John Mack and Agnes Shanley Team Up at Healthcare Blogging & Social Media Summit 2007 (Fall)

Agnes Shanley, a voice of On Pharma blog, and John Mack, author of Pharma Marketing Blog, will be sharing a dais at the Healthcare Blogging & Social Media Summit 2007 (Fall) organized by Dmitriy Kruglyak of TrustedMD.

We will be speaking on the topic of trends in the realm of pharma and medical device blogging (see below).

I am looking forward to finally meeting Agnes after exchanging some pleasant private emails with her not too long ago (which I am not going to reveal here!).

Here are the program details. Hope to see you in Chicago in September!

• WHAT: Healthcare's Premier Conference on Blogs & Social Media
• WHEN: September 17/18, 2007 (Monday/Tuesday)
• WHERE: The Chicago Hilton, in Chicago, IL, co-located at Consumer Health World
• WHO: Trusted.MD Network, Transmarx, leaders of new and traditional healthcare media (see below) and YOU
• WHY: Network and learn how to benefit from the new horizons opened by the healthcare blogging and social media


• COST: Early$349 (before 06/30), Regular $399 (before 08/24), Late $499

We expect to launch a significant site update leading up the conference. Register for an account and sign up for newsletters to not miss any news.

Now, here is the program for our 3rd Summit:

Healthcare Blogging & Social Media Summit is day and a half conference for people who want to deploy blogging and social media on behalf of their companies and brands. We begin with basics, first dispelling the common myths. Have you been told that “blogs and social media are not important”, “too risky for healthcare organizations” and “we are afraid of losing control of our message”? Do not get blindsided by 20th century thinking and start learning about the brand issues that must precede blog and social media engagement.

The sessions will cover why this form of communication is taking off; how quickly it can damage a brand's reputation if left unanswered; the continuum between control and trust; how to create a blogger relations program; the best practices for establishing your own blog; how to enlist others to your cause; and how blogging has helped the consumer health movement.

Whether you represent a hospital, a health plan, a physician group, a pharmaceutical or medical device company, do not miss the fundamental transformation in health media and join us in Chicago on September 17-18. Learn how your peers harnessed the opportunities presented by the new media. Recognize and avoid the common pitfalls. Meet new citizen thought leaders whose growing influence is redefining healthcare marketing as we know it.

Sessions and speakers include (current as of 06/10/07):

MONDAY: September 17, 2007, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

9:00 – 9:50 (Keynote) THE IMPACT: New Media Technologies in Health and Care
What will be the magnitude of change brought about by blogs and social media? One of the top health media authorities provides a 30,000 feet overview of what is to come

• Mike Magee, MD, HealthPolitics.org, Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative

10:00 – 10:50 (Panel) MYTHS vs. REALITY: From Social Media to People Powered Health(care)
Does the buzzword blizzard make your head spin? New health media concepts can be confusing and the panel offers yardsticks for telling between true trends and misleading hype.

• Dmitriy Kruglyak, CEO, Trusted.MD Network
• Jane Sarasohn Kahn, President, THINK-Health
• Joyce Flory, Ph.D., Principal, Communications for E-Business and Health

11:00 – 11:50 (Panel) OPEN BRANDS: Trading Message Control for Consumer’s Trust
The challenge: Consumers have more power than ever to affect your reputation online. The opportunity: Engaging their creative forces can build positive buzz. Learn the do’s and don’ts.

• Fabio Gratton, Chief Innovation Officer, Ignite Health
• David Weigelt, Managing Partner, Immersion Active
• Adam Pellegrini (I), Strategic Director Online, American Cancer Society

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

1:00 – 3:00 (Workshop) READY, SET, BLOG: The Nuts and Bolts of a Social Media Project
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The hardest part is getting started and the top social media consultants are here to give you a walk-through. Let’s go!

• Toby Bloomberg, President, Bloomberg Marketing
• Elisa Camahort, Co-founder and President of Events & Marketing, BlogHer LLC; Professional Blogger, with 9 Blogs Currently Active
• Carol Kirshner (I), VP, Promedica Research Center

3:00 – 4:00 (Panel) HELPING HAND: Social Media as a Platform for eHealth Applications
Social media is more than media; it is starting to blur the line between publications and applications. How can these new interactive technologies improve health service delivery?

• Enoch Choi, MD, Urgent Care Physician, Palo Alto Medical Foundation; Online Content & Community Expert, Forum Manager, MedHelp
• Scott Shreeve, MD, Founder, CrossOver Healthcare & Medsphere
• Ash Damle, Founder & CEO, MEDgle.com

TUESDAY: September 18, 2007, 9:40 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

9:40 – 10:30 (Spotlight) HOSPITALS & PROVIDERS: Trends, Strategies & Case Studies
What are the unique opportunities and challenges of social media for hospitals and other healthcare providers? Learn from the panel of leading practitioners.

