Diana Keough Archives - Page 4 of 4

National Parkinson Foundation

February 18, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

National Parkinson Foundation

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National Parkinson Foundation

This week we sat down with the President and CEO of National Parkinson Foundation, Joyce Oberdorf and Larry Kahn, CEO/Founder of PD Gladiators, a man who develoed early-onset Parkinson disease. Approximately 1 Million people are living with Parkinson disease in the US today. The National Parkinson Foundation’s website describes Parkinson disease this way, “Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, meaning that symptoms continue and worsen over time. Nearly one million people in the US are living with Parkinson’s disease. The cause is unknown, and although there is presently no cure, there are treatment options such as medication and surgery to manage its symptoms.

Parkinson’s involves the malfunction and death of vital nerve cells in the brain, called neurons. Parkinson’s primarily affects neurons in the an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. Some of these dying neurons produce dopamine, a chemical that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. As PD progresses, the amount of dopamine produced in the brain decreases, leaving a person unable to control movement normally.”

Joyce came by to talk about research the National Parkinson Foundation is supporting that is aimed at improving the quality of life of patients living with the disease today. They seek to share best practices that show promise among providers, with regard to the pace of progression and/or severity of symptoms so these persons can enjoy life more fully, longer.

She brought Larry Kahn, founder of PD Gladiators, a boxing gym exclusively for PD patients that was launched after Larry learned about and experienced the benefits of vigorous exercise on his symptoms. He shared his poignant story about learning he has PD (after having had it missed over a year earlier by his initial doctor), how he and his wife approached the diagnosis, and how/why he started PD Gladiators. Larry and Joyce talked about research that has shown the benefits of vigorous exercise on cognitive function among ALL of us, including PD patients. They endeavor to share that information widely so that more PD patients can receive the reparative benefits themselves.

We talked about the resources needed by the National Parkinson Foundation and Larry that will enable them to further advance awareness and quality of life among Parkinson disease patients. We hope you share this podcast, as the information they shared will very likely help someone you care about who’s suffering with Parkinson today.

Special Guests:

Joyce Oberdorf, President and CEO, National Parkinson Foundation

Larry Kahn, Founder, CEO, PD Gladiators

GeorgiaSHAPE

February 12, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

GeorgiaSHAPE

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GeorgiaSHAPE

The Centers for Disease Control published these striking statistics about childhood obesity in the US:

Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.^{1, 2}
The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.^{1, 2}
In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.¹
Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.³ Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.⁴
Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.^5,6

Clearly, the trends are alarming and we must act now to reverse them or we will face enormous human and financial costs in a variety of health issues that tend to increase among obese patients. Obese persons face higher rates of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, poor healing, and other challenges. In addition to the health concerns associated with obesity, research has revealed connections between physical activity and academic performance.

We sat down with several key team members from the multifaceted task force whose goal it is to tackle the problem of obesity and caloric imbalance among our youth. Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, serves as the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and State Health Officer. In addition to her numerous duties, she oversees a program put forth by the governor called, “GeorgiaSHAPE“. This program, a public-private partnership, provides research-supported recommendations for Georgia schools to incorporate an additional 30 minutes of physical activity in the course of the day (often within the classroom itself during brief breaks from academic work). See: Pledge to Power Up for 30 The goal is to enroll the roughly 1300 state-wide grade schools into the program to help reduce obesity and improve academic performance. Participating schools receive funds to support the program and also gain access to grants through philanthropic organizations such as the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation.

Along with Dr. Fitzgerald we hosted experts from the Georgia Department of Education, Georgia State University’s Public Health Policy Center, HealthMPowers, the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation, and an educator and student from Carrollton Elementary Schools (one of the early adopters of the program). They shared research findings regarding the value of physical activity as it relates to brain function and, correspondingly, math, reading, and spelling performance among young students. We talked about the fact that currently, only ~1/3rd of Georgia’s schools are enrolled to participate in this important program that has clear, far-reaching benefits to our young people and our collective community health.

