The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation Announces Partnership with Smart Patients to Launch New Online Community for Lung Cancer Patients

SOURCE: Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Fndtn

New platform will allow patients to learn from each other, share reliable information farther and faster than ever before

SAN CARLOS, Calif., April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (LCF) announces its partnership with Smart Patients, who today launched a free online community for cancer patients, caregivers and others to talk about treatments, clinical trials, and more. The partnership has one purpose – to empower patients.

"Patients hold the key to unlocking the genetic code to curing lung cancer, so we're extremely excited to partner with this first-of-its-kind, easy way for patients and doctors to connect online," said Bonnie J. Addario, a stage 3B lung cancer survivor and founder of the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. "The partnership embodies one of our driving principles: empowered patients live longer."

The LCF truly believes that educated and empowered patients live longer and offers three key patient programs:

• The LCF's new Patient Handbook will help guide and empower those living with lung cancer.
  
• The Patient 360 Community Hospital Program is a patient-centric model created to ensure that every patient with this serious disease has access to the newest and most effective diagnostic and therapeutic techniques.
  
• The Living Room, an interactive, live-streamed support group for lung cancer patients and their families, brings the brightest minds in cancer research into homes around the world.

One of the founders of Smart Patients, Roni Zeiger, M.D., the former Chief Health Strategist at Google, will speak further about the online community at the LCF's Living Room support group in June. Today, Zeiger also announced the launch of Smart Patients at TEDMED conference in Washington D.C.

"The Lung Cancer Foundation has been an early partner and is helping to seed the community where science meets social," said Roni Zeiger, Founder Smart Patients. "We're excited to provide a platform where the patient's voice is central and we can learn from their insights to move science forward even faster."

About the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation
The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation is one of the largest philanthropies (patient-founded, patient-focused, and patient-driven) devoted exclusively to eradicating Lung Cancer through research, early detection, education, and treatment. The Foundation works with a diverse group of physicians, organizations, industry partners, individuals, survivors, and their families to identify solutions and make timely and meaningful change.  BJALCF was established on March 1, 2006 as a 501c(3) non-profit organization and has raised more than $10 million for lung cancer research. To learn more, please visit www.lungcancerfoundation.org.

About Smart Patients
Smart Patients is an online community for cancer patients and caregivers. The community includes a clinical trial search engine that presents trial data from ClinicalTrials.gov in a patient-friendly format. The community platform has been in private beta testing since January 2013 and is now open to all cancer patients and caregivers. To learn more visit us at www.smartpatients.com.

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