University of Virginia Health System

CARDIOVILLAGE RECOGNIZED WITH NATIONAL AWARD

CardioVillage, an innovative medical education website created by the University of Virginia Health System, has been awarded an honorable mention for best online continuing medical education (CME) course in a national contest sponsored by the eHealth Institute, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving the quality and access of internet health information. The U.Va. website, http://www.cardiovillage.com, won the honor over 46 entries after being highly rated by a panel of expert judges on content quality, usability, convenience and use of multimedia and interactivity.

Recognition of CardioVillage as one of the nation's premier medical education internet resources is a testament to U.Va.'s unwavering commitment to remain on the cutting edge of medical education for the benefit of the professional community, said Dr. Lawrence Gimple, a U.Va. cardiologist and an initial founder of cardiovillage.com. CardioVillage is a powerful, unique tool that clearly demonstrates the value and efficiency of offering medical education content in formats that are interactive, flexible and compelling.

Launched in 1999, CardioVillage uses the latest in medical imagery in case presentations, tutorials and courses, including angiograms, ECGs, echocardiograms, nuclear and MRI scans, hemodynamic pressure tracings and heart sounds. All content is developed by the cardiology faculty at the U.Va. Medical School. CardioVillage offers over 77 hours of CME credit to more than 2,500 registered users nationwide and in 98 countries.

This is not the first time CardioVillage has been recognized for its CME work. Last year, the site won a Silver Award for best internet site from eHealth Strategy and Trends, a leading internet publication and online resource. The winner of the eHealth Institute's best online CME course was Boston University School of Medicine. Tied with U.Va. for second place was the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

November 26, 2002