Professor Gary Selnow of San Francisco State University will be heading to Baghdad this week to put the final touches on a computer networking system that will allow Iraqi hospitals to access databases of medical information.

Selnow, founder of an organization called World Internet Resources for Education and Development, or WiRED, was asked by the State Department to help provide computer and Internet access to Iraqi doctors and medical students.

"What we found is that (former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein) actually had a very sophisticated fiber-optic system in place," making the job easier, Selnow said. He recently returned to his Montara home from a two-week trip to Baghdad to work with a team of researchers putting the plans together.

Selnow, who teaches information analysis classes at San Francisco State's business department, worked with the government on similar projects in Kosovo, Kenya and Nicaragua.

Selnow said three Baghdad hospitals will be using the computer medical databases by June 24. Other hospitals throughout the country should be similarly equipped by the end of next year, he said.