“You need to remember that yes, there had been an increase throughout the country [in childhood obesity]. But, Georgia, as far as childhood obesity—we were the second worst state in the entire country,” according to Dr. Fitzgerald. “. . .We now have three years of measurements from looking at Georgia’s children. . .Here are the numbers: 40% of the children in our school systems are not at a healthy weight. . .Here’s the one that scares me. We looked at a variety of things—not just weight. But also, it’s called ‘aerobic capacity’. And we looked at flexibility and we looked at muscle strength. And, the tests are not trying out for the Olympics. It’s not even trying out for the football team. It’s walking a mile and touching your toes. And only 19% of Georgia’s children were able to do all tests. . . So, clearly, this became the governor’s main interest because we knew unhealthy kids, of course, would lead to unhealthy adults.”

Panelists:

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, Commissioner of Georgia Department of Health

Dr. John Bare, PhD, Vice President of Programs, Arthur M. Blank Foundation and Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation

Dr. Emily Vall, PhD, Obesity Project Manager, GeorgiaSHAPE

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder, ShareWIK Media Group

Deborah Kibbie, Georgia State University Public Health Policy Center, Chief Evaluator of GeorgiaSHAPE

Therese McGuire, Health and Physical Education Program Specialist at Georgia Department of Education

Wendy McDowell, Educator, Carrollton County Elementary Schools

Colt Shadrix, 3rd Grade Student, Carrollton Elementary Schools

Innovations in Heart Health

February 4, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Innovations in Heart Health

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Innovations in Heart Health

This week, for Week 5, we focused on innovations in heart health. Emory physician, researcher, and professor, Dr. Omar Lattouf came by to share about research he’s been working on developing new techniques for some challenging heart disorders, and an exciting project he’s working on that is aimed at reducing the number of patients who die from cardiometabolic syndrome. Dr. Lattouf’s work on how conduction problems are treated by insertion of pace makers using a minimally-invasive approach has helped improved outcomes for countless critically-ill patients. Dr. Lattouf talked about their soon-to-launch study on an application designed to help patients with, or at risk for, cardiometabolic syndrome. The application will empower patients to track key vital signs and other health information and make decisions that will improve key factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and more. As Dr. Lattouf shared his personal story about his own family’s experience with heart disease, his passion for helping fight heart disease, which in large part is preventable, was obvious.

Robert Arkin, CEO and Founder of Sensiotec joined us to talk about the way they are using technology and health data to provide clinicians the ability to monitor key vital signs and patient movement patterns in a hands-off way. He talked about how he has long held a desire to help his community on a large scale that he knew that being involved in developing healthcare innovations provides the best way to do that. Robert described how their device uses a special radar technology that is able to measure body movements and even internal organ function, providing real-time vital signs and patient movement patterns. Their technology’s algorithms enable providers to get a degree of predictive information that could potentially help avoid patient falls/injury, or even detect troublesome trends in vital signs that could enable proactive care decisions that could prevent a serious cardiovascular event.

These two health innovators discussed the additional resources they need that could facilitate the acceleration of their respective work with regard to making their solutions available to patients on a larger scale. We are pleased to support their work by helping them tell their story.

Special Guests:

Dr. Omar Lattouf, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Board Certified, American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
Performed Georgia’s first domino heart transplant
He and a colleague implanted the state’s first Abiomed biventricular assist system to support the failing heart of a patient suffering from post-cardiotomy shock

Robert Arkin, CEO of Sensiotec

Juris Doctor, University of Virginia School of Law
Recipient, 2012 Atlanta Business Chronicle Healthcare Heroes Award for Healthcare Innovation
Fomer CEO, Chairman, Modavox, Inc.
Former Member, Board of Directors, Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation

Alzheimer’s Research

January 28, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Alzheimer's Research

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Alzheimer’s Research

This week we sat down with experts in neurologic diseases and alzheimer’s research. According to the CDC,

In 2013, as many as 5 million Americans were living with Alzheimer’s disease.¹
The symptoms of the disease first appear after age 60 and the risk increases with age.
Younger people may get Alzheimer’s disease, but it is less common.
The number of people with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65.
By 2050, this number is projected to rise to 14 million, a nearly three-fold increase.¹

This devastating disease currently has no cure. In our ongoing mission to get the word out about important research and health solutions available in our community we focused this week on studies and solutions that will likely have a marked impact on patient outcomes.

