Tuesday, April 8, 2014

R+T Park Watch Magazine Examines Healthcare Advancements

Very proud (I think it is one of my favourite issues to date) of the April issue of WATCH Magazine, the brand journalism vehicle for the University of Waterloo's David Johnston Research + Technology Park.  This issue focuses on healthcare innovation.  I have to admit, when one thinks about Waterloo's technology and engineering community, healthcare is not often top of mine.  However in writing this issue, I learned a great deal about our local healthcare innovation community.

In this issue I interviews Dr. Susan Elliott, Dean of Applied Health Sciences for the University of Waterloo.  Applied Health Sciences specializes in illness and injury prevention and well being through the lifespan at work and at leisure.  A great deal of AHS's research is devoted to understanding the aging process - a topic that resonated deeply with me as the daughter of aging parents.

Sticking with the University of Waterloo, I also had a great chat with Bill McIllroy, Chair of the Department of Kinesiology for the University of Waterloo, on the new research and innovation centre being established within R+T Park.  The centre will allow University researchers to directly collaborate across disciplines, and apply their knowledge to individuals in the community in need.

Traversing into start up land, I spend some time with the founders of Intellijoint Surgical (formerly Avenir Medical) a start up I work with as the in house communications advisor at the Accelerator Centre.  These three mechatronic grads have created a medical device to help orthopaedic surgeons improve joint replacement patient outcomes, and recently were granted their Canadian Medical Device Certification.  Awesome guys. Awesome technology.

Finally I chatted with Steve VanDokkumburg, from Agfa Healthcare about the future of visual healthcare. Agfa Healthcare, a leading provider of integrated IT solutions and state of the art diagnostic imaging solutions for hospitals and healthcare centres, is spearheading the clinical imaging charge from its global center of excellence located in the R+T Park.

You can read the issue for yourself here http://www.rtparkwatch.com/

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Brand journalism in practice

I've been curating, writing and speaking about #brandjournalism of late and the opportunities it is presenting for PR folk like myself.  As traditional media and journalists struggle to sustain our voracious appetite for content, companies such as Cisco, Coca Cola, Nissan and others are turning to authentic, journalistic storytelling to attract and hold prospective buyers, and build their brands.  I have the pleasure of working with two clients who have embraced the brand journalism concept and who are producing very high quality work. The University of Waterloo's David Johnston Research + Technology Park publishes Watch Magazine three times a year, showcasing University thought leadership, research, and its exciting technology and start up ecosystem.  My other client, Unitron, a global leader in advanced hearing healthcare solutions publishes its Unitron Magazine twice a year, again showcasing the stories behind and surrounding its brand.  Such an honour for Ignition to be involved as a contributor to both of these projects.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Accelerator Centre Client Intellijoint (formerly Avenir Medical) Groundbreaking Medical Device Company Featured in Toronto Star

I have the wonderful opportunity to advise and work with 50+ tech start ups through my gig as the in-house communications advisor at the Accelerator Centre. Intellijoint (formerly Avenir Medical) is one of these interesting companies.  The team has achieved a number of significant milestones over the last few months, closing $3.3 million in financing, receiving their Class One Medical Device certification, and now, as this article in the Toronto Star details, witnessing their device (which provides for a more accurate alignment of a replacement joint in hip surgery) used for the first time in an actual patient surgery.


Ignition tech start-up client cream.hr featured in Mashable

I have great fun working with cream.hr, one of my tech start-up clients. The team is highly dedicated, the technology is very interesting, and the founders understand and appreciate the value of good PR. And now, they have customers singing their praises (which is always the very best PR of all). Congrats on their recent coverage in Mashablewww.cream.hr