Our First Foray into Health Foo

josh-ken-healthfoo-DSC02925Josh Mandel (left) and Ken Mandl took the opportunity at this past weekend’s Health Foo (friends of O’Reilly) 2013 to exchange ideas about SMART, APIs, health data, and more. Like many of the unconference-style breakout sessions, theirs attracted a small group geared up for a more intimate and spontaneous discussion than the average healthcare/HIT conference. The talk also got a boost from the participation of thought leaders such as Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media and host of the original Foo Camps from which Health Foo evolved; and John Lumpkin, Director of the Health Care Group at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the event.

It may be held indoors at the NERD Center, but as the bare feet in this photo’s background suggest, Health Foo still manages to retain the campground flair of its predecessors—complete with drummingdancingmicrobiome sharing, and Smart Bell-ing. For more highlights, see Wen Dombrowski’s whole Storify recap.

Mandl and Mandel to Attend 2013 Health Foo Unconference

health-foo-2013

This weekend promises to be an exciting one for SMART trailblazers Ken Mandl and Josh Mandel, who have been invited to Health Foo 2013, December 6–8 at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. Health Foo (friends of O’Reilly) is an invitation-only “unconference focused on innovation in health and healthcare, sponsored by O’Reilly Media and the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation” (RWJF).

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