We were joined by Dr. Marshall Nash, a neurologist whose practice is focused on investigating a variety of diseases of the brain, including alzheimer’s disease, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and others. He shared his personal story of how as a teenager he learned a family member was developing dementia and at the time there was essentially nothing that could be done for them. He talked about how the experience potentially influenced his decision to focus on neurology as his clinical field in medical school. His practice has transitioned from a neurology practice to one focused on research. We discussed the Tommorrow Study, in which they are looking to find older adults from 65-83 who are in essentially good health that they can evaluate for potential to develop dementia/alzheimer’s as well as effectiveness of medications to slow/prevent progression if it does occur.

We also spoke with a gentleman in studio whose wife has been a participant in a study with Dr. Nash’s practice, and who has since learned that he also carries genetic markers that place him at risk for alzheimer’s/dementia. He shared his perspective on how being a part of Dr. Nash’s research helped him and his wife. He gave advice to folks in the community to talk about changes in mental function/memory with their physicians and his view on the value of knowing if you or a loved one is at risk for developing alzheimer’s/dementia.

Jim Schwoebel, co-founder of Neurolaunch came by to talk about their organization that serves as an incubator/accelerator for start-ups focused on addressing neurologic diseases. Neurolaunch helps device companies, emerging pharma, and researchers commercialize their ideas to help get them to the community more quickly. Jim talked about how long it can take to go from idea/research to a product or medication to reach the community in need these solutions serve. He introduced us to Alex Turjman, CEO of Cognition Medical.

Cognition Medical is a company developing a device to be used in treating acute strokes. We know that during the acute phase of stroke, the area of damage can be extended in some patients when blood flow is re-established quickly (called reperfusion injury). Their device helps modulate the rate that blood flow is resumed to the injured area of the brain, preventing the reperfusion injury from occurring. Alex shared how interfacing with Neurolaunch has helped them make progress on the development of their device, bringing them closer to making the device available to patients in need.

Special Guests:

Dr. Marshall Nash, MD, of Neurostudies.net

Jim Schwoebel, Co-founder of Neurolaunch

Alex Turjman, CEO of Cognition Medical

Bob B., Significant Other of an Alzheimer’s patient

Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

January 21, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

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Diabetes Prevention Planning Team

According to the CDC, as many as 28 million Americans have diabetes. And as many as 1:4 of them do not realize they have it. That means today, potentially almost 10% of the US population are dealing with this chronic disease that puts them at risk for a myriad of health problems (many of them deadly), including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, limb loss due to amputation, poor healing after surgery, greater risk for infections, and more. It’s clearly a serious problem. And, with an ever-growing number of obese persons in the country, including a concerning number of young people, these statistics are likely to grow. In light of these sobering facts, a number of key players within the community from government agencies to health care providers, and innovative companies are beginning to put significant effort into preventing diabetes. In Atlanta, the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team is a group of forward-thinking executives, health experts, and political officers who are joining together to do just that.

