Genius High School Students Use Crowdsourcing to Find a Cure for Melanoma

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- In a groundbreaking effort, 3,500 of the country's top high school students will build the world's largest wiki on melanoma research — and work toward finding that needle in a haystack to cure melanoma.

The effort is led by www.SaveJordan.org, which will use crowdsourcing to drive user-generated content related to melanoma cancer research to a wiki site. "The idea is to bypass mainstream medicine and medical research and compile fresh ideas," said Jordan Guernsey, the 29-year-old father of two and Stage IV cancer survivor who is the force behind SaveJordan.org.

The participating students are all alumni of the February Congress of Future Medical Leaders (www.FutureDocs.com); they have GPAs of 3.5+ and a desire to become physicians or medical scientists.

"The young people working on SaveJordan.org are the best and brightest future physicians in the country," said Richard Rossi, executive director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists. "I was amazed by these students at the February Congress of Future Medical Leaders. Their spirit, intelligence, compassion and desire to make a difference in the world are boundless. If there is such thing as the wisdom of the crowd, you are going to see it in action."

In an interview, Guernsey, Rossi, and Academy Medical Director Dr. Connie Mariano talk about life with cancer and SaveJordan.org at http://vimeo.com/91797674.

The crowdsourcing SaveJordan.org effort will culminate in the selection of a handful of the most viable treatment options. Student contributions of content to the wiki will be voted on by peers and the community. The ideas with the most votes will be passed to a Board of Doctors, consisting of Jordan's current doctor and those who have been selected as other integral members of the team. Based on each proposal's viability, safety and integrity, the top three ideas will be chosen by the Board of Doctors for trial in Jordan's treatment.

All students who submit an idea to the treatment proposals pool will be recognized on the website www.FutureDocs.com. The students or teams whose research is selected as one of the top three treatment proposals by the Board of Doctors will also be recognized in a full-page advertisement in a major medical publication.

The National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists was founded on the belief that we must identify prospective medical talent at the earliest possible age and help these students acquire the necessary experience and skills to take them to the doorstep of this vital career. Based in Washington, D.C., the Academy was chartered as a nonpartisan, taxpaying institution to help address this crisis by working to identify, encourage and mentor students who wish to devote their lives to the service of humanity as physicians, medical scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. Learn more at www.FutureDocs.com.

The Congress of Future Medical Leaders, sponsored by the Academy, is an honors-only program for high school students who want to become physicians or go into medical research fields. The purpose of this event is to honor, inspire, motivate and direct the top students in our country who aspire to be physicians or medical scientists to stay true to their dream and, after the event, to provide a path, plan and resources to help them reach their goal. Students attending must have a GPA of 3.5 or better (either cumulative or current). The next Congress of Future Medical Leaders will be held in Washington, D.C., in November 2014.

SaveJordan.org is a Utah nonprofit corporation dedicated to finding a cure for melanoma, one of the deadliest and most aggressive forms of cancer. The force behind SaveJordan.org is Jordan Guernsey, a 29-year-old father of two and Stage IV melanoma cancer survivor. In a revolutionary way, Jordan has opened his private medical records for review by this community. The goal of SaveJordan.org is to make the largest wiki for melanoma on the Web using the power of crowdsourcing to gather as much information as possible, with the hope of discovering a cure. 

Contact: Lisa Rossi 
Office: 202-599-8442, x701
[email protected]

SOURCE National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists