E-DRUG: Satellife honored as 2004 Tech Museum awards laureate
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[Congrats to SATELLIFE; for those who forgot: SatelLife runs our E-drug servers! WB]
SATELLIFE HONORED AS 2004 TECH MUSEUM AWARDS LAUREATE
Top Five Finalists to Share $250,000 Prize for Applying Technology
to Improve Quality of Life Around the World
Watertown, MA � September 13, 2004 � SATELLIFE has been named a 2004 Tech Museum Awards Laureate. The Tech Museum of Innovation, located in San Jose, California, announced 25 Laureates for the prestigious awards program, which celebrates those who leverage new and existing technologies to benefit humanity.
SATELLIFE has been named a Laureate for the Health Category Award.
�We are incredibly honored to be a Tech Museum Award Laureate and would like to share this recognition with the thousands of health professionals around the world who use our network to share ideas and information in order to heal and save lives,� said Holly Ladd, Executive Director of SATELLIFE. �We have seen firsthand how modest investments in technology can transform health care in the world�s poorest countries. A relatively inexpensive handheld computer can carry a virtual library of knowledge to the most remote African village plagued by malaria and AIDS. This recognition from the Tech Museum enables us to help other people see the connection between an everyday office tool that we take for granted in the United States and the child in Africa whose life can be saved thanks to the information it makes available.�
SATELLIFE�s mission is to improve global health by empowering health professionals with the information they need to heal and save lives. The organization was founded in 1989 by Dr. Bernard Lown, a world-renowned cardiologist and co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War who practices at the Lown Cardiovascular Center in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Well before the Internet became a household phenomenon, SATELLIFE began to address the crisis of information poverty in the world�s poorest countries, where doctors lack access to even the most basic health information. In hospitals and clinics where high speed Internet connections are an unimaginable luxury, SATELLIFE has had a history of finding alternative ways to deliver lifesaving information and enable communication, including low-earth-orbit satellites and store-and-forward email. The Tech Museum Award is the result of SATELLIFE�s most recent work as one of the world�s first organizations to bring handheld computers to Africa, where they are used to provide up-to-date health and medical information, support continuing medical education, enhance patient care, and collect valuable community health data.
On November 10, at a black tie Awards Gala, Silicon Valley leaders and delegates from the United Nations will join together to honor all 25 Laureates, and one Laureate from each of five categories will be awarded a $50,000 cash honorarium.
This year, an esteemed panel of judges considered more than 320 applications from 80 countries, a 20% increase in countries represented over last year�s applicants. This year�s 25 Tech Awards Laureates come from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, India, Guatemala, Nepal, Nigeria, Singapore, The United States, and Uruguay.
�The Tech Museum Awards uniquely recognizes those who use technology to benefit mankind,� said The Tech�s President and CEO Peter Giles. �By celebrating this spirit of innovation, The Tech seeks to inspire a new generation of socially conscious leaders who will leverage technology to address the myriad of challenges we face as a global community.�
�The Tech Museum Awards honor leaders who have developed breakthrough technologies demonstrating innovation and advancement worldwide,� stated Jim Morgan, Chairman of presenting sponsor Applied Materials. �By harnessing technology, they have truly benefited society with their life altering work around the globe.�
�More�
For more information on the awards and laureates, visit http://www.techawards.org.
About SATELLIFE
SATELLIFE is a registered 501(c)3 organization based in Watertown, Massachusetts. To realize its mission of improving health in the world�s poorest nations through the innovative use of information technology, SATELLIFE and its partners have created HealthNet, a global information and communication network that facilitates knowledge exchange and communication among health professionals around the world. For more information about SATELLIFE and its handheld computer project, please visit http://www.healthnet.org or contact Executive Director Holly Ladd at hladd@usa.healthnet.org or (617) 926-9400.
About The Tech Museum Awards
The concept for The Tech Awards and its five categories was inspired in part by The State of the Future report of The Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University, which recommends that award recognition is an effective way to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and technological applications to improve the human condition. The Tech Awards were inaugurated in 2001, and have since recognized 75 Laureates for their pioneering work to benefit society through the use and/or development of new technologies. For more information visit www.techawards.org.
The Tech Museum Award Partners
The Tech Awards represent a collaborative effort among educational institutions and business. Silicon Valley leaders supporting The Tech Awards include presenting sponsor Applied Materials, Inc. and Santa Clara University�s Center for Science, Technology, and Society. Category sponsors include Intel, Accenture, Microsoft, and Agilent. Sponsorship of The Tech Awards provides an organization with an opportunity to showcase its support of the global community and align itself with a prestigious program whose sole focus is to address critical challenges facing the world. For more information on sponsorship opportunities, email corporate@thetech.org.
About The Tech Museum of Innovation
Located in the heart of downtown San Jose, Silicon Valley, Calif., The Tech Museum of Innovation, a non-profit organization, engages people of all ages and backgrounds in exploring and experiencing the technologies affecting their lives and aims to inspire the young to become innovators in the technologies of the future. For more information, visit www.thetech.org or call (408) 294-TECH.
Media contact:
Holly Ladd, Executive Director, SATELLIFE, 617-926-9400; <mailto:hladd@healthnet.org>hladd@healthnet.org or
Rebecca Riccio, Director of Programs & External Relations, SATELLIFE, 617-926-9400, rriccio@healthnet.org
Tony Santos, The Tech Museum of Innovation, 408-795-6226; tsantos@thetech.org
Mike Barash, Ketchum Public Relations, 415-984-6147; michael.barash@ketchum.com