This week we were joined in studio by Dr. Luci Ide, CEO of Rimidi Diabetes, and Karl Smith, PhD, Project Manager of Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential (GCAPP). Rimidi Diabetes is a health technology company that has developed and launched an application that enables diabetes patients to track and share key health-related data points with the clinicians guiding their care. With this information, the patients and providers are able to better monitor glucose levels and other indicators and determine how behavioral and medical treatment changes are impacting the patient’s condition. Luci is one of the team members for the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team and she talked about how increasing awareness of the disease and how it can be prevented are important facets of combating diabetes. She used the analogy of a bath tub, where how quickly it fills is determined by how much water flows out of the drain (patients dying as a result of the disease) versus how much is flowing in from the faucet (new diabetes patients). She went on to discuss the fact that today, more patients are living longer and managing their diabetes better than in the past. Our next challenge is to begin to decrease the number of new patients developing diabetes in populations where it can be prevented.

Karl Smith, also a member of the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team, shared how GCAPP is working to engage faith-based organizations in Atlanta communities that have populations that are at a high genetic risk for developing diabetes in an effort to educate young people who live there on how and why they can reduce their risk. He talked about how these communities tend to be “gymnasium deserts”, having few if any facilities that would allow kids to be physically active in a safe place. He went on to share how these communities also tend to have limited availability of quality whole foods that are healthy choices that decrease risk of obesity and are more heart-/diabetes-friendly.

Our discussion focused on how the Diabetes Prevention Planning Team is working to pull more resources together to help reduce the rate of new diabetes patients in our communities. We talked about how public service announcements are being put together by the county government, and how their team needs access to funding to support web development, additional PSA information, and more manpower to help handle some of the work necessary to grow the network of support/collaboration. We hope our listeners share this information so that we can have a significant impact on this disease that is costly in its effect on our community’s health as well as financially.

Special Guests:

Dr. Luci Ide, MD, PhD, CEO of Rimidi Diabetes

MD/PhD Emory University
Residency, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Magee-Womens Hospital
2014 Recipient, Ross Baird Award for Excellent, Village Capital
Former Associate, Monarch Capital Partners

Mark Smith, PhD, Program Manager of Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential

Doctor of Health Education, A.T.Still University of Health Sciences
MS, Exercise Science and Health Promotion, California University of Pennsylvania
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Exercise Is Medicine Specialist, American College of Sports Medicine

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express – Top Docs Radio

October 29, 2014 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express - Top Docs Radio

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ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express

This week I sat down with the CEO’s of ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express. With the recent implementation of the Affordable Care Act, new requirements came into effect that placed emphasis on patient satisfaction as a component of reimbursement. As it happens, these innovative companies had been developing and implementing their innovative platforms that dramatically improve patient experience and engagement before the law came into effect. That positions them as leaders in the space and I was pleased to have them join us to talk about what they’re doing.

ShareWIK.com provides licensed health information to a wide variety of organizations seeking to provide useful health content to their website and social media visitors. The writers who contribute to the ShareWIK content are journalists who have a true understanding of the topics they are covering. Content is vetted for accuracy before distribution. That means companies and healthcare organizations seeking to control health costs through helping employees and patients make better choices in their daily lives now have an effective, engaging tool to do just that. The team at ShareWIK is also collaborating with the Bioscape Digital platform to provide content that will be served to their patient-users.

ER Express is an application/platform that enables participating ER’s and Urgent Care centers to post an estimated time they can expect to be seen at their location. This means a prospective patient can register and hold their place in line and do much of their wait time at home, work, etc. The application uses IP address and Geo-tagging for users on mobile devices to display nearby area care centers and their estimated Time To Be Seen. In this way patients can reduce their overall wait time as well as optimize ER versus Urgent Care utilization for non-life-threatening problems. The service is free for patients to use and is currently available for numerous major health facilities in the Atlanta metro (and elsewhere in the country).

Bioscape Digital is a tablet-based platform for use in the emergency department and urgent care settings. The platform is simple to use with a simple, intuitive point-click interface. It serves the patient with professionally-produced health content provided by ShareWIK that covers a variety of topics from what to expect with a given type of study or procedure to information about available services within the hospital. The platform provides an engaging way for patients to occupy their time spent waiting for care that improves their awareness of useful health information at the same time. Patients can use the platform to communicate positive and negative feedback in real time to hospital personnel, giving the staff the opportunity to potentially address and correct issues of concern. Their platform is already showing a dramatic improvement in patient satisfaction scores as well as staff morale in their client-user facilities.

