I’ve selected a photograph of Matthew Holt (in the wig and skirt) and Indu Subaiya, MD, performing the lifecycle of a patient in a Heatlh 2.0 world, and the Health 2.0 conference this week, in San Francisco.

As you can see from the remaining photos below, Indu and Matthew had fun with this, and the approach was very effective as people removed themselves from themselves and focused on what these technologies will mean for people throughout life. Here are my remaining photos, click on any to see larger size, and my recap below:

The conference overall was really great and came together very nicely, as a sort of journey, from “what’s being worked on” to “what do we need to do as a society to move into the future.”

In the photos above, you can see Indu and Matthew doing a role play with the various technology companies at Health 2.0, covering everything from genetic science to virtual doctor visits (that’s Roy Schoenberg, MD, from American Well with Matthew on stage).

Josh Lemieux from the Markle Foundation led a panel on privacy issues followed by several technology demonstrations around supporting secure/private access to health information.

I met Joan Osborn and Sheila Subaiya, MD (pictured along with Brian Loew, CEO of Inspire.com) over an ice cream sandwich that I now regret not tasting.

I connected with three pioneers in health information technology to talk about the importance of place and telepresence (complimentary, not in opposition): Trenor Williams, MD, Danny Sands, MD, from Cisco, and Paulanne Balch, MD, from the Colorado Permanente Medical Group.

I got to watch as two pioneers connected, Adam Bosworth from Keas, and Paulanne Balch, MD.

I attended the closing, led by remarks from Alan Greene, MD, David Lansky, PhD, Robert Kolodner, MD , David Kibbe, MD , moderated by Brian Klepper.

A really great thing happened for me when I got to meet the faces and minds behind the Twitterstreams I have been following for the past several months. We’ve become a community; meeting in real life adds that extra layer of respect (Is it GenX of me to get this benefit or do GenY’s get this too?). I think a few really great people also became Twitterized this week…Jane, Patti, Paulanne, Ravi, welcome.

Finally, a curious and exciting thing happened at the very end, with the self-assortment of individuals from the Bos-Wash Megaregion to talk about how we would contribute to the Health 2.0 movement. We think we can and will, as DC realizes its present and future as the epicenter of health care transformation.

Come join us and thanks to Matthew, Indu, the Health 2.0 team, and all of the volunteers and organizations (including flagship sponsor Kaiser Permanente) for making us less afraid of the future.