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Aston University to help power Indonesia with affordable energy made from rice straw
Project to convert unwanted rice straw into cheap energy on a commercial scale Most rice straw in Indonesia is burned causing pollution and health problems Project will almost double affordable energy captured from waste. Scientists at the Energy and Bioproducts Institute at Aston University are to start a project to convert Indonesia’s unwanted rice straw into low-cost energy on a commercial scale. Each year the country produces 100 million tonnes of the rice waste, of which 60% is burned in open fields, causing air pollution and has even been linked to lung cancer. The amount burned is equivalent to approximately 85 Terawatts of electricity, which is enough to power Indonesia’s households 10 times over. A consortium which includes Aston University aims to develop processes to capture more affordable energy from rice straw than ever before - and demonstrate that it can be done on a commercial scale. Part of the process involves a biomass conversion technology called pyrolysis. This involves heating organic waste materials to high temperatures of around 500 °C to break them down, producing vapour and solid products. Some of the vapour may be condensed into a liquid product called pyrolysis oil or pyrolysis bio-oil. Both the pyrolysis vapour and liquid bio-oil can be converted to electricity. Current methods convert just 35% of the thermal energy of rice straw to affordable electricity. However, a newly patented combustion engine designed by consortium member, UK-based Carnot Limited, could see that doubled to 70%. Energy extracted this way could help low and middle-income countries create their own locally generated energy, contribute to net zero by 2050, create new jobs and improve the health of locals. The project will help develop a business model which could support companies and local authorities to produce local, cheap energy in Indonesia, and other countries with biomass capacity. Three academic experts from different disciplines at Aston University are involved in this initial project, which focuses on Indonesia’s Lombok Island. Dr Jude Onwudili, Dr Muhammad Imran and Dr Mirjam Roeder are based at Aston University’s Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI). Dr Jude Onwudili who is leading the team said: “This project has huge potential - commercialisation of this combined technology will have significant economic benefits for the people of Indonesia through direct and indirect job creation, including the feedstock supply chain and electricity distribution and sales. “About one million Indonesian homes lack access to energy and Indonesia's 6,000 inhabited islands make sustainable infrastructure development challenging in areas such as Lombok Island. “The new techniques being explored could reduce environmental pollution, contribute to net zero and most importantly, provide access to affordable energy from sustainable local agricultural waste. “Aston University is a global leader in bioenergy and energy systems, and I am delighted we received funding to explore this area.” Over a power plant’s life, the project team have calculated that biomass produces cheaper electricity (approx. $4.3$/kWh) compared to solar (approx. $6.6/kWh), geothermal (approx. $6.9/kWh), coal (approx.$7.1/kWh), wind (approx. $8/kWh) and subsidised gas (approx.$8.4ckWh). The project will start in April 2023 with a total of £1.5 million funding for the four partners from Innovate UK. Alongside Carnot Limited, the Aston University scientists will be working with two other UK-based businesses to deliver the project, PyroGenesys and Straw Innovations. PyroGenesys specialises in PyroChemy technology which will convert 70% of the rice straw into vapour or bio-oil for electricity production, with the remainder converted into nutrient-rich biochar, which can be sold back for use as fertiliser on the rice farms. Straw Innovations will contribute their rice straw harvesting and collection expertise, with their many years of similar operations in Asia.