• Nicholas Jacobs, FACHE, CEO, Windber Medical Center & Research Institute
• Tony Chen (I), Founder, HospitalImpact.org
• Paul Costello (I), Executive Director, Stanford University School of Medicine

10:40 – 11:30 (Spotlight) PHARMA & MEDICAL DEVICES: Trends, Strategies & Case Studies
What are the unique opportunities and challenges of social media for pharma and medical device brands? Learn from the panel of leading practitioners.

• Agnes Shanley, Editorial Director, Putman Media, Inc.'s Pharma Group
• John Mack, MA, MS, MPhil (I), President, VirSci Corporation; Publisher, Pharma Marketing Network

11:40 – 12:30 (Spotlight) WELLNESS & LIFESTYLE: Trends, Strategies & Case Studies
What are the unique opportunities and challenges of social media for wellness, fitness and lifestyle brands? Learn from the panel of leading practitioners.

• John Bell, Managing Director/Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy PR; Creator of Ogilvy's 360° Digital Influence practice which manages brands in the age of social media
• Margaret Moore, CEO, Wellcoaches

We hope you will join us in Chicago, IL on September 17/18 and we are always happy to hear from you in the meantime:

• To Receive Updates: Register for an account and opt in for our regular newsletters.


• To Sponsor the Event: Contact Dmitriy Kruglyak, using the feedback form or call direct at 650-329-0397


• To Purchase Tickets: On Transmarx registration site, choose "Blogging Summit" option and sign up on Trusted.MD

DrugWanks Pull Post

Soon after I posted my diatribe against DrugWonks and their cowardly bullying tactics, Insider weighed in with the image at the left and declared that he will refer to them as "DrugWanks" from now on!

For us non-Brits, here's the Wikipedia 411 on "wanker":

Wanker is a pejorative term of British origin, common in Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and gaining usage in Canada and the United States. It initially referred to "one who masturbates" but has since become a general insult. It is synonymous with tosser, toss-pot and tossing it off (commonly meaning wasting time - usually when at work). In parts of the UK the word 'tosser' and it's other forms have become so widespread that it isn't generally regarded as a swear word and is socially acceptable in general conversation.

I think I'll stick with the pejorative, please.

Insider also pointed out the poor spelling ability of these wankers:

By the way guys..... if you are going to wank over Big Pharma's offerings, try and get the spelling right.

It's Acomplia........ with one "c"!

If only that were the worst case!

Maybe it was the bad spelling, or maybe someone higher up in the PR food chain gave Wanker Goldberg a call, I don't know. What I do know is that you will no longer find the offending "wanker rant" entitled "What an Overweight Director Who Didn't Give His Own Employees Health Insurance Didn't Tell Us About US Health Care" on the DrugWanks site unless you specifically know what URL to paste into your browser (click here) and that might not be working much longer! If you go to the main page directly, you won't find the post!

Goldberg's post not only criticised Michael Moore, who is probably laughing all the way to the bank over it, but Goldberg -- coward that he is -- bad-mouthed Jim Edwards (see my post about that here).

So, from now on, I will follow Insider's lead and refer to these PR Wonks as DrugWanks and they shall be banned forever to the Outer Sphere of the Pharma Blogosphere!



BTW, this is the DrugWanks post in its entirety, just case the link above no longer works (click on the image to enlarge it and read):

Wonks LOL YouTube Effort!

Turns out that Drug Wonks are not even very good PR Wonks.

Here's their latest YouTube video effort to discredit Michael Moore. They ask people on the street (in a park, actually) "Would you trust your healthcare to Michael Moore?"

Well, no! Duh!

What's funny about this is, at one point, they ask the question of some guy sitting in a tree! Like that's the kind of person whose opinion I should listen to!

Wonks Bitch Slap Jim Edwards: Are We Going to Let Them Get Away with It?

Yesterday I mentioned Jim Edwards' post regarding Drug Wonks Demonization of Michael Moore. Jim used his personal experience to get an MRI as support for his thesis that the Wonks' cause is lost.

Now chief bully wonker Robert Goldberg is trying to sling mud at Jim and the rest of bloggers who share his view with insults like this:

"For the record, drugwonks aims to be the truth dectector [sic; LOL] for Moore's propaganda film Sicko. That is the least we can do for thos (sic) Kool-Aid drinking bloggers who blindly follow a guy who denied health care coverage to his employees when he was producer of TV nation."

Let's see. TV Nation was produced when? Is this relevant now? Should we listen to anyone who cannot even use a spell checker!

"Now some have nothing better to do than price MRIs."

"Oh, and the MRI? Use it to a conduct a more careful analysis of your own sloppy arguments in defense of hypocritical and overweight directors."

Goldberg is a coward! He won't dare say that to Jim's face by naming him in his blog! or at least linking to Jim's post.

No, Drug Wonks never links out to the "enemy" Kool-Aid drinking bloggers!

Cowards! PR Wonks!

I note that all the invective aimed at Moore and his movie is based on what the Wonks have seen in movie trailers and on Oprah. They don't have the nerve to see the film they are criticizing and must constantly stoop to calling people names!

Cowards! PR Wankers!