At Academic Network, many urban myths are addressed each day as we assist consumers in their structuring healthier lives. Diet is basic and salt is frequently a topic we address.  For most of us, when it comes to salt we find it has been denied a place at the table.

Salt has a bad reputation, but what if it’s not so bad for folks in the US or around the world?   That perspective was recently featured in the Science Times Section of the New York Times: (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/science/23tier.html). As John Tierney of the Times quoted Dr. David McCarron, “until unbiased, properly controlled clinical trials are performed, government regulation of salt is unwise and potentially harmful to many individuals.”

Medical Experts Enhance the Online Identity of Your Product

Your customers are talking about you online. You want to be fluent in the conversation.

Academic Network, a Stericycle company, has developed an outsourcing online management service targeted to the pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries.  The service includes both an online audit and ongoing reputation monitoring by health professionals trained in medicine, nutrition and identifying adverse events. The service is designed to offer companies an outsourcing solution at a fraction of the cost of building and maintaining an online reputation management system in-house.

Clients use Academic Network’s professional social media staff to monitor and engage with others online, thereby enhancing their brand. “Academic Network has created an outsourcing model to manage the risk and provide the expertise to help companies not only launch a social media campaign but maintain their reputation online at a fraction of the cost,” said Kate McCarron, Vice President of Academic Network.  A successful social media campaign involves dedicated resources to effectively monitor and manage online conversations about a company’s products.  Academic Network’s health professionals provide the expertise to assure that any adverse conversations online are brought to the attention of their clients to protect the safety of their products and customers.

Many companies have started to use social media tools but have not considered the overall costs to build and maintain a successful online program. Academic Network offers an outsourcing solution that will add expertise, while reducing overall costs in equipment, software and staff. The savings incurred mirrors that of traditional call center outsourcing, and takes advantage of the shared resources that Academic Network offers. “We allow companies to focus on their core competencies while maintaining an excellent level of expertise and service” states McCarron.

Today’s article in the TimesOnline (London, UK) asks “Is salt really the Devil’s ingredient?” Focusing on a recent piece in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), the article questions the growing portrayal of salt as a primary dietary culprit.  The CJASN article, coauthored by Dr. David McCarron, questions the regulation of sodium consumption through public policy, stating that science must ultimately determine the matter.

A new website for The President’s Food Safety Working Group will serve as a hub for citizens and stakeholders to stay informed and provide input on national food safety.

On March 14, 2009, President Barack Obama announced the creation of the Food Safety Working Group, chaired by the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.

As the President said in his address, the working group “will bring together cabinet secretaries and senior officials to advise me on how we can upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century; foster coordination throughout government; and ensure that we are not just designing laws that will keep the American people safe, but enforcing them.”

This site allow participants to learn about agencies playing a role in food safety, participate in the conversation (i.e. Twitter hashtag #WHsafefood), and find additional resources and activities.

Academic Network Leads Social Media Panel Today at SOCAP International Symposium: Social Media is Here to Stay so Companies Need to Prepare to Engage Consumers Online

April 21, 2009 (Chicago) —What if the US peanut industry - and the hordes of products and companies impacted by the recent recall — had used the power of the social media to both monitor online activity and engage consumers in discussions and build relationships? Academic Network, a Stericycle company, today led food, beverage and pharmaceutical companies in a panel discussion at SOCAP International Symposium about preparing companies and employees to engage in social media, a phenomenon that’s here to stay according to panelists.

As consumers flood online to research recent food industry recall issues, conversations are springing up all over the web. Consumers are sharing information - ideas, stories, and experiences - about food and drug recalls, diet, and healthy lifestyles. Forward-thinking companies are beginning to look not only at how their brands are reflected, but how their products are being talked about within online communities.

“Companies need to build online relationships with consumers and customers long before a recall or crisis hits,” says Janet Lee Johnson, senior online strategist, Academic Network, a Stericycle company and SOCAP panelist. “There will be more recalls in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Companies need to anticipate by building online consumer relationships now so when the inevitable happens they can engage another channel of communications and branding — social media.”

