Press Release Details

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. and WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

The Amgen Foundation and Ashoka's Changemakers today announced ten finalists in the Patients | Choices | Empowerment competition and launched public online voting in search of the best innovative solutions that empower patients, elevate patients' voices, and improve health outcomes.

The ten finalists were selected by a panel of five distinguished judges from 277 entries received from 40 countries.Online voting continues through Dec. 1, 2010 to determine the winning innovations. The three finalists that receive the highest number of votes from the Changemakers.com community will each receive a $10,000 cash prize in unrestricted funding to support their projects.

The expert panel of judges for this competition includes:

• Albert Jovell, M.D., medical director, Joseph Laporte Foundation in Spain
• Jesse Dylan, creative director of Lybba
• Patricia Rutherford, vice president, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
• Judith Schaefer, MPH, research associate, MacColl Institute
• Lillie Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, administrative director, Johns Hopkins Breast Center

"The Amgen Foundation is very encouraged by the response to the competition and examples of the knowledge and wisdom of current and past patients, leaders in health care, and advocates found in the entries," said Jean Lim, president of the Amgen Foundation. "The solutions surfacing through the Patients | Choices | Empowerment competition allow patients to make informed decisions that improve their own quality of care and we look forward to the results of online voting."

The ten finalists proposed a broad range for innovations that empower the patient and their support system to provide avenues for informed decisions, including:

1. CureTogether - Crowdsourced Patient Experience
2. CommonGround - Shared Decision Making
3. FreedomTB
4. Educating Tuberculosis patients for excellent results
5. Active Minds: Empowering Students and Changing the Conversation about Mental Health on College Campuses
6. Improving Access to Diabetes Care in Rural Honduras
7. Volunteers In Psychotherapy
8. Accessing higher level health care; the rural person's dilemma
9. SMS Now! A Life Depends on It.
10. Resolve: Healing the Legacy of Intersex/DSD Treatment

Visitors to Changemakers.com can vote for the three best solutions from a slate of finalist entries that emerged as the most promising collaborative solutions for empowering patients at every stage of health care and treatment.

"Ashoka's mission in creating an 'everyone a changemaker' world has been uniquely applied through the global competition platform of Changemakers.com. The Patients | Choices | Empowerment competition unearthed solutions within the patient empowerment sphere across the globe and demonstrated that it is a critical issue being addressed in innovative ways in all corners of the world," said Diana Wells, president of Ashoka. "The judges had their work cut out for them, now the communities from which these innovations spring will have the opportunity to voice their opinion to determine the top 3 out of 277."

Following the Changemaker competition, selected entries may be invited to submit proposals to the Amgen Foundation for future consideration. The Amgen Foundation will consider awarding up to $1 million in grants to support promising innovations in patient empowerment submitted by qualifying nonprofit organizations.

About Ashoka's Changemakers

Ashoka's Changemakers is a community of action that connects social entrepreneurs around the globe to share ideas, inspire, and mentor each other. Through its online collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com is one of the world's most robust spaces for launching, discussing, and funding ideas to solve the world's most pressing social problems. Changemakers builds on Ashoka's three decade history and belief that we all have the ability to be a Changemaker. www.Changemakers.com

About The Amgen Foundation

The Amgen Foundation (http://www.amgen.com/citizenship/overview.html) seeks to advance science education; improve patient access to quality care; and strengthen the communities where Amgen staff members live and work. Since 1991, the Foundation has made more than $140 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways, and those that provide disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally.

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SOURCE Amgen