Cancer Program Earns Reaccreditation From the Commission on Cancer
Report cited zero deficiencies and highlights leadership, innovative programs and strong research program The Commission on Cancer, a quality program of the American College of Surgeons, has granted three-year reaccreditation to the cancer program at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, one of the original National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program sites in the U.S. ChristianaCare has received accreditation since 1951. To earn accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. The Commission cited zero deficiencies during its site visit and in its final report. “Earning this prestigious accreditation with no deficiencies cited is a testament to the unparalleled expertise and quality of care our entire team at the Graham Cancer Center provides to our patients and community across the continuum of cancer care,” said Nicholas Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America Endowed Medical Director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. “Patients in the communities we are privileged to serve can be assured of groundbreaking cancer treatments, innovative technology, state-of-the-art research, prevention, education and the most caring, dedicated team anywhere.” “Innovative programs that address community need” The Graham Cancer Center was recognized in the reaccreditation report for taking a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in exceptional patient care. In its performance report, the Commission on Cancer praised the Graham Cancer Center’s leadership that has built a “culture of continual process improvement across all areas from prevention, screening, treatment and support for the patient.” It highlighted “innovative programs that address community need,” such as its on-site primary care practice and its Oncology Express Unit, which offers urgent care for patients with advanced disease. The report also stated that the “research trial offerings are a strong point.” Clinical trials test new drugs and combinations of treatments, as well as new techniques using surgery, radiation therapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy and biologics. ChristianaCare is among the national leaders in cancer clinical trials; patient enrollment rates into clinical trials at the Graham Cancer Center are at 29% which is seven times the national average. A national standard for accreditation The Commission on Cancer accreditation program provides the framework for the Graham Cancer Center to improve its quality of patient care through various cancer-related programs that focus on the full spectrum of cancer care including prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, life-long follow-up for recurrent disease and end-of-life care. When patients receive care at a Commission on Cancer-accredited facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling and patient-centered services including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process and a survivorship care plan that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life. Like all Commission on Cancer-accredited facilities, the Graham Cancer Center maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Database, a joint program of the Commission on Cancer and American Cancer Society. This nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world. Data on all types of cancer is tracked and analyzed through the database and used to explore trends in cancer care. Cancer centers, in turn, have access to information derived from this type of data analysis, which is used to create national, regional and state benchmark reports. These reports help facilities with their quality improvement efforts. Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the Commission on Cancer is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for patients with cancer through standard-setting, prevention, research, education and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. There are currently more than 1,500 Commission on Cancer-accredited programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico that diagnose and treat more than 70% of all patients newly diagnosed with cancer.
A.I. and Higher Education: The Rise of ChatGPT
ChatGPT. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Colleges and universities certainly have. It’s the chatbot that uses artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology to generate sentences based only on a brief prompt, writing anything from college-level papers to fanfiction. And as one might expect, the popular chatbot is taking the academic world by storm, raising questions about trust, academic integrity and even the future of college admissions. We turned to Seth Matthew Fishman, PhD, Assistant Dean of Curriculum and Assessment and associate teaching professor in the Department of Education and Counseling at Villanova University, to get his thoughts. Q: What makes ChatGPT different and why is it causing such a stir? Dr. Fishman: The use of chatbots is not a new debate in higher education. But ChatGPT and other similar free software certainly add a complex layer that we are only just now starting to have conversations about. There will be an ongoing debate about trust—Who wrote the material we are reading? To what extent if any, will it impact faculty members? There are also A.I. digital images, graphics, and design—To what extent do these programs impact our creative arts and design programs? I think these fields will mostly embrace A.I., though I can see issues of copyright infringement and artist control/attribution. Q: How are other chatbots being used in academic settings? DF: A.I. use already impacts higher education. If you ask any faculty member teaching a foreign language that requires a translation, they will have tales of work submitted by students who use online translation software. But benefits do exist for students and faculty regardless—we’re able to interact a bit more with others, reducing some language barriers. I expect we will see hundreds of articles about ChatGPT’s impact on education; there are likely several dissertations underway, and I expect to see ChatGPT and similar software cited in papers and likely even in authorship groups. Q: What will the impact of ChatGPT be on the college application and admissions process? DF: I think we’ll see conversations from college admissions professionals on the impact of ChatGPT on higher education admissions. For example, key components of college applications such as essays and writing samples may be impacted. And ChatGPT may also be used to write some rather good letters of recommendation. Q: What does the future hold? Will ChatGPT and similar A.I. programs maintain popularity? DF: I’m curious if A.I. will be used to generate employment cover letters. Additionally, many corporations already use A.I. to sift through candidate applications to narrow down their applicant pools. It may continue to transcend academia. I also expect to hear more from our philosophy and ethics experts to help us better understand the societal and educational implications of using A.I. in these ways. And these kinds of conversations will be had with our students to engage them as partners in the learning experience. We will probably generate new ideas and different perspectives from doing just that.
