Gary Goldman, Ph.D.
Physicians for Informed Consent
Advisor
Gary S. Goldman holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Pacific Western University in Los Angeles and graduated with honors in 1977 from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) with a double major: B.S. Engineering (Electronic emphasis) and B.S. Computer Science. He was elected member of the Phi-Kappa-Phi honor society and in 1976 received the Outstanding University Engineering Student Award, presented by the Orange County Engineering Education Council (OCEC). At graduation he received a special Merit Award in recognition of scholarly commitment and outstanding Academic Achievement in Computer Science, presented by CSUF.
At CSUF, Goldman was employed as a computer consultant assisting faculty and staff. He later served as a part-time assistant professor for the Engineering and Quantitative Methods departments instructing both graduate and undergraduate courses in statistics, programming, digital simulation, and digital logic design and switching theory.
In 1980, as vice-president of Systems Development of Cascade Graphics Development, he developed the first microcomputer-based computer-aided drafting (CAD) system (prior to the well known AutoCad product; see figure). This system used an Apple II to process user inputs and a 68000 microprocessor to perform real time graphics. Dr. Gilbert McCann, then professor emeritus of CalTech, served on the board of directors of this company. Goldman engaged in computer consulting tours to South Africa, Germany, Holland, England and Canada. Goldman holds a U.S. patent (#4223255, granted September, 1980) for a micro-programmed, high-efficiency motor-in-a-wheel called “Power Wheel,” for use in electric vehicular applications. This invention was featured on the front cover of the Fall, 1980 issue of Science and Mechanics (see figure).
After operating one year independently, Cascade Graphics Development was acquired by an international petrochemical company. In the early 1980’s, Dr. Goldman assisted with the integration of the graphics system and voice input Technology. This product, unique for its time, permitted disabled persons to be productive and generate high quality drawings. He recalls hiring a quadriplegic who accomplished fulfilling and productive work on this system. Dr. Goldman automated the design of vertical cylindrical heaters, including convection coil design and tube-wall thickness calculations for the piping. Dr. Goldman wrote a heuristic program that designed earth retaining walls with and without traffic loads and provided the complete materials list and drawing for the project. Goldman’s program could produce a 100-foot long wall along any given terrain in five minutes—a task that previously took several engineers an entire week to accomplish. He also developed a specialized curve fitting routine, used by pilot Burt Rutan, suitable for aircraft wing design.
He co-developed the Goldman/Blake remediation program for children with specific visual process deficits; this program was used in a pilot study at the Hope-Haven Hospital in Florida. In 1976, he served on a development team that produced the first Interactive Graphics Terminal, IGT-100, at CalComp (California Computer Products, Anaheim, CA) This system allowed drawings to be edited prior to their being electronically plotted.
For 30 plus years, Goldman has served as a computer consultant responsible for the automation of a wide variety of businesses, improved production, and conversion of databases. He has authored and presented numerous manuscripts contributing to engineering and computer science disciplines and enjoys writing heuristic programs (developing algorithms based on ones knowledge and intuition concerning a problem).
Dr. Goldman served for eight years (from January, 1995 until his resignation in October of 2002) as Research Analyst for the Varicella Active Surveillance Project (VASP) in Antelope Valley, in a cooperative project with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, GA). He developed a model that quantified the seasonal variation in chickenpox based on school enrollment (clustering) and high ambient air temperature. Additionally, he created a database and data entry programs for several hundred demographic and clinical variables pertaining to chickenpox and shingles. This included logic to detect case duplicates (important for application of capture-recapture methods) and link cases originating from the same household. He also supplied the initiative and background material for the proposal to add shingles to the active surveillance program. Additionally, he wrote statistical analyses to (a) investigate 2nd varicella infections (later published in peer-reviewed medical journal), (b) study varicella susceptibility (presented at a symposium and published later outside VASP), (c) quantify transmission of varicella in households, (d) determine chickenpox vaccine efficacy by year (published later outside VASP), (e) track outbreaks of chickenpox in schools, (f) perform a cost-benefit analysis of universal varicella vaccination taking into account the closely related herpes zoster epidemiology (published later outside VASP), and (g) perform capture-recapture to measure reporting completeness of chickenpox cases to the surveillance project (published in The Journal of the American Medical Association–JAMA). Finally, Goldman computed both (1) true shingles incidence rate among children with previous histories of chickenpox and (2) true shingles incidence rate among vaccinated children so as to investigate trends in shingles incidence in a community under moderate to widespread varicella vaccination (published later outside VASP).
Presently, Dr. Goldman serves as a consulting computer scientist and is on the board of directors of Pearblossom Private School, Inc. which provides distance education to over 1,500 independent study students each year in grades K through 12 throughout the United States (see www.PearblossomSchool.com).
From 2004 through 2010 he served as Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Medical Veritas: The Journal of Medical Truth (see www.MedicalVeritas.com). Through this endeavor Dr. Goldman has had the pleasure of interfacing with world-renowned scientists, researchers, and physicians.
Dr. Goldman has served as a reviewer for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Human and Experimental Toxicology (HET), Vaccine, The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), Expert Review of Vaccines (ERV), Expert Review of Dermatology (ERD), Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (JEADV), Epidemiology and Infection, The Open Allergy Journal, BioMed Research International (Biomed Res Int), and British Medical Journal (BMJ). He is on the Editorial Board of Research and Reviews in BioSciences.