Online communities are nothing new to healthcare. What seems to be the trend is increasing vertical focus. Oncocentric (also called MedTrust Online) was launched in January 2009 as an online community for oncologists. Their aim is to help find, manage and share information by connecting oncologists with each other. They have other features like twitter updates, ‘OncoAssist’ panel of experts, search engine, etc.
The site seemed to be more like an offshoot of a professional organization, and not a startup, so I delved further. Seems like MedTrust Online was formed to leverage genetic-based medical discoveries by a non-profit organization called TGen (Translational Genomics Research Institute). TGen and MedTrust signed licensing and service agreements to bring to market potential drug therapies based on genomics.
Not much else to note about the site since I dont have insider access. Their site tour talks about standard features like sharing cases, ask experts, general forums, news etc. It’d be interesting to find out how many of the 30,000 or so oncology professionals are currently members of the site.