Academic Network advises companies getting into social media for the first time to “walk don’t run” when readying for a social media initiative:

♦ Have an established social media policy for your organization - if you do nothing else

♦ Approach social media strategically - have a plan; develop with your media, marketing, pr, consumer affairs, web and online teams

♦ Be sure you have an online listening strategy and don’t be afraid of it - listen in on relevant blogs, websites, Twitter (www.twitter.com) Facebook (www.facebook.com) and more

♦ Bring bloggers and tweeters into corporate media relations outreach - more and more consumers are listening and reading online

♦ Actively engage in discussions online as part of consumer relations, communications and branding strategy

“Brands are swarming around social media, but largely without the tools they need to understand it,” said Kate McCarron, vice president, Health Care Contact Center Operations, Academic Network, a Stericycle company. “Jumping into online discussions without a plan and strategic messaging isn’t the right approach. Getting their employee bases ready for social media - from the front line to the boardroom - is the first step.”

Academic Network, a Stericycle company, and award-winning medical and health communications firm, is now offering services to help clients practice safe, protected consumer engagement in the growing world of Health 2.0 — the use of social media for collaboration between patients, caregivers, medical professionals and other stakeholders. Because the trend toward Health 2.0 is growing so rapidly, Academic Network has started utilizing social media platforms to gather consumer information on new products, recruit patients for clinical trials and help clients successfully build, monitor, manage and track their online reputation as they engage with consumers online.

Follow Academic Network via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Discover the value of our health and consumer affairs expertise during the SOCAP International Symposium, held at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel, in Chicago, Illinois on April 19-22, 2009. Come visit us at booth 12 to learn about our diverse range of services. As a new division of Stericycle, our capabilities have expanded from consumer support and education to providing a full range of outsourcing services to better support a recall or retrieval for your product.

On Tuesday, April 21, from 2:30-3:45pm in room Renaissance D, we present Leveraging Social Media in Product Recalls, a panel moderated by internationally recognized speaker David McCarron, M.D. Leading executives in social media communications and consumer affairs explore the power of social media to manage your company’s image and product reputation during a recall.

Panelists include:

David McCarron, MD, FACP
VP Healthcare Communications, Academic Network, a Stericycle company
Janet Johnson
Senior Online Strategist, Academic Network, a Stericycle company
Mia Novic
Sales Director, Pharma/Healthcare, Nielsen Online
Chris Gidez
Senior Vice President, U.S. Director, Risk Management/Crisis Communications, Hill & Knowlton
Linnea Johnson
Director, Unilever Consumer Services

We are also accessible via company search at www.LinkedIn.com and www.Twitter.com/AcademicNetwork. Follow our tweets at SOCAP! We hope to see you at the meeting.

Portland-based healthcare communications company credits growth to increased role in adverse event monitoring, telecommunications, and enhanced social media services to engage customers & patients online

Portland, OR (March, 2009) - DiversityBusiness.com, the nation’s leading multicultural internet site, has named Academic Network, a Stericycle, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRCL) company and leading healthcare contact center and consulting firm, as one of the “top 10 small businesses in Oregon” (Div100).

“Entrepreneurs are a growing force in the U.S. economy, and a force to be reckoned with,” said Kenton Clarke, CEO of Computer Consulting Associates International, the company that built DiversityBusiness.com. This is a whole business segment that can carry its own, that provides jobs, products and services, and generates wealth for their communities. These are the new leaders in American business.”

“We have seen consistent growth over the last several years and we are delighted to have been recognized for our growth and ability to meet the changing needs of our clients. We believe that our health staff, ability to swiftly respond and staff our contact and call centers, our enhanced adverse events monitoring and use social media have enabled us to continue to grow our consumer affairs and patient recruitment business and support our clients outsourcing needs,” says the company’s co-founder , Kathleen A. McCarron. “Our knowledge and experience with adverse events and the use of social media integrated with traditional communication channels will continue to be a focus of our growth in 2009.”

As a newly acquired company of Stericycle, Inc., Academic Network will bring its adverse event reporting experience and social media experience to support the recall and retrieval offerings to Stericycle client’s.

Academic Network will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com’s “9th Annual Multicultural Business Conference”, taking place April 29 - May 1, 2009 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World, Florida.