About Us
Imagine yourself face-to-face in the examination room with your doctor. Your doctor tells you about your risk of cancer, or worse, your doctor informs you that you have a serious medical condition. A minute later you leave the exam room, and by the time you walk out of the office you have more questions and confusion than you can sort out.

Don't you wish you knew what the right questions were to ask your doctor, to make sure that you understood all the issues, and got the best possible medical care? Hopefully you have not been in this situation, but if not, we are sure you have friends or relatives who have.

As doctors, we know the right questions. We know what is proven and what is promising. When doctors become patients, they may ask for tests and treatments that are not commonly endorsed, but which they believe can give them an edge on the road to recovery. This knowledge should be shared, and your friends should have the same advantages.

At HelpAFriend.com, we have assembled a team of leading doctors to assemble these questions and make them available to you. We do so because our goal is to help people get better medical care. If you use this site to help your friends, and they do the same, then people will communicate better with their doctors, and by asking the right questions, get better care.

Who we are

Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, M.D., F.A.C.C. is the founder of HelpAFriend.com. Dr. Sackner-Bernstein is a board certified cardiologist and internist practicing in New York City. He is the associate chief of cardiology, director of the heart failure program at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, and assistant professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University in New York City. Dr. Sackner-Bernstein has published over twenty scientific papers and serves as a reviewer for several leading medical journals. He speaks nationally and internationally about his clinical research and about new views of disease detection and treatment. He develops and participates in physician education programs throughout the country.

Dr. Sackner-Bernstein founded HelpAFriend.com based on ten years of experience in his practice. Often patients would be cared for by other doctors, and Dr. Sackner-Bernstein found that patients who asked specific questions to their doctors would get the best medicines at the right doses. With HelpAFriend.com, this strategy has been expanded to focus on lifestyle issues as well, broadened to cover many diseases and made available to you and your family and friends.

Donald Bergman, M.D., F.A.C.E. is a board certified endocrinologist and internist practicing in New York City. He is an associate clinical professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Bergman is the Treasurer of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, and member of its task force on thyroid cancer.

Sharon Patrick, M.D. is a board certified obstetrician/gynecologist in New York City, also focusing on women's health. She is an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University, and Scholar for the Partnership for Women's Health at Columbia University.

Linda Vahdat, M.D. is a board certified oncologist who trained at Memorial-Sloan Kettering prior to joining the faculty at Columbia University, where she is assistant professor of medicine. She is the director of the autologous transplant program for breast cancer at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Vahdat has published 20 papers on the diagnosis and management of cancer, and serves as an editorial reviewer for several leading oncology journals.

Clyde Yancy, M.D., F.A.C.C. is a board certified cardiologist and serves as the Medical Director of both of the Heart Transplant Program at Baylor University Medical Center and the St. Paul Medical Center Cardiovascular Institute, along with several leadership positions at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, where he is an associate professor of medicine. He is a past president of the Texas Affiliate of the American Heart Association, serves as the Chair of the Texas Coalition on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke and has recently been named to the American Heart Association National Board of Directors. Dr. Yancy is an active lecturer and author on the subjects of congestive heart failure, cardiac transplantation, hypertension, preventive cardiology and cardiovascular pharmacology.

Click here to begin helping your friend.

Did you know you can help YOUR own health using helpafriend.com?

Are you sick and want to get the best medical care from your doctor? Now you can get the questions you need to ask the doctor directly from our site. CLICK HERE to help Yourself.