About us

A diagram of the MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem

Idea

The idea behind MAGIC (Making Grade the Irresistible Choice) was conceived by Per Olav Vandvik, Linn Brandt and Gordon Guyatt back in 2009, with Thomas Agoritsas soon joining as another co-founder. Being practicing physicians dedicated to evidence- based medicine we felt an urgent need to solve problems with clinical practice guidelines. We believed this was possible through great advances in standards and methods for guidelines, combined with the latest web technology, intuitive design and emphasis on open and linked digitally structured data.

MAGIC started out as a research and innovation program to solve the challenges. This materialised in the launch of MAGICapp in 2013: our advanced online authoring and publication platform for guidelines, evidence summaries and decision aids. MAGIC was at the same time developed into an independent Norwegian non-profit organisation, in order to offer MAGICapp as a “Software as a Service” through license agreements with guideline organisations across the world. Generous research and innovation grants, widespread international collaboration with substantial in-kind resources and income from customers has made it possible for MAGICapp to see the light of day and to be continuously be improved, based on feedback from our users.

Vision

We realised the need to solve challenges beyond what trustworthy decision support created in MAGICapp can offer. This resulted in an ambitious long-term vision of a “Digital and Trustworthy Evidence Ecosystem” back in 2014. The Evidence Ecosystem now represents a mature conceptual framework, with the ultimate goal of increasing value and reducing waste in health care. Our work is inspiring health care systems around the world in their effort to create a new infrastructure for the production and use of best current evidence in policy and practice.

Within this framework – and with MAGICapp as a core platform – we continue to spearhead research and innovation together with a wonderful team of international collaborators sharing our vision. One example is the BMJ Rapid Recommendations, demonstrating successful solutions for evidence synthesis and guidelines through a collaborative network approach in wonderful partnership with BMJ.

Our independent non-profit Norwegian MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation was set up in 2018 to provide sustainable and professional services to our customers (e.g. MAGICapp) while pursuing our evidence ecosystem vision through continued research and innovation.

Our Team

Photo of Per Olav Vandvik, M.D, Ph.D

Per Olav Vandvik, M.D, Ph.D

Chief Executive Officer (on sabbatical until August 2024)

Affiliations: Dept. of Medicine, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway. Researcher, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.

Photo of Thomas Agoritsas, M.D, Ph.D

Thomas Agoritsas, M.D, Ph.D

Deputy CEO / Chair of the Board

Affiliations: Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland. Part-time Faculty, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University.

Photo of Linn Brandt, M.D

Linn Brandt, M.D

CTO / Board Member

MAGICapp, Integrations, Data and EHR

Affiliations: Dept. of Medicine, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Photo of Gordon Guyatt, M.D, Professor

Gordon Guyatt, M.D, Professor

CSO / Board Member

Affiliations: Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University.

Photo of Chris Champion, COO

Chris Champion

Acting Chief Executive Officer

Photo of Lyubov Lytvyn, MSc

Lyubov Lytvyn, MSc

Client Care Director

Projects: BMJ Rapid Recommendations

Affiliations: Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University.

Photo of Stijn van de Velde

Stijn van de Velde

Senior Researcher

Projects: Decision Support Systems

Affiliations: National Institute of Public Health Norway

Photo of Vasti Banks

Vasti Banks

HR and Administration Manager

Photo of Arnav Agarwal, MD

Arnav Agarwal, MD

Researcher, MAGIC support

Projects: BMJ Rapid Recommendations

Affiliations: Dept. of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada.

Photo of Dena Zeraatkar, PhD

Dena Zeraatkar, PhD

Researcher

Affiliations: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University

Photo of Siri Seterelv MD, MA

Siri Seterelv MD, MA

Researcher

Projects: Enhancing the Evidence Ecosystem (E3)

Photo of Linan Zeng

Linan Zeng

Researcher

Projects: BMJ Rapid Recommendations

Affiliations: Dept. of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Canada. Dept. of Pharmacy/Evidence-based Pharmacy Center, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, China.

