Just as we need health professionals to help us through illness, we are equally in need of the support and advice of family, friends - and most importantly - people who have really been there. CarePlace was founded to help people and their caregivers connect with one another, to share their experiences, concerns, passions, triumphs, and difficulties, and to support one another through trying times.

We believe that CarePlace and its tools can help people live better lives. We are the the parents, children, husbands, wives, siblings, and friends of people living with the conditions you find on CarePlace. Some of us are doctors, but all of us have been patients.

Read more about our:

• Team
• Advisors

Ben Williams, Founder & CEO of Firefly Health, has healthcare startup experience in both the for- and non-profit sector. Ben was former Vice Chairman and Executive Director of the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children, a startup-philanthropic NGO serving thousands of patients in six countries. He also represents Careline Services, a startup healthcare-staffing firm, as the founding member of their Advisory Board. Ben was previously an Administrative Resident and Six Sigma Greenbelt at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and has also worked for Merck, Children's Hospital Boston, and Massachusetts Health Quality Partners. While studying biochemistry and health policy at Harvard College, Ben was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Health Policy Review, President of the Harvard Health Policy Society, and teaching assistant for The Quality of Health Care in America, an undergraduate course taught by world-renowned Professors Donald Berwick, Howard Hiatt, and Warner Slack. Before attending Harvard, Ben took a year off to play professional soccer in Taiwan.

Eduardo Saverin, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, was previously the business Co-Founder of Facebook, an online social network company targeting college and high school students. Since its launch in February 2004, the site has grown into the 7th most trafficked website on the Internet, surpassing Google's monthly page views. To date, Facebook has raised over $38 million from venture and angel investors.

Andrew Palmer, Founding Director, specializes in founding and accelerating the growth of early-stage companies. In early 2005, Palmer partnered with Dr. Stonebraker to found Vertica®. Prior to co-founding Vertica, Palmer served as the senior vice president of operations at Infinity Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ : INFI) , where he was a member of the initial startup team. At Infinity, he was responsible for information technology, informatics, operations, finance, human resources, and organizational development as the company raised over $140 million in financing, grew to more than 100 employees, and put its first compound into the clinic for the treatment of cancer. Prior to joining Infinity, as a member of the startup team and vice president of sales and marketing at Bowstreet, Palmer led the creation and execution of all early sales, marketing, and professional services initiatives as the company grew from 3 employees to more than 300 employees. Before joining Bowstreet, Palmer was the first vice president of marketing at pcOrder.com (NASDAQ: PCOR), where he was directly responsible for dramatic revenue growth and rapid customer acquisition in preparation for a successful initial public offering as the company grew from 5 employees to more than 250 employees. Prior to joining pcOrder, Palmer served as marketing director for pcOrder's parent company, Trilogy Software, Inc. Palmer earned an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and bachelor's degrees in English, history, and computer science from Bowdoin College.

Andrew J. Solimine's, Vice President of Product Engineering, knowledge and experience in both business and technology have helped him implement successful IT solutions for a vast array of clientele. He recently worked as an Analyst at Isovera Consulting, where he was the technical lead on a number of successful web development projects. He was the technical lead on HealthNewsReview.org, a project of the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, which aims to improve health journalism. The website has since received numerous awards, including the Knight-Batten Award for excellence in journalism, an e-Healthcare Leadership Award, and the Mirror Award of excellence in media industry reporting. He also was technical lead on a project that automated the loan management process and file management system for a small microfinance company funded by Starbucks. He is well versed in PHP, MySQL, XML, AJAX, ColdFusion and XHTML/CSS, and has spent time developing progressive User Interfaces and studying Human Computer Interaction at the Center for Design Informatics at the Harvard Design School. He holds a degree from Harvard University in Economics, where he was also a member of the Varsity Baseball team.

Site Nickname: Paul v2 Paul H. Ryu, Superstar Engineer, has been writing code since the first grade, with emphasis on C/C++, Perl, PHP, LaTeX, XHTML/JavaScript, and VB/VBScript. In addition to a social networking website he built just for fun, he has created websites for the City of Monterey, AMP Media, and the Vianna da Motta Music Foundation, and has won many awards in math, science, and computer programming. Paul worked as Technical Assistant at the Research Science Institute, the premier math, science, and engineering summer institute for high school students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his free time, he has investigated using DNA for data storage and optimal strategies for solving the Rubik's Cube. Paul is a student at Harvard University.

Caio Mario Paes de Andrade, is a founding partner of Webforce Networks, a group that has been responsible for creating, developing and selling 2 of the most well known Internet cases in Brazil. In 1999 it sold STI, the 4th largest ISP to PSINet and in 2001 sold hpG, the largest hosting site, which turned out to be the 2nd most visited web page in the country to iG, the number one portal in Brazil. Mr. Caio Mario Paes de Andrade holds an MBA from Duke University.

Jonathan Ardrey, a CarePlace Co-Founder and former Chief Community Officer, works as an interactive and creative consultant at McGarryBowen, the largest independent advertising agency in New York, on various multi-national campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Jon is also a former production assistant at Ridley Scott & Associates, the world's leading commercial production firm. In high school, he was awarded a Genzyme Scholarship for outstanding contributions to the biosciences. Jon has a degree in History from Harvard College where he produced the largest student production in the School's history.