These Atlanta-based companies are helping to improve the way care is delivered and the way the experience is perceived by patients. It’s exciting to get to introduce them to a wider audience and help them expand adoption of these helpful, innovative technology platforms.

Special Guests:

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

Sahil Patel, President of ER Express

Former VP Decision Support, MedAssets
Former Independent Consultant, CodeRyte
BBA, Emory University Goizueta Business School
MBA, Harvard Business School

Stuart Bracken, CEO of Bioscape Digital

MBA, Finance, Emory Goizueta Business School
Co-Founder, Knowledge2Work
Co-Founder, Phoenix Holdings
President, Goizueta Alumni Entrepreneur Network

Robotic Hair Restoration and ShareWIK – Top Docs Radio

October 15, 2014 by angishields

Top Docs Radio

Robotic Hair Restoration and ShareWIK - Top Docs Radio

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Robotic Hair Restoration

and

ShareWIK

This week I sat down with Dr. Kenneth Anderson, Atlanta’s only robotic hair restoration specialist, and Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK (What I Know). Dr. Anderson brought along Sara Kovac, his Patient Advocate who meets with prospective patients inquiring about available treatments for hair loss, and Jonathon Williamson, a satisfied patient of his. We learned how Anderson Hair Sciences Center places much emphasis on patient experience when they consult with the practice. Dr. Anderson personally meets with every patient and schedules only one procedure per day to allow for a thorough, unhurried approach to every patient. Patient Jonathon brought a before photo with him to allow for comparison with his now-full head of hair. It is virtually impossible to see where his procedure was conducted. He talked about how other hair restoration groups had him meet with a sales person rather than a physician and showed photos of results obtained by a procedure but the patients shown weren’t work done by that practice’s provider. Reasons for selecting their practice focused on discounted pricing rather than clinical qualifications and outcomes. We talked about the value of Dr. Anderson’s training (including board certification) in plastic surgery and how it contributes to the artistic component of achieving a natural-looking hairline for his patients.

Diana Keough of ShareWIK shared her story of how she decided to launch her company, having spent the bulk of her career as a healthcare journalist for a Midwest news paper. She leveraged her experience in healthcare journalism and knowledge of how to effectively tell a patient’s story to begin producing compelling content that shares helpful information that viewers can relate to. As their website, sharewik.com states, “ShareWIK Media Group produces and distributes health and wellness content that uses the power of personal storytelling to Engage, Educate & Inspire consumers to make better decisions that impact their health. With hundreds of “MyVoice” in-depth patient videos at the core of its product line, ShareWIK syndicates its content to media outlets and licenses its proprietary educational modules to employers, benefits providers, corporate wellness platforms, and other channels within the healthcare industry.”

Special Guests:

Dr. Kenneth Anderson, MD, of Anderson Hair Sciences Center

Doctor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Residency, General Surgery, University of Michigan
Residency, Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, University of Michigan
Fellow, Facial and Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, University of Michigan
Assist. Clinical Professor of Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
Hair Restoration Specialist, Emory Facial Center, Dept. of Otolaryngology-Head/Neck Surgery, Emory School of Medicine

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com

Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

Transformational Women Spotlights Diana Keough CEO of ShareWIK Media

June 1, 2011 by angishields

Transformational Women

Transformational Women Spotlights Diana Keough CEO of ShareWIK Media

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Diana Keough is CEO of ShareWIK Media, a production company that uses the magic of personal storytelling and expert opinion to create high-quality health and wellness content that educates and engages users. That content is then distributed across multiple, transmedia platforms, including ShareWIK.com, an always smart, sometimes sassy social media networking site where people can share their stories and learn from the experience of others. ShareWIK literally means, “Share What I Know.”