Enroll in the Summer Institute on Web Strategies for Health Communication July 19-24, 2009

“Our challenge is how to leverage our trusted brand to engage consumers online, explain the scientific evidence behind their health-care options, and ultimately empower them to change their behavior so that they can live healthier lives?” Tara Montgomery, Publishing Director at Consumer Reports Health.

“We started a Facebook page hoping it would bring more people to our Web site but we don’t think it’s working,” Ritu Gill, Staff Member with Families for Depression Awareness

“I am always looking for new ways of connecting to and working with my patients, but I want to be strategic in my technology choices,” Pamela Katz Ressler, RN, BSN, HN-BC, President, Stress Resources, LLC

The Summer Institute on Web Strategies for Health Communication covers how to develop and implement a Web strategy to drive a health organization’s online presence, specifically the processes for selecting, using, managing, and evaluating the effectiveness of Web technologies for health communication. With 84% of online Americans using the Web for health information, healthcare organizations need a web strategy and healthcare professionals need to understand the latest technologies to plan and execute health communication initiatives. There can be a risk in not embracing the Web if other health organizations are and if healthcare consumers expect it. Yet it is difficult to know which of the rapidly evolving Web technologies to use and how to use them to provide effective health communication, especially as part of a coherent Web strategy.

This course is for healthcare professionals who want to

  • expand a healthcare organization’s Web presence in order to communicate with and connect to patients
  • develop a coherent and justifiable Web strategy
  • implement a strategy successfully using technologies such as twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, and ning
  • develop personas and use formative evaluation to increase the effectiveness of their organization’s health communication
  • become well-versed in best practices of other organizations including WebMD.com, TuDiabetes.com, WeightWatchers.com, Livestrong.org, CureTogether.com, Roadback.org, and ABC News Health.

Web Strategies for Health Communication runs July 19-24, 2009. The course meets Sunday, July 19, from 5-8 p.m. in Conference Room 1, 136 Harrison Avenue, and on Monday-Friday, July 20-24, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m in Sackler 219, 145 Harrison Avenue, on Tufts Boston campus. Parking information and directions are available at Tufts-New England Medical Center.

Enroll in the Summer Institute at http://webstrategiesforhealth.eventbrite.com/. Registration costs $900 before June 19 and $1000 after. Tufts affiliates and alumni pay $800 for the course. Campus housing is available before July 13 through http://www.regonline.com/tuftsguest.

The Summer Institute on Web Strategies for Health Communication is offered through the Health Communication Program at Tufts University School of Medicine. SFor students taking the course for graduate credit, please read about assignments and grading.

Contact the course director, Lisa Gualtieri with any questions.

May 11, 2009

Course Director

Lisa GualtieriLisa Gualtieri, PhD, is Adjunct Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in the Health Communication Program. Contact Lisa at lisa@acm.org or read her health blog.

Guest Lecturers

Bill TancerBill Tancer is the general manager of global research at Hitwise and the author of "Click". Bill is on the advisory board for the PEW Internet and American Life Project. He has a BS from the University of Florida in Quantitative Management and a JD from the Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University.
Tara Montgomery Tara Montgomery is Publishing Director at Consumer Reports Health, where her portfolio includes Consumer Reports Health.org, a subscription Web site providing independent, ad-free information and ratings to help consumers make better health decisions based on the best available evidence. Tara manages a series of free online health e-newsletters as well as Consumer Reports on Health, a print newsletter. Tara has a B.A. (Hons) from King’s College, London and the London School of Economics and did her graduate work in Media Management at the New School in New York.
Dan ChildsDan Childs is a medical journalist who is Health Page producer for ABCNews.com. Prior to his work at ABC News, Dan helped launch and was editor of Asia's first-ever internationally-distributed consumer magazine on cosmetic surgery. He received his master's degree in Medical Journalism from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill in 2002.
Diane AronsonDiane Aronson is Past-President of the Road Back Foundation, which provides education and support for the use of antibiotics for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. Currently she is a Special Government Employee, serving as Consumer and Patient Representatives for the FDA. Working through its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Diane serves on many advisory committees and is a standing member of its Arthritis Advisory Committee.
Gilles Frydman Gilles Frydman founded the Association of Cancer Online Resources (ACOR), the largest online social network for cancer patients, composed 200 online support groups for individuals with cancer, which has served over 1/2 million cancer patients and caregivers. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has funded his research on online patient resources. Gilles' recent projects are on how online virtual environments can improve healthcare for people suffering from rare and deadly conditions.
Dan HochDaniel Hoch, PhD, MD, is a neurologist and epilepsy specialist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. He was a founder of Braintalk.org, a collection of over 200 online support groups for individuals with neurologic disease, and has been a longtime patient advocate promoting participatory health care in programs such as the Cook’s Branch initiative, a group formed by the late Dr. Tom Ferguson, and through work developing digital methods to promote interventions at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine.
Barbara BixBarbara Bix is the Managing Principal of BB Marketing Plus. A seasoned marketing strategist, her health care clients include physician practices, home health care agencies, hospitals, payers, medical device companies, and pharmaceuticals. Barbara has an MBA from The Wharton School and completed postgraduate work at the Harvard School of Public Health. Barbara has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal as an expert in online marketing.
Tania SchlatterTania Schlatter is a principal and co-founder of Nimble Partners, a firm that combines visual design, human factors, and technical understanding to design web applications that help people work, find, shop and learn. Health and medical clients include WEGO Health, MIT Medical and CuraSpan Healthgroup. Tania received a BFA in graphic design from Boston University College of Fine Arts and a Master of Design in human-centered communication design from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Helen OsborneHelen Osborne, M.Ed., OTR/L is a health literacy expert who helps health professionals communicate in ways patients and their families can understand. She is a speaker, author, consultant, and producer and host of Health Literacy Out Loud.
Catherine ColemanCatherine Coleman is Editor-in-Chief of ProCOR, a global health communication program utilizing low-cost communication technologies to promote health in developing countries. She is currently directing a four-year communication research project in Ghana to assess information needs of health workers and collaboratively develop appropriate, effective strategies to increase access to relevant, useful health information. Currently she is a member of the Editorial Board of Prevention and Control Journal; the Healthcare Information for All by 2015 (HIFA2015) Advisory Group; and the Communication Implementation Group and Regional/Global Partnerships Implementation Group of CDC's National Forum for the Prevention of Heart Attack and Stroke.

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