventually have web pages for more than 30,000 diseases and conditions, more than 10,000 prescription drugs, thousands of medical procedures, and millions of medical facilities. These pages will provide insight into the latest health and medical discoveries along with photographs, video, sound, and images.

"In recent years, we have witnessed the benefit that a website like Wikipedia can have on all knowledge," said Mr. James Currier, Medpedia founder and chairman. "With ongoing experimentation and guidance from the medical community, Medpedia could provide a similar benefit to the world in the specialized area of health and medicine."