We’ve all heard someone joke about “their OCD,” but chances are that person was just referring to one of their idiosyncrasies–it’s not really something to joke about. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disorder of the brain and behavior that “involves both obsessions and compulsions that take a lot of time and get in the way of important activities the person values.” There’s nothing funny about it as it often causes severe anxiety. The International OCD Foundation is a Boston, MA based non-profit that aims “to help individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders to live full and productive lives.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
administrative,
advocacy,
health care,
Internships,
Massachusetts,
psychiatry,
psychology
Every once in a while I come across a company that I’m torn on–I can’t decide whether it’s brilliant or absolutely stupid. This is one of those times. We all know that the “placebo effect” has been scientifically verified time after time, but have we really put it to work for us yet? Placebo Effect is a San Francisco, CA based startup that is trying to do just that. They allow anyone to subscribe “to prescriptions that are authored by experts ranging from New York Times best selling authors to a 3x national champion wrestler.” How can a prescription be authored? We’ll get to that.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
health care,
Internships,
marketing,
medicine,
psychology
The key to effective marketing and advertising is distilling a brand, product, or service into a simple message that the target customers can relate to. For some products that’s really easy, but there are plenty of markets where it gets really complicated–like healthcare and life sciences. If you’re a business in one of those industries, you can’t hire just any advertising agency. You need people who understand science but still excel at marketing… the kind of people who work at HDMZ. HDMZ is a Chicago, IL and San Francisco, CA based healthcare and life science marketing agency. They’ve been around since 1936, but they’ve kept up with the times by excelling at understanding their clients’ businesses.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
advertising,
California,
communications,
health care,
Illinois,
Internships,
marketing,
public relations,
science,
software development,
web development
When my wife gets sick, I swear that she takes her temperature every 15 minutes (she also considers 98.6 a fever because her temperature is normally lower than that). I don’t even bother taking my temperature unless I’m worried that I’m very sick. Thermometers can be important tools for tracking health, but most of us don’t use them to our full potential. Kinsa is a New York, NY based company that is changing the way that people take their temperatures and monitor their health. They’ve developed a smartphone compatible thermometer that combines with an app to provide a completely new type of health tracking technology solution.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
community management,
health care,
Internships,
marketing,
medicine,
mobile,
New York,
online marketing,
operations,
quality assurance,
social media,
software development,
unpaid,
web development
Health is all about information. There was a time when we didn’t know how unhealthy smoking was. Now we do. Many people will live longer, healthier lives because of this knowledge. Any tool that can help both doctors and patients make more informed decisions is immensely valuable. Healthline is a San Francisco, CA based company that has built “the largest, most clinically accurate classification of health information available on the web.” They offer this resource both to consumers in the form of Healthline.com and to brands in a variety of solutions.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
advertising,
analyst,
animation,
blogging,
California,
design,
editing,
editorial,
health care,
Internships,
journalism,
medicine,
paid,
production,
quality assurance,
quality engineer,
software development,
video,
web development,
writing
When we talk about healthcare, we talk about doctors, hospitals, biotech companies, insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and even the government. We often forget that we’re the most important part of the equation. While there are plenty of situations where we need outside help from the parties mentioned above to ensure our health, individuals need to be empowered “to take more active roles in their care.” That’s exactly what Emmi Solutions does. They’re a Chicago, IL based healthcare communications company that has developed “interactive solutions to achieve meaningful business and clinical outcomes.” Chances are that you can think of a time when poor communication resulted in your having a worse health outcome. (Here’s mine: Stomach bug for a week. Doctor runs tests to see if antibiotics will help. Takes a week to tell me they will. Take antibiotics and get better next day.)
