Alumni Spotlight:  Andrew J. Schorr ’67

Avon Alumnus Empowers Patients

Andy Schorr ’67 has made the transition from local and national television reporter and producer (producing the popular Evening Magazine program in the ’80s) to becoming a pioneer in online health communications for patients. Along the way, Andy and his wife, Esther, have won numerous national awards and changed the lives of many patients living with serious conditions. Andy founded “HealthTalk,” an online community extension of EverydayHealth.com, that features blogs, webcasts, and video content, accessible to patients and caregivers facing serious diseases and health conditions, and the medical professionals who treat them. The site incorporates medical advice and commentary from world-renowned experts.

In 1996, during the development of “HealthTalk,” Andy became a patient, himself, after a routine blood test detected CLL, the most common form of leukemia in adults. Through his own diligent research, he found the medical help he needed via a clinical trial in Texas, 2,000 miles from his home in Mercer Island, Washington, and received experimental treatment that put his cancer into remission; the treatment would be approved by the FDA 14 years later. In 2005, Andy left “HealthTalk” to found Patientpower.info, which benefits over 3 million patients. Next, stay tuned for Andy’s first book, The Web Savvy Patient, in 2011.

Andy’s journalism degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill and Columbia have served him well. With Esther, he wrote and produced a video that served as Avon’s prime admissions piece in the late ’80s and beyond. Still deeply committed to Avon, he would now like to show the School’s impact through interviews with students and their parents.