I am currently working with the University of Wisconsin Medical School in the area of translational research. Specifically, the program I am working for deals with Type 2 translational research, or the translation of results from clinical studies into everyday clinical practice and health decision making. In other words, we are trying to measure the effectiveness of, and hopefully improve, the process of translating research into practice. This means that researchers at the university (and elsewhere) need to make connections, and form partnerships with groups imbedded in the community in order to foster improved communication in both directions. The community groups need the evidence from research studies, and the researchers need to know how effective programs based on their findings are in the real world.

I am trying to find out if there are any Web 2.0 social networking type tools that would allow researchers and community health groups to connect amongst themselves and with each other in order to make this process easier, and to eliminate much of the bureaucracy that currently exists. Optimally, we are looking for a service that would allow groups or individuals to post information about either research they are doing or health improvement programs they have set up in a way that is easily searchable by others who may have complimentary interests. For example, researchers interested in childhood obesity could network with groups working on nutrition in schools, or exercise programs for children in a way that information could be easily shared in both directions.

Personally, I feel that the technology is out there, but the main hurdle would be finding or creating a service that is user-friendly enough to break the threshold where there are enough people using the service to make it useful. I would be interested to hear others' opinions about the feasibility of using Web 2.0 tools for medical research. Any reccomendations for services that may already exist, or even just some starting points would be greatly appreciated as well.