Blog Reviews

The first blog I read that I can relate to is Kevin's blog, titled Sports PR: Fitness and Supplement Industry.  I was very interested in his blog mainly because I have a strong awareness for fitness, nutrition, and even the ethics behind the supplements that are on the market today.  It is essential to do your research and reviews when looking to buy products in stores such as GNC, Vitamin Shop, and even underground websites.  Kevin talks about the researching of ingredients to mix into supplements which I agree is extremely important since the product will be eventually consumed by the consumer, us.  He then discussed the website for supplement reviews.  I also agree that reviewing people's opinions on their experience with the supplements before purchasing is a great tool for research in the supplement industry.  My friend once took NO-Explode and then experienced a very increased heart rate, until later searching reviews that said the same thing.

The second blog I read was Brittany's blog on the Jay-Z/Eminem concert.  Not only am I a huge fan of Jay-Z and Eminem, but grew up listening to their music as they became two of the greatest rappers alive.  The concert was a once in a life time opportunity to experience and unfortunately I was not able to attend because I waited until the last minute.

I like how Brittany compared the concert fan turn-out based on the levels of evaluation we learned in class.  The fact they were able to fill Yankee Stadium with over 40,000 fans both nights amazes me.  Even though I feel like the PR people in charge of the concert promoted it very well, at the same time I feel like as the long as they got the word of Jay-Z and Eminem coming to town, word of mouth would have done the rest.  However, I do feel like measuring the concert with the five levels of promotion would be very interesting when finding out the actual outcome and outgrowth levels.

Research in the Field of Regenerative Medicine

In the medical field, particularly the sector of regenerative medicine, research is key to new findings, new technology, more cures, and further advancing the field of regenerative medicine.  However, how careful do you have to be when researching in the medical sector?  


Over the summer I worked for a medical marketing company where I did a lot of research and social media for the regenerative medicine sector.  One of my tasks was to reach out to key contacts in the medical fields such as doctors, professors, and venture capitalists.  However, before reaching out to any of the contacts I had to research and profile them, and report back to my boss.  Surprisingly, I found falsified identities who weren't really who they said they were.  


On the other hand, when doing research on tissue engineering, stem or cancer cells in general the researcher has to be very careful because one's well-being is most important.  As we discussed in class, the concept of deception comes into play in researching regenerative medicine.  Altering stem cells and growing tissues and embryos is a very diversified field where a small percentage of even the medical population has a grasp handle on the possible positive and negative effects.


I am not saying the practice of regenerative medicine is wrong at all.  In fact I support the practice of regenerative medicine 110 percent.  My point is that when dealing with medical issues the research portion of it is so important because of all the deception that can be found on websites or blogs today.  The progress in tissue engineering and advancements of technology in the regenerative medicine field have saved many lives so far, and hopefully even more to come.

Is Stopping Federal Funding of Stem Cell Research Ethical?

On August 9, 2001, at 9:00 p.m. EDT, President Bush announced his decision to allow Federal funds to be used for research on existing human embryonic stem cell lines as long as the following criteria was met:

-The stem cells must have been derived from an embryo that was created for reproductive purposes;

-The embryo was no longer needed for these purposes;

-Informed consent must have been obtained for the donation of the embryo;

-No financial inducements were provided for donation of the embryo.

As everyone may know, there has been much debate lately regarding whether or not the government should continue to fund stem-cell research.  The Obama administration has been in and out of court appealing the ban on federally funding the research done by the National Institute of Health.  Billions of dollars have already been invested in the project started by the Bush administration.

The goal of the stem-cell research is not only to grow embryo cells for women who can not get pregnant, but to also build, grow, and genetically modify cells that could eventually make healing and disease-curing in the future much easier.  John Paull II Institute is a great example of how research in the field of stem-cells could advance the field of medicine.  

In class this week we focused on the the levels of evaluation and the ethics behind research.  Is the cutting off funding for stem-cell research really ethical, even if it means killing live embryos, and finding new cures that have never been found before?  What most people don't know is that not only will they be killing live embryo's, but the National Institute of Health has billions of dollars already invested in new experiments that would just go to waste if the government were to stop funding the research.  

Public Relations in the Medical Field

My Blog will focus on the public relations within the field of medicine.  Over the summer I worked for a company called Simpson Healthcare Executives and my main focus was on researching relevant medical information, marketing, and social media.  I worked a lot within the field of regenerative medicine where I grew a very strong interest.

In my blog I will focus on not only on regenerative medicine, but also with the medical field in general.  Over the summer I learned that a company needs to have very strong relations with their key contacts in order to stay connected and up to date with the latest in the field of medicine.

It is also very important for a medical company to keep their relationships strong with key people in their field for ongoing collaborations such as meetings, events, and forums for future business.

From week to week I will post a variety of new and different topics in the field of medicine with thoughts, questions, and interesting articles to go along with it.