Rita Charon MD, PhD, is Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. A general internist with a primary care practice in Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Charon took a Ph.D. in English when she realized how central storytelling and listening to stories is to the work of doctors and patients. She directs the Humanities and Medicine curriculum for P&S and teaches literature, narrative ethics, and medical interviewing. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Literature and Medicine and Principal Investigator on research projects that study patient-physician communication and the outcomes of narrative training for medical students and health professionals.

David Darst, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, is a serial healthcare entrepreneur. David is a Co-Founder and former Executive Vice President of Potentia Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for macular degeneration. David also co-founded with Dr. David Edwards and others the non-profit Medicine in Need (MEND). MEND, which utilizes an aerosol delivery approach to simplify tuberculosis treatment, has raised approximately $10 million in funding to date. David has also worked in strategic planning at Pfizer and has worked summers with McKinsey & Company and OrbiMed Advisors. David graduated from Harvard College with honors and is currently a second year MBA student at Harvard Business School.

Eric M. David, MD, JD, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, served as Assistant Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and is board certified in Internal Medicine. An assistant professor at the Rogosin Institute at the Rockefeller University, he helped lead a team which has taken two novel therapies into clinical trials: a sepsis treatment which was subsequently sold to GlaxoSmithKline, and a cancer therapy which recently entered Phase I trials. He has been a freelance consultant for Deutsche Bank and the United States Department of Health and Human Services. He holds a BA in physics and fine arts from Amherst College, as well as a JD and an MD from Columbia University.

David H. Hughes has served individuals and family members suffering from rare diseases and disorders for nearly a decade. In 1998, he founded the TransGlobal Health Community Center, an online health organization dedicated to providing support networks for people experiencing the challenges of living with rare disorders. David’s network has since grown to include 600 rare disease groups serving over 50,000 members. David served as a Police Officer with Baylor Health Care Systems for over fifteen years and holds a degree in Business Administration from University of North Texas. In 2001, David received Mesquite News’ “Unsung Hero Award,” for individuals who have made significant contributions to their communities. David currently works for St. Paul Traveler’s Insurance as an Underwriting Account Manager.

David K. Jin, MD, PhD, is a clinician-scientist with expertise in regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, angiogenesis, and cancer diagnostics/therapeutics. While actively involved in translational research and clinical trials, he is also a strong advocate of improving quality of life in his patients. Currently, Dr. Jin holds a joint appointment at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University as the Director of Translational Research at the Lehman Brothers Lung Cancer Center of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery as well as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Division of Hematology-Medical Oncology. He is the Founder and President of the Chemokine Foundation and the Counselor for the Society for the Study of Blood. He also currently serves as consultants in areas of drug development, clinical trials, and regulatory affairs for several pharmaceutical companies and investment firms. Dr. Jin completed his Medical Scientist Training Program at Downstate College of Medicine and earned a combined M.D.-Ph.D. in 2000.

Joaquim Ribeiro, is currently a founder and principal of NeoPar, a venture capital vehicle focused on providing growth capital and support to emerging Brazilian companies particularly in the technology, media and telecom sectors. Prior to founding NeoPar, Joaquim conducted as the CEO the turnaround and successful sale of Shoptime S/A, the leading Brazilian home shopping and e-commerce network. Joaquim also played various corporate finance and general management roles at Time Warner in New York, including General Manager of People en Español, the largest U.S. Hispanic magazine. Joaquim is a graduate of Harvard College and lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Eileen Shapiro, is President of The Hillcrest Group, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Trained as a traditional consultant, she now does most of her work as a “venture consultant,” working with pre-IPO companies on a wide range of strategic, organizational, and financial issues. She continues to work with some established companies, focusing on those that want to move fast, face key issues directly, and implement solutions that their organizations can and will own. Eileen’s work as a consultant has taken her around the world and involved her with companies in a wide range of areas including information-based businesses, financial services, heavy industry, biomedical/health care products, and packaged goods. In the for-profit world, she has consulted to Fortune 50s, mid-size companies and startups. In the non-profit world, she has consulted to health care, arts and educational organizations. Eileen is also the author of Fad Surfing in the Boardroom, hailed by Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times for its “cogent discussions of modern management mantras and manias,” its power to “demythologize the whole range of management strategies that purport to solve every executive’s quandary,” and its “common sense and shrewd eye for what actually happens in companies.” John Kay, writing in the New Statesman Books of the Year, described it as “one of the few management books that is actually fun to read.” Her newest book is The Seven Deadly Sins of Business: Freeing the Corporate Mind from Doom-loop Thinking (Capstone, 1999). Earlier in her career, Eileen was a consultant with McKinsey & Company, Inc. She received her AB from Brown University and her MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. She serves on the Board of Directors of Tufts Health Plan and several internet-based start-ups, as well as on the boards of several non-profit organizations and educational institutions.

Warner V. Slack, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Co-President of the Center for Clinical Computing, and Co-Director of the Division of Clinical Computing, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Slack is former Editor-in-Chief of MD Computing and author of the best-selling book, Cybermedicine: How Computing Empowers Doctors and Patients for Better Care. Warner earned his BA from Princeton University and his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.