It all started when a team at Boston Children's Hospital had an idea for how technology could improve patient care. This is a story about vision, determination, and how an open source platform has the potential to transform medicine as we know it.
Chapter 1
The challenge
Radiologists spend hours looking through images every day, which means they have less time to interpret findings and treat patients. This was the reason for creating ChRIS.
Chapter 2
The cloud
Once the team at Boston's Children's Hospital got their idea off the ground, they realized they'd need greater computing power. Enter the Massachusetts Open Cloud.
Chapter 3
The community
ChRIS needs plug-ins so users can access this data with the push of a button. Watch how the open source community is building hundreds of plug-ins and learn how you can get involved.
Chapter 1
The challenge
How and why did the ChRIS project begin?
There are about two decades worth of amazing tools in the research community that almost never make it to a clinical workflow.
Chapter 2
The cloud
What technology made ChRIS possible?
I'd like to focus on how the MOC and its use of OpenShift on OpenStack is pushing a new model of cloud computing.
Chapter 3
The community
ChRIS needs contributors
If you are an open source coder, you should get involved with a project you care about, like the ChRIS project. Not only will you be working on a noble and life-changing cause, you'll also gain experience working with leaders in the open source and medical realm.
Bonus material
Designing ChRIS
Máirín "Mo" Duffy is a principal interaction designer at Red Hat. She's always been passionate about UX because of its potential to help people—but it was a sudden life event that inspired her to work on ChRIS.
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Project overview
Here's a quick look at the organizations and technologies featured in the story.
ChRIS
ChRIS (ChRIS Research Integration System) is an image processing platform that utilizes the software and compute infrastructure of the MOC.
Massachusetts Open Cloud
MOC (Mass Open Cloud) is a public cloud based on the model of an Open Cloud Exchange, and supports ChRIS.
ChRIS and the power of open source
Projects like ChRIS remind us why open source is so important: When code is freely available for all to see, passionate people can contribute their ideas and make a real impact.