MedFriendly®
About MedFriendly
MedFriendly.com was founded and launched by Dr. Dominic Carone on October 8, 2001.
A graduate student at the time, Carone noticed that there was a need for an online
medical resource that would help the average person more easily understand complex
medical terminology. He was frustrated with medical dictionaries that defined complex
medical terms with other complex medical terms.
Dr. Carone put his thinking cap on and had an idea - the creation of a website in which all
complex medical terms used in a definition are explained within the definition. No longer
would people need to flip through hundreds of pages or click on other webpages to find
out what all of the complicated terms in a definition meant. Although it would be a life's
work, Dr. Carone dutifully began the task at once. He picked up some books on how to
create websites and got to work.
In 2000, Dr. Carone experimented with web page publishing on sites that offered free
web space. In October of 2001, he decided to create his own dotcom web site and
MedFriendly was born. His wife, Pamela Carone (a Registered Nurse) created the name
"MedFriendly," helped create the MedFriendly icon (Dr. Friendly), provides valuable
consultation and editing on some of the entries, and has helped shape the overall look of
the website.
Dr. Carone personally creates every entry on MedFriendly, using his knowledge of the
biological and psychological sciences. Over time, the site has continued to grow and
flourish with updated new content. Examples include the popular MedFriendly Blog and
articles such as "How to pay for medications that you cannot afford."
In summer of 2011, Dr. Carone realized that MedFriendly was in
need of a transformation to keep up with new web design
technology. After consulations with web design experts and personal
research, he invested in a web design program in Decembert 2011
to help him personally redesign the site from scratch. The new look
appears much more professional, with faster loading pages, quicker
navigation, and better indexing in the major search engines. In 2013
and 2014, MedFriendly was further redesigned for full social media
integration so that readers can easily share their favorite entries
pages.
Professional Background
Dr. Carone is currently employed as a board certified neuropsychologist and clinical associate
professor at an academic medical center in Syracuse, NY. There, he runs an assessment program for
adults and children (beginning at 6) with a wide variety of acquired and developmental brain disorders.
Dr. Carone completed a 2 year post-doctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology from 2003-2005 in
29, 2003. While there, he trained with Drs. Ralph Benedict (a board certified neuropsychologist) and Dr.
Mark Gunther (a neuropsychologist). In addition to seeing patients, he conducted research at the
Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, where he worked with Dr. Benedict and Dr. Robert Zivadinov
(neurologist) in studying the effects of regional gray and white matter atrophy on cognition (i.e., thinking)
and emotional functioning in patients with multiple sclerosis. This research involved the use of magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain.
Dr. Carone completed his neuropsychology internship at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
Center on June 30, 2003. There, he was trained by two board certified neuropsychologists, Dr. James
Scott and Dr. Russell Adams.
Dr. Carone completed graduate training at Nova Southeastern University, where he earned his Ph.D.
Specifically, he was a student in the neuropsychology specialization program at Nova Southeastern
University's Center for Psychological Studies. There, he trained under three board certified
psychologists (Dr. William J. Burns, Dr. Wiley Mittenberg, and Dr. Charles Golden), two of whom are
board certified in clinical neuropsychology.
Dr. Carone defended his dissertation, entitled "A Comparison of Three Cognitive Screening Measures in
a Traumatic Brain Injured Population," on April 11, 2003. His dissertation was chaired by William J.
Burns, Ph.D. The other committee members were Stuart Gold, Psy.D., Ph.D., and Wiley Mittenberg,
Ph.D. He graduated Nova Southeastern University with a 4.0 grade point average. He earned a
Bachelor degree at Le Moyne College, where he majored in psychology and graduated summa cum
laude.
In 2008, Dr. Carone became board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology through the American Board of
Professional Psychology in association with The American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology. He
served as the President of the New York State Association of Neuropsychology from May 2008 to
January 2012. In 2012, he became President of the Central New York Psychological Association for a
one year term. He has also served on various committees for the National Academy of
Neuropsychology and is on the editorial board of The Clinical Neuropsychologist, which is the official
journal of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology.
Dr. Carone has authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. In 2013, he
published a book entitled Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Symptom Validity Assessment and Malingering.
His main research interests include traumatic brain injury, symptom validity assessment, and mutiple
sclerosis. He has visited Brooke Army Medical Center and Madigan Army Medical Center as
Distinguished Visiting Professor to lecture and consult with military staff about the first two topics. He
also presents at conferences and other invited speaking engagements internationally.