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Profile: Andrew Newman (scuba diver/ pulmonologist)

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Growing up, Andrew Newman loved being in the water. The family joke was that he was not actually born into the family but was found one day by his parents in the waters off the island of Manhattan, wearing tiny fins and a snorkel. Little did his parents know that the avid swimmer would one day become a pulmonologist treating injured scuba divers and helping Olympic swimmers boost their performance.

"If you're interested in undersea work and exercise physiology, pulmonary medicine is a good match," says Newman, a community-based physician on Welch Road and chair of Stanford Hospital's health information management systems committee.

Newman majored in marine biology at the City University of New York and became a certified scuba diver. But the research questions that interested him had more to do with human physiology than oceanography. So Newman headed to medical school, earning his MD from Yale University. Fulfilling the research requirement for the degree, he undertook a comparative study of the physiology of diving. He compared the diving reflexes of whales and seals - such as reduced heart rate and blood pressure - with that of human divers.

Newman's postdoctoral work included clinical training at Stanford as well as research on the physiology of diving in whales, seals and sharks at the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in La Jolla. "By the end of my training, it was clear to me that I was enjoying a mixed career, having one foot in marine sciences and the other in patient care."

Today, about two-thirds of the patients Newman sees have pulmonary diseases such as asthma, emphysema and lung cancer. The other third fall into the undersea medicine category. Some consult him about problems they have while diving. Others are directed to him through the Dive Alert Network, an organization that refers victims of diving accidents to experts worldwide. Injured divers from Hawaii and the South Pacific are often air-lifted to Stanford and placed under his care.

Newman's expertise has also made him a secret weapon among athletes, including Olympic swimmers and professional football players. He won't name names, but he says two of his patients were among the medal-winning swimmers in the last Olympics. Some of these athletes require treatment of asthma or exercise-induced airway spasms, while others seek to improve their aerobic performance. That's where Newman's high-tech equipment comes in. "We have the same exercise testing equipment in my office that they have in the Olympic training center in Colorado," he says.

Newman's research background also helps explain his computer savvy. As a marine researcher in the 1970s, he used computers to analyze scientific data. Later on, when starting his own clinical practice, he found computerization in health care to be far behind the rest of industry and science. As chair of Stanford Hospital's health information management systems committee, he is leading efforts to make medical records completely electronic. "If you get computerization right," he says, "it can really improve health care and save patients' lives."

The lack of computerization in medicine results in costly inefficiencies that range from wasteful to dangerous, he explains. "It's costly in terms of dollars, in terms of drug interactions that aren't picked up, or inappropriate treatment for people who are injured while traveling."

Being chair of HIMS, however, comes with much criticism and few immediate rewards, says chief of staff Larry Shuer. "It's a job that's a labor of love," Shuer says. "It's essential for the hospital, and we're grateful to Dr. Newman for doing the work." Newman also serves as clinical associate professor at the Stanford School of Medicine.

Newman's latest project brings together medicine, computerization and a love of oceans. Earlier this year, he founded the Ocean Medicine Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health outcomes of island residents around the world. "Island communities look wonderful from your hotel, but the living standards are horrible," he says, citing outdated medical equipment, a shortage of primary care physicians and regular outbreaks of infectious diseases. "That's totally unacceptable."

Newman has many plans and goals for the foundation. Using computerization and the Internet, he plans to make medical libraries available to island physicians; increase the flow of public health information among islands to prevent the spread of outbreaks; and maintain a list of mainland experts willing to travel to islands in the event of a public health crisis. Newman also wants to stimulate interest in world health among medical students by taking them to islands, where they would help train local health-care providers in computer and medical technology.

Newman views the foundation as a way to combine all of his interests and give something back to the islands he loves. "It's the next phase of my life," he says. "My children are gone, my practice is stable and it was just time to do something to help the world."