Photo of Anja Fog Heen, MD

Anja Fog Heen, MD

Researcher

Projects: SHARE-IT Decision Aids and Multiple Comparisons

Affiliations: Dept. of Medicine, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Norway. PhD student, HELSAM, University of Oslo, Norway.

Photo of Reed Siemieniuk, MD

Reed Siemieniuk, MD

Researcher

Projects: BMJ Rapid Recommendations

Affiliations: Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University. Dept. of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada.

Photo of Birk Stokke Hunskaar

Birk Stokke Hunskaar

Researcher

Projects: MATCH-IT decision support

Affiliations: Medical student Dept. of Medicine University of Oslo Norway.

Photo of Ying Wang, MPharm

Ying Wang, MPharm

Researcher

Projects: BMJ Rapid Recommendations

Affiliations: Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Canada

Photo of Christopher Friis Berntzen, MD

Christopher Friis Berntzen, MD

Researcher

Projects: Dynamic Updating and Search (DYNAM-IT)

Affiliations: Dept. of Medicine, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Norway. PhD student, HELSAM, University of Oslo, Norway.

Photo of Irbaz Bin Riaz, MD, MS

Irbaz Bin Riaz, MD, MS

Researcher

Projects: Precision oncology in the Evidence Ecosystem

Affiliations: Dept of Hematology and Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

Photo of Romina Brignardello-Petersen, DDS, MSc, Ph.D

Romina Brignardello-Petersen, DDS, MSc, Ph.D

Researcher, Network Meta-Analysis

Affiliations: Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University.

Photo of Leticia Kawano-Dourado, M.D, Ph.D

Leticia Kawano-Dourado, M.D, Ph.D

Researcher

Projects: REMEDY and GATEWAY

Affiliations: Hcor Research Institute, Hospital do Coracao, Sao Paulo Brazil Pulmonary Division, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Photo of Sumanth Kumbargere Nagraj, MDS, MSc, (PhD)

Sumanth Kumbargere Nagraj, MDS, MSc, (PhD)

Researcher

Projects: Global Evidence, Local Adaptation (GELA) and BE-SAFE

Affiliations: MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation Clinical Editor, Cochrane Oral Health Co-convenor, Cochrane Priority Setting Methods Group Honorary Research Fellow, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, UCL, United Kingdom Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia

Photo of Farid Foroutan

Farid Foroutan

Researcher

Projects: Optimising Colorectal Cancer Prevention Through Personalised Treatment with Artificial Intelligence (OperA)

Affiliations: Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University. Also: Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, Toronto, ON, Canada

Photo of Tandekile Lubelwana Hafver, PhD

Tandekile Lubelwana Hafver, PhD

Researcher

Projects: Global Evidence, Local Adaptation (GELA) and Optimising Colorectal Cancer Prevention Through Personalised Treatment with Artificial Intelligence (OperA) and Mitigating Antimalarial Resistance Consortium in South-East Africa (MARC-SE Africa)

Photo of Valerie Reinthaler

Valerie Reinthaler

Research Assistant

Projects: Global Evidence, Local Adaptation (GELA); Optimising Colorectal Cancer Prevention Through Personalised Treatment with Artificial Intelligence (OperA); Mitigating Antimalarial Resistance Consortium in South-East Africa (MARC-SE Africa); BE-SAFE

Photo of Prashanti Eachempati

Prashanti Eachempati

Consultant Senior Researcher

Projects: MARC-SE project

Affiliations: MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation, Co-convenor, Cochrane Priority Setting Methods Group, Trainer for Cochrane Malaysia, Clinical Lecturer and Year 3 Program Lead, Peninsula Dental School, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia

Photo of Luz Angela Torres

Luz Angela Torres López MD, MPH

Customer Support Officer

Photo of Vibeke Flo

Vibeke Flo

Finance Manager

Photo of Frankie Achille

Frankie Achille

Designer/Developer

New Window
Nesodden, Norway

Photo of Deno Vichas

Deno Vichas

Developer

Fullstack Systems
San Francisco, USA

Photo of Rusty

Rusty

Developer

Fullstack Systems
Washington, USA

Photo of Rob Fracisco

Rob Fracisco

Designer / Developer

Fullstack Systems
Portland, USA