The effects of social media on domestic terrorism - Our experts have the answers
There is no question social media has an impact on today’s society. Worldwide there isn’t much research available with empirical evidence showing its effect. Lance Hunter, PhD, associate professor in Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the Masters of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies program at Augusta University recently was part of two studies that show evidence linking social media to political violence including domestic terrorism and civil conflict. The studies included over 150 countries and covered the time frame 2000 to 2019. “One of the things we found very interesting is the amount of time that people spend on social media on average within each country per year. It really does matter in affecting the amount of domestic terrorism within countries,” said Hunter. While many are focused on what happens domestically, Hunter found that some countries have more social media usage as compared to the United States and have varying amounts of political violence within their countries. “When social media is dangerous is when it increases polarization. When it’s used to spread disinformation that disinformation can have a polarizing effect on citizens around the world, and that polarization is associated with political violence.” Even socio-economic factors can play a role in social media and its effect on people in a country. “Looking at our research and data and looking across democracies and non-democracies, different income levels of countries most developed, less developed, we see there is a noticeable effect that social media can really influence political violence, especially if it’s used for disinformation purposes.” He went on to add since their data ended in 2019, and there have been instances of violence in the U.S. since then, researchers may continue to speculate on the relationship between social media posts and the acts of domestic terrorism. Here's an excerpt from the journal's abstract in Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression: Much qualitative research has drawn an association between social media and domestic terrorism, with the studies reaching different conclusions. However, few empirical studies have evaluated whether the surge in social media participation affects domestic terrorist events. Controlling for common explanations in the literature, we conduct a cross-national, time-series analysis of up to 151 countries from 2000 to 2019 to assess the impact of social media penetration on domestic terrorism. We find that greater social media penetration increases the likelihood of domestic terrorism in countries as it supports extremists’ ability to recruit, mobilize, and train terrorists. Using mediation analysis, we also find that greater social media penetration amplifies online and political polarization, increasing the likelihood of domestic terrorism events. Our work indicates the possible mechanisms linking social media and domestic terrorism and the need to develop and apply appropriate counterterrorism strategies to mitigate terrorist operations. “There is a noticeable effect that social media can really influence political violence, especially if it’s used for disinformation purposes. I think maybe it’s just something to think about going forward for governments and citizens regarding how we should approach social media because I think with any type of technology, it can be used for good or for evil.” While there are countries that try to limit certain social media platforms depending on what information is being transmitted, there will likely be ways around any restrictions put in place. “When you’re thinking overall regarding social media, and we’re thinking about communication over social media, is that individuals at times do have certain technologies that they can circumvent those controls at times. So it can be a cat and mouse game between the government and the citizens.” Dr. Lance Hunter is an assistant professor of political science with a background in international relations. His research focuses on how terrorist attacks influence politics in democratic countries and how political decisions within countries affect conflicts worldwide. Hunter is available to speak with media about this important topic - simply click on his icon to arrange an interview today.
The CRISPR Dilemma: A Road To Saving Lives Riddled with Roadblocks
The New York Times recently published an Op-Ed by Dr. Fyodor Urnov unpacking the incredible advancement and possibilities of CRISPR gene editing technology on human lives. It also addressed some of the roadblocks and challenges preventing this "not so new" technology from getting to the finish line of promise. Dr. Eric Kmiec, the director of ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute, whose unparalleled research has led to over 18 patents that have advanced medical research, also shared his concern in a follow-up letter published by the New York Times about the many roadblocks standing in the way of life-saving opportunities with gene editing and CRISPR technology. Dr. Kmiec (above) in the lab "If we were able to safely and effectively approve a COVID vaccine in a year, we must do the same by pooling public and private funds and seek ways to speed science. Why can’t we support the most promising solutions to some of the longest running and most intractable of cancers or rare diseases?" The advancement of gene editing has not only been stalled by the outdated processes of medical reviews and policies, but many have introduced political and religious barriers. The idea of "playing God" or even Dr. Frankenstein when people hear the term "gene editing" raises ethical questions based on a lack of understanding. Some of these concerns are shared in this recent article in Futurism. Ask one of the 100 people afflicted with a gene defect that could cost them their lives at age 7 and the perspective may be a little different. Nature makes mistakes, often imperfect, and impacted by the ever-changing landscape, impacted by external factors that are either known or unknown. Gene editing, simply put, can fix typos in genes that have experienced a glitch. As Dr. Kmiec puts it, "It allows us to correct mutations that are inbred in the genome, it's correcting nature's mistakes — and nature does make a bunch of mistakes." Whether gene editing fits into a belief system or is too otherworldly for some to grapple with, Dr. Kmiec asserts that speeding up the delays put onto science by process, politics or fear will result in saving lives, saving pain and advancing possibility. Dr. Urnov agrees, "Scientists owe them and their families honesty about the chasm between a test tube in a lab and an IV line in a hospital. The greatest obstacles are not technical but legal, financial and organizational." Gene editing is a pioneering technology that can help humans, plants and animals alike. When it comes to putting it into action, at the very least, if science is there to help, everyone should have the choice to use it.