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
blogging,
communications,
customer service,
health care,
Illinois,
Internships,
medicine,
production,
writing
There’s an episode of Saved by the Bell where Zack Morris convinces Mr. Tuttle (the head of the teacher’s union) that Mr. Belding called him a “spineless jellyfish.” That’s a pretty big insult to someone who is in charge of negotiating against you. Our spines are both metaphorically and anatomically an essential part of our being. That’s why the thought of a spinal injury is absolutely terrifying for most people. Luckily, we as a society have made a ton of progress treating spinal issues. Whether it’s an injury, disease, or deformity, K2M is one of the companies leading the innovation. They are based in Leesburg, VA, and they “deliver and develop technological innovations which enable surgeons to more effectively treat the world’s most complex spinal disorders.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
administrative,
biotechnology,
communications,
customer service,
design,
education,
engineering,
health care,
inventory control,
Logistics,
marketing,
medicine,
online marketing,
planner,
product management,
quality assurance,
supply chain,
Virginia
The original idea behind employer funded health insurance was that it was supposed to improve productivity by keeping employees healthy. That’s still generally the point, but today it seems that health insurance is mostly about fixing problems after they happen instead of prevention. Corporate wellness programs are the answer for employers who want to keep employees healthy (and lower insurance costs). Limeade is a Bellevue, WA based company that is aiming to “measurably improve well-being in the world through happy, healthy, high-performing workforces.” How do they do this? By offering software that makes rolling out a wellness program a snap for employers.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
customer service,
data,
design,
finance,
health care,
human resources,
Internships,
marketing,
product management,
quality assurance,
software development,
user experience,
Washington,
web development
There are generally two ways to market to people. You can build your own audience, or you can rent somebody else’s audience. That’s why a lot of companies are built around building audiences to rent to other businesses. FierceMarkets is a perfect example. They are a Washington, DC based company that specializes in business-to-business media, publications, and marketing. The end goal is to “connect companies with the right audience and ensure each campaign generates the highest possible return on investment.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
advertising,
design,
editing,
editorial,
energy,
events,
finance,
government,
graphic design,
health care,
information technology,
Internships,
marketing,
media,
mobile,
online marketing,
paid,
publishing,
retail,
software development,
telecommunications,
Washington DC,
web development,
writing
We can all agree… that we can all agree on some things sometimes–even when it comes to politics. I tend to like when the disagreement between the two parties locks things up because it means that the government won’t be able to break anything else; however, I understand that occasionally we need our government to actually accomplish something. The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that encourages the two parties to work together on important issues where ideological differences can be worked through. The organization was “founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell,” so it truly is a bipartisan effort.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
communications,
development,
economics,
energy,
foreign relations,
health care,
international affairs,
Internships,
non-profit,
nutrition,
paid,
policy,
public policy,
security,
transportation,
unpaid,
Washington DC
Skin is the barrier between you and the rest of the world–it’s extremely important both cosmetically and medically. We all have skin issues at some point. It may be as simple as a pimple or as serious as cancer, but more than 100 million Americans are afflicted with some sort of skin disorder. The American Skin Association is a New York, NY based non-profit that brings “patients, families, advocates, physicians and scientists” together to “to defeat melanoma, skin cancer and disease.” If it has to do with the body’s largest organ, the American Skin Association is on top of it.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
administrative,
health care,
Internships,
medicine,
New York,
non-profit,
paid,
research,
science
Health insurance. Need I say more? You already have your own associations with those words, and they’re probably negative. We all want to be healthy, and when we’re not, we want to know that doing whatever we can to get healthy won’t send us into financial ruin. That was the whole point of health insurance, but it seems that the opposite has happened. There’s a lot that needs to change, but where do we start? How about with insurers themselves. Take New York state for instance. They haven’t had a new commercial health insurer in a decade and a half–or at least they didn’t until Oscar came around. They are a New York, NY based startup that dubs itself “a new kind of health insurance company that is using technology to make insurance simple, intuitive, and human.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
business development,
customer service,
data,
design,
health care,
insurance,
Internships,
marketing,
New York,
product management,
software development,
user experience,
web development
