Invention of PROforma

The RED (Rigorously Engineered Decisions) project, 1992-1995, was part of the joint EPSRC-DTI (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK Department of Trade and Industry) Safety Critical Systems Engineering Research Programme. The programme funded academic research, and part-funded industry participation. On RED, John and Subrata Das with input from Peter Hammond and others developed PROforma, a formal language for authoring clinical guidelines and protocols, and supporting their enactment at the point of care.

In 2000, MIT Press published the book Safe and Sound, Artificial Intelligence in Hazardous Applications by John Fox and Subrata Das based on research RED.  Implementation of these ideas led to Arezzo which, enhanced by InferMed, was the basis for multiple deployed applications and millions of use cases.

A systematic study by Walton et al, published in the BMJ,1997, demonstrated dramatic improvement in prescribing decisions, improving effectiveness without increasing cost.