Not only will Janice McCallum (blog, twitter) be attending HealthCampBoston, she is helping to organize it!
Hi Janice! Please tell us a little about your day job.
I work as a marketing strategist/consultant to healthcare publishers, health IT companies, and companies that invest in the healthcare sector. I have a varied background in economics, econometric modeling, and digital publishing—along with an MBA in marketing—so you could say I specialize in understanding the value of data in decision making.
What are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about improving access to data for the parties that need information to inform their decisions. But improving the quality of the data that serves as the basis for decisions is just as important as access. From my experience, increasing access to data helps improve quality since having more people use and review data will lead to better “quality control”. Everything I just wrote could apply to any industry, but I’m especially passionate about applying my knowledge and expertise to the healthcare industry to improve the utility of medical research and the quality of information used by clinicians and patients.
What are you doing to “hack” health care?
In addition to paid consulting work, I devote a great deal of time to disseminating information via social media (as well as some traditional publishing outlets). I blog at www.healthcontentadvisors.com/blog, distribute an email newsletter, comment on other sites, and use Twitter (and Google+ and LinkedIn to a lesser extent) to share content that I consider valuable to my followers. I always “consider the source” before I share information and try to keep the conversation focused on how to make things better.
Why are you attending HealthCamp Boston?
I attended the first HealthCamp Boston in 2009 and had a fantastic experience. I love the unconference format where all attendees contribute to the conversation. This will be my fourth HealthCamp and I look forward to sharing viewpoints with a diverse group of people who are all passionate about improving healthcare outcomes and transforming unsustainable healthcare delivery models into systems that offer benefits to a wider range of people.
If you were to lead a session, what would it be about?
It should be clear by now that I’m a data geek. Health data are in the spotlight like never before. My top choice for a session would have to center around the hot topic of big data in healthcare and what “big data” could deliver to clinicians and patients.
What kinds of people do you want to meet at HealthCamp?
I’m particularly excited that HealthCampBoston is attracting a global audience this year in large part due to the fact that it immediately precedes Medicine 2.0. I hope to discover shared interests among a diverse group with experience with different models of healthcare delivery.
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