I’ve had a cold for the past two weeks. The first week wasn’t too bad, but this past week has been terrible. It’s amazing how something as minor as a cold can remind you how awesome it is to be healthy. There isn’t much that you can do for a cold besides rest, drink a lot of fluids, and wait it out (though hot showers and cough drops can relieve some of the symptoms temporarily), but for many other health issues information is your best weapon. HealthiNation is capitalizing off of this fact by offering “videos to inspire a healthy and active lifestyle for audiences everywhere.” The company is based in New York, NY and offers content on food, family, fitness, and all kinds of other health-related topics.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
analytics,
fitness,
food,
health care,
Internships,
medicine,
New York,
nutrition,
paid,
production,
video,
web development
I try to avoid going to the doctor at all costs. While I’m not one of those people who constantly self-diagnoses via WebMD, I do try to use the Internet to inform my decision on whether an office visit is necessary (it usually isn’t). Most younger people are like me, they turn to the web first when they have a health issue. Patient Conversation Media is a company that aims to be found when people make those initial searches. They are based in Austin, TX, and they publish “doctor-reviewed health-related content online for consumers” and use that influx of traffic to connect “patients to [their] network of physicians and other health care providers.” Patient Conversation Media came it at #22 on the Inc. 5000 with 8,782% three-year growth to $9.8 million in annual revenue.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
blogging,
design,
health care,
human resources,
Internships,
journalism,
marketing,
medicine,
online marketing,
recruiting,
sales,
seo,
Texas,
web development,
writing
I’m torn on the topic of Quantified Self (a movement of people who collect as much data on their lives as possible). Part of me loves taking an analytical, data-based approach to self-improvement, but another part of me thinks that it’s easy to waste a lot of time measuring stuff that isn’t all that important. With that said, I dream of one day owning (or even creating) an analytic toilet that gives you all kinds of information on your overall wellbeing. Pixie Scientific has an interesting take on that idea. They realized that some of the people who have the most sensitive health don’t use toilets, they use diapers, and as a result, the New York, NY based startup is developing “smart diapers.” They look and work like regular disposable diapers, except they provide vital health information to parents and doctors.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
biotechnology,
consumer products,
health care,
Internships,
medicine,
mobile,
New York,
paid,
research,
science,
software development,
web development
After a long first 24 hours with my still-to-be-named puppy, I was thrilled to take 10 minutes by myself this morning to take a shower and brush my teeth. Enjoying showers is normal for me, but brushing my teeth always feels compulsory. Today it was a pleasure. Unfortunately, most people are like me and don’t really enjoy taking care of their mouths–some even completely ignore proper oral care. The consequences of poor oral hygiene are significant–it can be expensive, embarrassing, and even detrimental to your overall health. GoodMouth is a White Plains, NY based startup that wants to help “people, and their dentists, revolutionize the way oral care is done.” They don’t offer many details on their plan for doing this, but it’s not the kind of business that you see most startups building these days–that’s why I’m intrigued.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
health care,
Internships,
New York,
paid,
philanthropy,
research,
sales,
software development,
web development
I helped my grandparents move out of their house and into an assisted living center. They were in their 80s, and my grandmother was doing great, but my grandfather was suffering from Alzheimer’s/Dementia. She couldn’t take care of him on her own anymore, but she didn’t want to be separated. As a result, we found a place that gave her the freedom and homey feel that she wanted, but also gave her a ton of help caring for my grandfather. It was totally the right decision, but there’s always something sad about seeing people leave their homes for what will likely be the rest of their lives (it was for my grandparents). San Francisco Village is a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that aims to keep people who are aging in their homes. They believe that increasing “the physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual well-being of adults who choose to live in their own homes” will result in their members’ being able to “remain independent, active, and engaged in the San Francisco community.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
health care,
Internships,
member services,
non-profit
Yesterday we looked at Yoga Alliance and how they’re helping the field of yoga grow from a cultural curiosity to a mainstream activity that millions of Americans participate in. Yoga is a perfect example of how we can take traditions from other cultures and integrate them into our lives to improve our health. The problem is that for every tradition that will actually make you healthier, there are probably a few that have little or no benefit (or even a negative effect). ALOHA is a New York, NY based startup that “combines traditional wisdom from diverse cultures across the globe with the latest scientific research and collaborates with the world’s most esteemed experts and health gurus to develop innovative products and inspiring content.” They’ll help you discover new ways to live a healthier, more enjoyable life–and you won’t have to worry that you’re wasting time with something that is scientifically unproven.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
arts,
creative,
customer service,
editorial,
finance,
fitness,
health care,
Internships,
marketing,
merchandising,
New York,
nutrition,
operations,
product development