Award jointly given to President and CEO Dr. Janice Nevin and Chief Digital and Information Officer Randy Gaboriault ChristianaCare has earned the Transformational Leadership Award for excelling in its development and deployment of transformational information technology that improves the delivery of care and streamlines administrative services. Presented by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the American Hospital Association, the award is jointly bestowed to Janice Nevin, M.D., MPH, ChristianaCare’s president and CEO, and Randy Gaboriault, MS, MBA, ChristianaCare’s chief digital and information officer and senior vice president. “Their trailblazing commitment to rapid transformation has set an example for the entire industry in how to pursue a leadership vision with determination, brilliant planning and courage to overcome all challenges,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell. Under the leadership of Nevin and Gaboriault, ChristianaCare has created and deployed new organizational, digital capabilities for both patient and caregiver. Using voice-enabled technology, ChristianaCare HomeHealth patients can interact with an internally developed Alexa capability to guide them through their personalized daily therapy regimens. Similarly, ChristianaCare recently launched the ability for in-house postpartum patients to use an Amazon Echo device to ask questions, request help or communicate with their care team. Taking voice and digital capabilities further, in February 2022, ChristianaCare deployed an innovative tool called Moxi, a collaborative robot – or “cobot” – that can assist in the hospital by making deliveries and performing other non-clinical tasks so that nurses and other clinical caregivers can spend more time focused on what they do best: caring for patients. “Randy is a phenomenal leader, with a relentless focus on creating a culture of innovation for impact, solving for the most complex problems and delivering significantly improved outcomes,” Nevin said. “His work has made ChristianaCare a model for how transformative technology can help to create health so that every person can flourish.” ChristianaCare continues to be recognized for leading innovation in the health care industry. The organization was recently recognized by CHIME’s Most Wired program with Performance Excellence Awards in its acute and ambulatory categories. That level is reserved only for organizations that are considered leaders in health care technology who “actively push the industry forward” and are “realizing meaningful outcomes, including improved quality of care, improved patient experience, reduced costs and broader patient access to healthcare services.” “Under Dr. Nevin’s extraordinary leadership, we have made an intentional commitment to placing technology at the center of all our initiatives to enable our caregivers to best serve our patients,” Gaboriault said. “That commitment, reinforced by our organization’s core behavior to continuously look for new ways to innovate, means that we are able to introduce and leverage robotic nursing assistants in a way that drives meaningful value for both patients and providers. And because our caregivers embrace change, we are confident that we will be using our cobots to assume more tasks in the future, and enable our nurses to devote even more of their precious time to direct patient care.”
ChristianaCare Named a Most Wired Health Care Technology Leader for 7th Consecutive Year
For the seventh consecutive year, ChristianaCare has earned the “Most Wired” designation from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), which assesses how effectively health care organizations apply core and advanced technologies to improve health and care in their communities. Among the more than 38,000 organizations surveyed by CHIME, ChristianaCare ranked above peers in categories such as analytics and data management, population health, infrastructure and patient engagement. The survey assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in health care organizations at all stages of development, from early development to industry leading. “At ChristianaCare we are curious and continuously looking for ways to innovate,” said ChristianaCare President and CEO Janice E. Nevin, M.D., MPH. “Embedding that behavior in our organization has led to brilliant planning and extraordinary execution of new, technology-enabled models of care as our patients demand greater service and convenience, including greater access from home.” ChristianaCare was recognized with a Performance Excellence Award for Most Wired’s acute and ambulatory categories. That level is reserved only for organizations that are considered leaders in health care technology who “actively push the industry forward” and are “realizing meaningful outcomes, including improved quality of care, improved patient experience, reduced costs, and broader patient access to healthcare services.” “We are on the cutting edge of health care innovation, yet we have only scratched the surface of digital care,” said Randy Gaboriault, MS, MBA, chief digital and information officer at ChristianaCare. “We have embarked on building a digital distribution network of health care that strengthens every day. And we are guiding a digital thread that weaves together all the components in and outside the walls of the hospital and provider’s office to improve the health of every person we touch.” The Most Wired recognition highlights ChristianaCare’s success in the launch of the Hospital Care at Home program, which is transforming the very nature of how acute care is delivered, as well as the creation of digital platforms that radically improve the patient experience. Launched in December 2021, ChristianaCare’s Hospital Care at Home program offers the highest level of in-home acute care in Delaware. The program combines virtual and in-person care provided by a team of physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and other providers, and has to date cared for more than 200 patients. These in-person and virtual visits from the health care team mean that a patient doesn’t need to leave home to get better. Virtual technology and home health equipment brought into the patient’s home ensure around-the-clock monitoring and care that mirror a traditional hospital setting. ChristianaCare’s digital patient engagement capabilities have streamlined nearly every aspect of the patient experience. Through these digital tools, the registration, check-in and intake of patients are becoming more streamlined, improving both patient experience and efficiency at ChristianaCare practices. The digital platform also enables patients to self-schedule appointments, easily complete their medical histories and check in to appointments by simply scanning a QR code with their digital device. “These digital offerings have placed our patients in the driver’s seat,” said Lynne McCone, MBA, chief applications officer and vice president of IT at ChristianaCare. “The benefits of a conducive, consistent patient journey and experience in turn improves practice operations and efficiency and dismantles administrative burdens for both patients and caregivers. It’s a huge win for consumers, patients and providers.” The Digital Health Most Wired survey and recognition program serves as a comprehensive “digital health check-up” for health care organizations across the world, according to CHIME. As success in digital health increasingly determines the quality of patient care, the scope of the CHIME Digital Health Most Wired survey reflects the progress of leading health systems, like ChristianaCare, as they reinvent health care for a new century. “We are proud to honor your team’s exceptional dedication to excellence in digital health,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell of ChristianaCare. “Your pioneering performance in the industry inspires other organizations by example. Patients in communities around the world receive better care when you drive change through digital transformation, as you have proven through your success in this rigorous program.”
