Ovid to Supply Medical Schools in England Access to the
Transplant Library Database

Agreement with the Department of Health gives medical students, faculty, and clinicians seamless access to important evidence-based organ transplantation research via the OvidSP platform.

New York, NY (March 16, 2009) – Ovid, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, and a global leader in the development and delivery of customizable electronic research information for the medical, healthcare and academic markets, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the Department of Health for all medical schools throughout England that have an associated transplant unit to have electronic access to the Transplant Library. This resource is produced by The Centre for Evidence in Transplantation and is one of the leading electronic evidence-based resources for organ transplantation. Students and faculty can access the database on OvidSP, Ovid’s market-leading OvidSP platform, beginning April 1st.

“We are delighted that the Department of Health has chosen OvidSP as its platform of choice for students and instructors who wish to access this critical and highly acclaimed organ transplantation resource. OvidSP’s sophisticated functionality and easy-to-use, flexible search tools make it the ideal tool for fast, efficient medical research,” said Andrew L. Popper, Ovid’s Vice President for Global Products. “Clinicians, nurses, and other medical professionals in England as well as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are very familiar with OvidSP because of our long-standing agreements with the NHS to provide e-medical resources to hospitals and health centers. This new agreement increases our visibility among the medical education community, as students are embarking on their medical careers.”

Peter J. Morris, former President of the Royal College of Surgeons and The Transplantation Society, is the founder of the Centre for Evidence in Transplantation, which evaluates evidence in solid organ transplantation. He developed the Transplant Library with the support of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, the publisher of the journal Transplantation, to create a repository of easily accessible randomized control trial (RCT) data. RCTs are widely acknowledged as critical sources for evidence-based medical practice.

First released in early 2008, the Transplant Library now includes approximately 6,500 references to all reports (full articles and conference proceedings) of RCTs in organ transplantation published since 1970. The database is updated every two weeks and, since the beginning of 2004, all RCTs are assessed for methodological quality. The Transplant Library also includes limits that allow users to search for trials of interventions in a specific organ transplant. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are scheduled to be added during 2009.

“This new online library, made possible by Professor Sir Peter Morris and his team at The Centre for Evidence in Transplantation, will help students in their studies as well as transplant clinicians decide on the best treatment for patients,” said Chris Rudge, National Clinical Director for Transplantation. "Identifying RCTs doesn’t have to take hours. The Transplant Library is a valuable, simply structured resource; and the OvidSP system enhances this usability with a simple and clear interface, time-saving search tools, and advanced search technology. Medical school libraries associated with transplant units will find this an invaluable combination to support their important work.”

About Ovid
Ovid is a global information solutions provider offering clinicians, professionals, students, and researchers in the medical, scientific, and academic fields customizable solutions of content, tools, and services that make research smarter, faster, and more effective. Ovid is used by the world’s leading colleges and universities; medical schools; academic research libraries and library consortia; hospitals and healthcare systems; pharmaceutical, engineering and biotechnology companies; and HMOs and clinical practices. Ovid is a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. 

About Wolters Kluwer Health
Wolters Kluwer Health (Conshohocken, PA) is a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. Major brands include traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools and textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Facts & Comparisons® ; electronic information providers, such as Ovid , UpToDate® , Medi-Span® and ProVation® ; and pharmaceutical information providers such as Adis International and Source®.

Wolters Kluwer Health is a division of Wolters Kluwer , a leading global information services and publishing company with annual revenues (2008) of €3.4 billion, maintains operations in over 33 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific and employs approximately 19,500 people worldwide. Visit www.wolterskluwer.com for information about our market positions, customers, brands, and organization.