I remember when Facebook was just for friends your age. Now it’s common to be friends with your parents, your parents’ friends, your professors, and your coworkers. I don’t know anyone who is friends with his or her doctor, but I can just imagine posting a picture of an awesome dessert that you’re about to eat and getting a notification saying “Dr. Jones commented on your photo: ‘Are you sure you want to eat this?'” Nobody needs that (ok, maybe some people do). We should probably give doctors their own social network so they can talk amongst themselves. That’s exactly what Sermo is. They’re a Boston, MA based company that “created the largest online community, exclusive to physicians.” They already have 125,000 medical professionals participating, and I’m sure that number will keep growing.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
health care,
Internships,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
medicine,
North Carolina,
online marketing,
project management,
sales,
social media,
social networking
We all know someone with hypertension (aka high blood pressure)–nearly a third of people over the age of 20 in the United States have it. It’s a seriously health issue, but it’s common and relatively easily treated. Pulmonary hypertension sounds like it would be a similar malady, and in some ways it is, but it’s also much rarer and far more serious. Because it’s currently an incurable condition that can be extremely deadly, you’d think that it gets a lot of attention from the medical establishment. However, because only about 1,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, it doesn’t. Pulmonary Hypertension Association is trying to change that. They are a Silver Spring, MD based non-profit that is working to “to find ways to prevent and cure pulmonary hypertension, and to provide hope for the pulmonary hypertension community through support, education, research, advocacy and awareness.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
advocacy,
communications,
development,
education,
events,
health care,
interactive media,
Internships,
marketing,
Maryland,
media,
medicine,
non-profit,
online marketing,
research,
social media,
unpaid
You’ve been scolded to “get tested” by television advertisements, health teachers, random people on your college campus, and maybe even your doctor. While they’re all making assumptions about your personal life that may not necessarily be true, it’s sound advice for the large majority of people. Unfortunately, getting tested for STDs isn’t something that the average person looks forward to, and the whole thing only gets more awkward when the results come in. What is one supposed to do with the results? I’m pretty sure I knew a guy in college who posted his test results on his bedroom door, but most people aren’t quite that forward. Qpid.me is a Los Angeles, CA based company that “makes having ‘the conversation’ about STD status easier.” They do this by giving people easy online access to their verified STD test results with the option of sharing them privately. You can see what that looks like by visiting the company’s founder’s test results.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
business development,
California,
customer service,
health care,
Internships,
medicine,
operations
Have you ever looked up a doctor online? When you type the name into Google, you’re often inundated with useless results (kind of like when you’re job searching). There are “reviews” that aren’t really reviews, and “information” pages that don’t offer any useful information. While most doctors prefer to focus on medicine over marketing, the truth is that a successful practice requires a continuous flow of new and returning patients. The Internet will continue to play a larger role in how people find doctors, and Treatspace wants to ensure that patients accurate, helpful information. That’s why the Pittsburgh, PA based company is focused on putting “facts online that connect providers, patients, and health professionals.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
blogging,
design,
fellowship programs,
health care,
Internships,
marketing,
medicine,
online marketing,
Pennsylvania,
product management,
software development,
unpaid,
user experience,
web development,
writing
Your face is how you interact with the world (even though the Internet is doing its best to change that). Like it or not, how you look matters whether you live in New York City or a small village in India. Cleft lips and palates not only have a tremendous cosmetic effect that can cause shame and isolation, but they can also greatly inhibit the ability to eat and speak. Luckily, clefts are very easily repaired. Smile Train is a New York, NY based non-profit that believes that “every child born with a cleft – anywhere in the world – should have the opportunity to live a full and productive life.” That’s why they’re working towards making one million smiles (they’re already 88.29% of the way there).
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
health care,
international development,
Internships,
medicine,
New York,
non-profit,
program development
Happy Mother’s Day! I’m lucky enough to get to spend today with my mom. She’s in town for some wedding planning stuff, so we’re enjoying our first Mother’s Day together in years. While I have great memories of all of the amazing things my mom has done for me, some of the most important things that she did happened before I can remember. Good mothering is most essential in the first few years of life, and that’s why the National Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition was started as a response to the US Surgeon General’s conference on infant mortality. They’re an Alexandria, VA based non-profit that “is a recognized leader and resource in maternal and child health, reaching an estimated 10 million health care professionals, parents, and policymakers through its membership of over 100 local, state and national organizations.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
communications,
data,
health care,
holiday,
Internships,
non-profit,
outreach,
public health,
unpaid,
Virginia
One Day One Job is hiring paid Growth Interns/Apprentices/Hustlers! Help us help more student find their dream jobs.