Fashioning Fusion: Villanova Professor Explains Clean Energy Breakthrough
On December 13, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced a breakthrough that could change the future of clean energy. The long-awaited achievement of nuclear fusion was accomplished by researchers and, if harnessed on a larger scale, fusion energy could provide an energy option without the pollution of fossil fuels and without the radioactive waste of nuclear energy. A new world running on clean energy may not be imminent, but the state of ignition achieved is an important first step. Villanova University professor of mechanical engineering David Cereceda, PhD, received a U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award from the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences for his research on fusion energy materials—and has worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, located in California. "Ignition means that a nuclear fusion reaction becomes self-sustainable," Dr. Cereceda said. "The experiments performed at NIF [National Ignition Facility] last week reached for the first time in history a condition called scientific breakeven, meaning the scientists produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it." The breakthrough discovery was made when 192 lasers focused on a cylinder the size of a pencil eraser. That container was filled with a small amount of hydrogen that was encased in a diamond. The resulting reaction that occurred was brief but significant, as this important step has proved allusive to researchers for decades. "Those who criticized fusion said that fusion was always five decades away. That's not true anymore," Dr. Cereceda remarked. "I'm not surprised about the announcement. It finally arrived after decades of hundreds of brilliant scientists and engineers carefully working on it." Still, the national laboratory says much work still lies ahead. Scientists will continue to push toward a higher fusion output and are looking at more efficient ways to produce ignition. Researchers also believe they may still be decades away from making fusion energy a mainstay and usable for the general public. "In my opinion, some of the most important challenges that remain on the path to commercial fusion energy are related to structural materials, tritium breeding blankets and laser technology, among others," mentioned Dr. Cereceda. "Multiple challenges remain to making it a commercial energy source, but this recent and historic breakthrough was a critical milestone."
Professor Corinne Spickett will explain how oxygen can cause damage to cells and lead to diseases Her inaugural lecture will take place on Thursday 26 January 2023 at 6.30 pm Members of the public may attend in person or online. A leading biochemist at Aston University is to give an inaugural lecture on the concept of oxidative stress and how failure to control it leads to diseases on Thursday 26 January 2023. During her public lecture, ‘Oxygen: can’t live without it, but stressful to live with it’, Professor Corinne Spickett will explain how oxygen can cause damage to cells, how damaged molecules such as “sticky lipids” can be measured using advanced technology, and what their biological effects are. Corinne moved to Aston University in 2011 from the University of Strathclyde. Her first degree was in biochemistry at Oxford University and she went on to gain a DPhil from Oxford on the application of NMR to study yeast bioenergetics in vivo. After postdoctoral work using NMR to investigate stress responses in plants and glutathione metabolism in pre-eclamptic toxaemia, she became a Glaxo-Jack research lecturer in the Department of Immunology at the University of Strathclyde and subsequently a senior lecturer in the Department of Biosciences. Since then, she has been working on the analysis of phospholipid oxidation by mass spectrometry and the biological effects of oxidized lipids, especially as relating to atherosclerosis and inflammation, and has published extensively in this field. She has also applied her expertise in analysis of phospholipids to lipidomic studies of LDL in chronic kidney disease and the study of changes in yeast membranes in biotechnology applications. More recently, she expanded her research to include analysis of protein oxidation and formation of lipoxidation products during inflammation. She is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of redox biology with extensive involvement in international research. Professor Spickett said: “We tend to take oxygen for granted as something essential for life, but actually it is highly reactive and its role in biochemistry poses a challenge for organisms from yeast to man. “Through a synopsis of my career, I will explain how oxygen can cause damage to cells and, in parallel, I will illustrate how academic research careers are often non-linear and often depend on serendipity.” The lecture will take place at Aston University at 6.00 pm for 6.30 pm on Thursday 26 January 2023. It will be followed by a wine reception from 7.30 pm to 8.00 pm. It is open to the public and free to attend, but places must be booked in advance via Eventbrite.
