March 14, 2012 ·
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Industry Insights from Brian Castle
As in nearly all other aspects of life, social media is fast becoming a dominant force in the world of healthcare. Leading centers of excellence—hospitals, clinics, research foundations, and universities—are utilizing social media to educate patients about medical resources and treatments on a daily basis. Biopharmaceutical companies are using social media to promote new medications and further educate patients about other wellness resources at their disposal to help with debilitating diseases and conditions.
Physicians and other healthcare professionals, like practically every other profession, are embracing social media at unprecedented levels, engaging with each other on everything from new medical devices to tough medical cases. Due to this rise in HCP use of social media, some have begun to question the very essence of what makes a key opinion leader in the medical profession.
Some of these questioners have gone a step farther, at their ultimate peril, in misinterpreting physician involvement in spaces like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and physician-only social media networks like Sermo. They incorrectly perceive that social media participation is the new thought leadership. Last year, I sat in the audience for a presentation by a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. This person posited a talking point she’d heard from an executive at a physician-only social media network: “If you’re not in their social network, you’re not ... read more »
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basic research biopharmaceutical companies biotechnology Brian Castle centers of excellence clinical research diseases Facebook global KOL HCPs health care professionals healthcare hospitals key opinion leaders KOL engagement KOL identification KOLs LinkedIn local KOL medical clinics medical conditions medical congresses medical devices medical diagnostics medical meetings medical resources medical treatment options medications national KOL patient education pharmaceuticals physician-only social networks physicians public health regional KOL research foundations scientific journal publishing Sermo social media thought leader engagement thought leader identification Thought Leader Select thought leaders thought leadership treatment guidelines Twitter universities wellness
August 2, 2010 ·
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Key opinion leaders (KOLs) are health care leaders who make a high-impact footprint while advancing medical science. Thought Leader Select specializes in delivering objective, validated data on the skills and experiences of KOLs, so that pharmaceutical companies can seek their advice and guidance in the development of new medicines.
Over the past several years, Thought Leader Select has studied physician key opinion leaders who treat diabetes and analyzed their involvement in many areas, including clinical research, treatment guidelines involvement, publishing, reimbursement involvement and participation in advocacy efforts. In a recent assessment of nearly 500 diabetes KOLs across the United States, Thought Leader Select examined their participation in patient advocacy activities. Using keywords to link these KOLs with such activities, Thought Leader Select found that 62% of physicians regularly take part in patient advocacy efforts, such as participation in advocacy organizations, patient education or legislative efforts (see Chart 1).
Of the 301 KOLs with advocacy involvement, most take part in five or fewer activities, while only 3% of them boast 10 or more advocacy activities and/or awards. In addition to activities through the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) – especially the American College of Endocrinology’s Power of Prevention (POP) program – top advocacy initiatives and organizations include:
• Taking ... read more »
TAGS: 3163 AACE ACE ADA American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists American College of Endocrinology American Diabetes Association biopharmaceutical biotechnology Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CMS diabetes Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation diabetes camp Diabetes Self Management FDA Food and Drug Administration health care health coverage health legislation healthcare key opinion leaders patient advocacy patient education pharmaceutical physicians POP Power of Prevention Specter Amendment state diabetes plan Taking Control of Your Diabetes TCOYD thought leaders United States
April 27, 2010 ·
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Thought Leader Select, a North Carolina-based firm dedicated to delivering solutions for key opinion leader identification and deployment for the biopharmaceutical industry, announces the commencement of research on Canadian centers of excellence and the identification of certified diabetes educators for a top-10 global pharmaceutical company.
The client company’s Canadian subsidiary has hired Thought Leader Select to execute two of its industry-standard studies on centers of excellence in health care. For the first contract, the firm will identify and profile 10 centers of excellence in women’s health to aid the company in its development of and launch of medicines to fill imminent women’s health needs.
In the second project, Thought Leader Select will identify and profile 10 centers of excellence in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. In addition to providing in-depth profiles of the centers and their capabilities for research, clinical practice, and treatment of patients with Type 2 diabetes, the study will also identify and profile 30 non-traditional key opinion leaders, in the form of certified diabetes educators (CDEs). The CDEs are crucial in the execution of the respective centers’ strategies to educate patients with diabetes on a number of treatment options and regimens.
Thought Leader Select will employ the same research methodology, known as deep profiling, that it utilizes in the identification of individual key opinion leaders to perform the work ... read more »
TAGS: biotechnology certified diabetes educators key opinion leader KOL identification KOL management KOL profiling patient education Paul Meade pharmaceutical Thought Leader Select type 2 diabetes women's health
