Thursday, December 18, 2014

A letter from PharmedOut

Dear Friends of PharmedOut,

 

Happy Holidays! We hope you saw Pharmed Out quoted in the New York Times last week. We are excited to tell you about our newest vision for PharmedOut in 2015 and beyond, and how you can help.

 

As many of you have noted, silently or vocally, our website and social media presence need an update. Students who recently critiqued our website were, well, kind:

 

“… the PharmedOut website is awesome…However… the website needs to be updated.”

 

“…The website feels dated.”

 

“I believe in what PharmedOut stands for and I think it is essential… However, the website does not succeed in conveying the mission of PharmedOut.”

 

The good news: PharmedOut is an important resource for healthcare providers and educators.

The bad news: PharmedOut’s website is stuck in the 20th century.

 

We are committed to redesigning and revamping our website and enhancing our social media presence before our upcoming conference, on June 11-12, 2015 – Put it on your calendar! It’s going to be great. Carolyn Clancy, MD, former director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, will be our keynote speaker. Planned topics include the soaring costs of generic and brand-name drugs, polypharmacy in geriatrics and palliative care, diagnostic expansion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, overuse of opiates, how pharmaceutical companies manipulate medical journals, and the intimidation of researchers by industry.  

 

PharmedOut conferences are famous for unique talks, fabulous presenters, amazing networking, and good food. Still, we were surprised at the collective howl of anguish that arose from prior attendees when we decided to skip having a conference in 2014. We’re committed holding a conference this June, but this year’s conference will be entirely funded only by contributions and registration fees. We need to raise $25,000 to fund the conference and the overhaul of our website.

 

Please consider making as large a donation as you can so that we can have a great conference and expand the impact of our project by bringing it into the 21stcentury!

 

 

All the best,

 

Adriane Fugh-Berman MD and Alessandra Hirsch MS

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