The group buying craze really got its start here in Chicago with Groupon, so it’s not surprising to see a new take on the model come from a local upstart. How can you make the most of the Groupon model without being one of the the thousands of copycats? You can focus on collective corporate purchasing. That’s what OpenMarkets is doing. They’re an Evanston, IL based company that has created “a network of healthcare providers joined together to create cost-savings for capital equipment.” It may not be nearly as fun as $20 for $40 of Thai food, but it has the potential to significantly impact the healthcare market.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
business development,
health care,
Illinois,
Internships,
medicine,
procurement,
purchasing,
sales
While it seems to me that most of the debate about healthcare policy happens at the national level, states actually bear a lot of the responsibility on that front. It makes sense in that they’re closer to the people they’re serving, but it also means that there are a lot of separate organizations doing the same things just in different places. The National Academy for State Health Policy is a non-profit that helps “states achieve excellence in health policy and practice” by working with each other. The organization is based in Portland, ME and Washington, DC, and they provide a “forum for constructive work across branches and agencies of state government on critical health issues.” While most functions will be duplicated across states, they’ll each have a slightly different take on health policy. The National Academy for State Health Policy allows these organizations to learn from how other are approaching the same issues.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
events,
health care,
Internships,
Maine,
non-profit,
paid,
policy,
public health,
public policy,
research,
Washington DC
I had 20/12 vision until I was about fifteen. I definitely appreciated, but I didn’t realize how much until I started having trouble reading the chalk board during my Junior year in high school. Soon after I learned how life changing contact lenses (or even just glasses) can be for people with poor vision. Unfortunately, corrective lenses can’t solve all of the world’s vision problems, but there are other options. There are 36 million blind people in the world–at least one million are children in developing countries. Without treatment fifty percent of them will die within two years. SightLife is an organization that saves many of these lives. They’re based in Seattle, WA, and since 1969 they’ve been “the only non-profit global health organization solely focused on eliminating corneal blindness in the U.S. and around the world” (corneal blindness is responsible for just under a third of the world’s blindness).
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
health care,
international development,
Internships,
medicine,
non-profit,
Washington
When I was a junior in college, I broke my wrist. It was actually a lucky break because it healed completely… and my pathetic inability to cut my own food attracted a lovely lady whom I’ll soon be marrying. Still, the medical care that I received was abysmal. It started when the orthopedist told me that he didn’t remember if he could cast me before sending me for a CAT scan (that’s your job dude), but the most frustrating part was when I went to get follow up X-rays to see if the fracture was healed. I ensured at least four times that they were sending the X-rays to my doctor at home who I felt was more qualified to look at them. After waiting a few weeks for my doctor to get back to me, I followed up and he told me that the hospital never sent the x-rays (they just put them in a file). I called the hospital, and they told me that I had to drive over to sign a release so that they could send them to my doctor. Face meet palm. A lot of people’s frustrations with the healthcare system can be solved with technology, and that’s exactly what Practice Fusion is doing. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that provides “a free, web-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) application to physicians.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
business development,
California,
customer service,
design,
e-mail,
engineering,
graphic design,
health care,
information technology,
Internships,
legal,
marketing,
medicine,
online marketing,
operations,
paid,
public policy,
sales,
software development,
web development
It used to be that brands communicated, and you listened. There was always the 1-800 number on the back of the product for you to share your thoughts, but I’ll bet that .1% of consumer made 99.9% of those calls. Today communications is like one of those place where six highways come together and people are merging all over the place. Brands can no longer control the conversation–they can only hope to guide and influence it. WCG is a San Francisco, CA based “independent strategic communications firm” that is embracing “the positive future of communications.” The company also has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Austin, Los Angeles and London, and they specialize in “branding, design, digital, interactive, social media, traditional marketing, corporate and product public relations, media relations, investor and advocacy relations, clinical trial recruitment, location based marketing, and grassroots direct-to-patient consumer campaigns.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
analyst,
analytics,
California,
communications,
consumer products,
creative,
design,
health care,
international,
Internships,
New York,
pharmaceuticals,
public relations,
Texas,
united kingdom,
user experience,
Washington DC
Last week in my write up on the U.S. Association Of Former Members Of Congress, I touched on the idea that our politicians might be more effective after they retire from public service. I think this is especially true for members of Congress who have no term limits and constantly need to worry about being reelected, but I think that presidents face similar pressures to follow the polls. Once they’re out of office, former politicians are free to work on the problems that they think are important. For President Clinton this work manifests itself through the William J. Clinton Foundation, which is Little Rock, AR and New York, NY based non-profit organization that aims to “improve global health, strengthen economies worldwide, promote healthier childhoods, and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and private citizens.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
analyst,
Arkansas,
biology,
communications,
copywriting,
data,
environmental,
finance,
foundation,
graphic design,
health care,
international,
international development,
Internships,
marketing,
New York,
non-profit,
online marketing,
operations,
program development,
public health,
research,
social media,
software development,
south africa,
unpaid,
web development,
writing
