Gather.Com, Harvard Health and LifeMasters Launch "Living with...(TM)" Series Featuring 35 Health-Specific Online Communities.

Unprecedented Access to the Most Current Medical Content by Harvard Doctors, Along with Peer-to-Peer Support

BOSTON -- Gather.com[TM], the leader in social media for adults, Harvard Health Publications -- a leading provider of health content from Harvard Medical School, and LifeMasters Supported SelfCare, Inc. -- a leading provider of disease management programs, today announced the launch of the "Living With...[TM]" series, featuring 35 health-specific online communities. Each community will provide members with unprecedented access to original content and interaction with physicians from Harvard Medical School, along with peer-to-peer support. As an active participant in the collaboration, LifeMasters is the first disease management organization to offer a robust online community support site to its participants and their families.

"When people live with a chronic condition, they have a compelling need for information and contact," said Tom Gerace, Founder & CEO, Gather.com. "We are leveraging LifeMasters' expertise in managing chronic disease and Harvard's physicians to provide a platform that allows people to engage in active online conversation not only with each other, but also with well-known medical experts."

Gather.com members and LifeMasters' participants will have access to the latest medical news from Harvard Medical School doctors, along with the ability to join in online discussions with other people facing similar health challenges. Individuals will be able to learn more about their chronic conditions, treatment options and how to better manage their conditions.

"We have long been committed to leveraging technology to facilitate communication among the various stakeholders in the healthcare community, and this partnership enables our program participants and their family members across the country to share their experiences with each other and to receive and share content and information that has been validated by Harvard-trained physicians," said Christobel E. Selecky, president and chief executive officer, LifeMasters. "Motivating and supporting people with chronic conditions is a team effort and so far, disease and care management organizations have done a great job of involving health coaches, personal physicians, and family members and other caregivers. Now, for the first time, we will be able to harness the power of our program participants to support and help each other through this innovative platform."

"Our goal is to provide the most current practical, authoritative health information to help people living with chronic conditions to lead healthier lives," said Anthony Komaroff, M.D., editor-in-chief and publisher at Harvard Health Publications. "The Living With...series is an innovative way for us to provide this information in a dynamic, supportive environment."

To be a part of the various communities and participate in conversations with others on the site, individuals register for a free Gather.com account. Members can then post comments on existing topics within each community group (e.g., Living with Diabetes), or start a new topic by publishing an article in the group. Prior to posting, the article is reviewed by Harvard Medical School physicians to ensure accuracy and quality. If it is accepted, it will post within the next 2-3 days.

The first seven of the 35 health-specific communities launched today at the following URLs:

http://diabetes.gather.com

http://heartdisease.gather.com

http://bloodpressure.gather.com

http://highcholesterol.gather.com

http://depression.gather.com

http://insomnia.gather.com

http://anxiety.gather.com

For more information on Gather, go to www.gather.com.

About Gather.com

Gather.com (www.gather.com) is the leader in social media for adults. Gather.com members connect around shared interests ranging from politics to books and from cooking to travel, and they're compensated for their activity on the site. Members can engage in conversation with state and local politicians, health and financial experts, personal coaches, bestselling authors, and more. Over one million people visit Gather.com each month to read content created by Gather.com members. Gather.com has a highly educated, highly informed adult audience membership -- a demographic elusive to most social networking sites. This demographic has made Gather.com an exceptional partner to media companies, advertising agencies, leading consumer brands, book publishers, and movie studios. Gather.com is a privately held, privately funded company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Investors include Allen & Company, The American Public Media Group, Hearst, The McGraw-Hill Companies, and Southern California Public Radio. For more information, visit www.gather.com or call [phone], x1032.

About Harvard Medical School

Founded in 1782, Harvard Medical School is recognized worldwide for its excellence in medical education, research, and patient care. The school has over 9,000 faculty and 18 affiliated hospitals and research institutions. The faculty's commitment to advancing biomedical science and clinical care builds on the medical school's rich history of medical and research firsts. Harvard Medical School also has a 30-year-long commitment to providing high quality health information for the general public as part of its educational mission. Through its Harvard Health Publications Division, the School has five consumer health newsletters; books for consumers with McGraw-Hill and Simon & Schuster; a weekly newspaper column, syndicated by United Features Syndicate; regular articles by Harvard Medical School faculty in Newsweek magazine and other magazines.

About LifeMasters Supported SelfCare

LifeMasters Supported SelfCare, Inc. is a leading provider of disease management programs and services that create health partnerships among individuals, their physicians and payors. Its mission is to empower individuals to achieve and maintain optimal health. The programs improve quality of care for people with chronic illnesses, reduce chronic-disease costs for payors and provide decision-support tools for physicians. LifeMasters offers programs for individuals with diabetes, congestive heart failure (CHF), coronary artery disease (CAD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension and asthma (all of which are fully accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and URAC), cancer, metabolic syndrome and musculo-skeletal pain. LifeMasters' programs are holistically focused, support co-morbidities such as depression and facilitate lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation and weight loss. LifeMasters provides services to over 650,000 people throughout the nation.

Founded in 1994 by a physician, LifeMasters works with some of the nation's leading health plans, employers, retirement systems and governmental organizations, including Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, and Presbyterian Health Services in New Mexico. More information about LifeMasters can be found at www.lifemasters.com or by calling 1-800-777-1307.