National Psoriasis Foundation Partners with Inspire.com to Improve Online Message Board

TalkPsoriasis will better serve its community with more features and connections

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, TalkPsoriasis, the largest online community for people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, received a new look and improved features with the launch of the site on Inspire.com—a platform that connects patients, families, friends, caregivers and health professionals for health and wellness support through safe and secure online support groups.

TalkPsoriasis connects nearly 1 million individuals annually and provides information and support about psoriasis—a chronic, noncontagious disease of the immune system that appears on the skin, affecting as many as 7.5 million Americans—and psoriatic arthritis, a related joint condition that affects up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis.

"The decision to update the TalkPsoriasis platform was rooted in our vision to provide a truly individualized online psoriasis community for our constituents," said Nicora Gardner, associate director of outreach for the National Psoriasis Foundation. "The site makeover will provide better and more personal support to the thousands of people who use the forum each day."  

Key features of the newly enhanced TalkPsoriasis include:

• Better organization, posting and search functions, so users can easily find and comment on the topics they are following;
• Improved privacy controls to allow participants the ability to show only the comments they want to their friends, the TalkPsoriasis community or the public;
• A decade's worth of informational posts about psoriatic disease from the original TalkPsoriasis platform;  
• Up-to-the-minute information on psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis clinical trial recruitment.

"We are proud to partner with National Psoriasis Foundation to assist its goals to build the strongest, most supportive online psoriasis community," said Inspire CEO Brian Loew. "This is the result of strong collaboration, and we look forward to more great things to come from this alliance."

To join TalkPsoriasis and connect with thousands of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients, visit www.TalkPsoriasis.org and create an account.

About the National Psoriasis Foundation

The National Psoriasis Foundation is the world's largest nonprofit organization serving people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Our mission is to find a cure for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and to eliminate their devastating effects through research, advocacy and education. For more information, call the Psoriasis Foundation, headquartered in Portland, Ore., at 800.723.9166, or visit www.psoriasis.org.

About Inspire

Princeton, N.J.-based Inspire creates safe, moderated online communities, organized by medical condition, for patients to share information and to support one another. Inspire builds and manages these communities in partnership with more than 70 national patient advocacy and support organizations. For more information, go to www.Inspire.com.  

SOURCE National Psoriasis Foundation