ExpertFile-powered “Our Experts” site makes health experts findable and accessible to media at a click of a button ChristianaCare and its collaborative partner ExpertFile have been recognized with a 2022 Silver Quill Award from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for its "Our Experts" media database. Designed to easily and quickly connect journalists to subject-matter experts, this online resource has been recognized with the top prize – an “Award of Excellence” in the Communications Management, Media Relations category. The IABC Silver Quill Awards showcase business communication excellence and are acknowledged as among the most prestigious awards programs in the communications industry. “I’m proud to accept the Silver Quill Award on behalf of our organization and our incredible Communications team, including our ExpertFile partners,” said Shane Hoffman, communications director at ChristianaCare. “The ‘Our Experts’ platform has given us next-level ways to engage our experts and share our knowledge as a trusted source of health care information. It has also helped us re-imagine the traditional online news room experience and turn it into a truly new and innovative way to serve the needs of both journalists and our community.” IABC’s Silver Quill awards honor the dedication, innovation and passion of communicators on a global scale. Each entry is scored independently by evaluators who judge the award submission on factors that include: stakeholder analysis, strategic and tactical planning, quality of execution and measurable results. Since launching in March 2021, the "Our Experts" media database has received more than 20,000 online visits and has resulted in more than 200 news stories. “We are honored to earn this Silver Quill Award with our client, ChristianaCare,” said Peter Evans, CEO of ExpertFile. “Despite the pressures of the pandemic, their team collaborated closely with us to create a world-class program that continues to help a variety of audiences discover and connect every day with credible medical experts and groundbreaking research.” Powered by the ExpertFile software platform, the ChristianaCare “Our Experts” site provides a digital media toolkit with advanced search/digital content features to help journalists discover experts and access resources that make it easier for them to complete stories and meet their deadlines. Awarding top honors “with distinction,” the IABC judging panel provided a number of detailed comments on the “ChristianaCare Experts Program”: “Very well-done website. Nice content that is well organized and searchable. From planning and implementation to measurement afterward the program shows great work.” “Great work in the time of COVID. Your knowledge of journalists and their challenges. during COVID was spot-on.” “I liked the media advisories. Having been on both sides of the reporter/media relations thing, I like clear and simple. You achieved this!” “If I were a reporter, the advisory would be invaluable when I needed an expert.” “Very specific and focused on business-results. Great work here.” “Very comprehensive! You thought of everything without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.” Nearly 100 ChristianaCare experts are featured in the database today, and that number continues to grow. “As communicators in health care, it has always been important for us to provide timely, accurate, easy-to-understand information to the communities we serve so that people can make informed decisions about their health,” said Karen Browne, vice president of marketing and communications at ChristianaCare. “The COVID-19 pandemic added an entirely new level of urgency to our role as communicators, and it made it even more important for us to build strong relationships with our partners in the news media so that they can deliver compelling, actionable health information to the community—from experts they can trust.” The pandemic also highlighted the need to do more with less. ChristianaCare’s innovation was driven out of a desire to improve the reach, impact and efficiency of its media relations efforts—amid rapidly increasing demand—without the need to add additional resources. “With our partners at ExpertFile, we leveraged ExpertFile’s outstanding technology platform to create a database of our experts that helps reporters and news producers find the sources they need quickly, and it enables our team to nimbly manage their requests and facilitate interviews in a way that makes the absolute best use of our resources,” Hoffman said. “The ExpertFile team worked as our strategic thought partners throughout this process, and they’ve really embraced our desire for innovation that drives results. They’ve helped us to work smarter and do more without adding a lot of additional resources. Together, we’ve built a system and process that is helping us to communicate in new and better ways—and we’re just getting started.” About ChristianaCare Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,299 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute. ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.