[afro-nets] SATELLIFE Honored as 2004 Tech Museum Awards Laureate

[Leela McCullough <leela@healthnet.org>]

SATELLIFE Honored as 2004 Tech Museum Awards Laureate
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(SATELLIFE runs this discussion group)

Top Five Finalists to Share $250,000 Prize for Applying Technol-
ogy to Improve Quality of Life Around the World

Watertown, MA ­ September 13, 2004 ­ SATELLIFE has been named a
2004 Tech Museum Awards Laureate. The Tech Museum of Innovation,
located in San Jose, California, announced 25 Laureates for the
prestigious awards program, which celebrates those who leverage
new and existing technologies to benefit humanity. SATELLIFE has
been named a Laureate for the Health Category Award.

?We are incredibly honored to be a Tech Museum Award Laureate
and would like to share this recognition with the thousands of
health professionals around the world who use our network to
share ideas and information in order to heal and save lives,?
said Holly Ladd, Executive Director of SATELLIFE. ?We have seen
firsthand how modest investments in technology can transform
health care in the world?s poorest countries. A relatively inex-
pensive handheld computer can carry a virtual library of knowl-
edge to the most remote African village plagued by malaria and
AIDS. This recognition from the Tech Museum enables us to help
other people see the connection between an everyday office tool
that we take for granted in the United States and the child in
Africa whose life can be saved thanks to the information it
makes available.?

SATELLIFE?s mission is to improve global health by empowering
health professionals with the information they need to heal and
save lives. The organization was founded in 1989 by Dr. Bernard
Lown, a world-renowned cardiologist and co-founder of the Nobel
Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War who practices at the Lown Cardio-
vascular Center in Brookline, Massachusetts. Well before the
Internet became a household phenomenon, SATELLIFE began to ad-
dress the crisis of information poverty in the world?s poorest
countries, where doctors lack access to even the most basic
health information. In hospitals and clinics where high speed
Internet connections are an unimaginable luxury, SATELLIFE has
had a history of finding alternative ways to deliver lifesaving
information and enable communication, including low-earth-orbit
satellites and store-and-forward email.

The Tech Museum Award is the result of SATELLIFE?s most recent
work as one of the world?s first organizations to bring handheld
computers to Africa, where they are used to provide up-to-date
health and medical information, support continuing medical edu-
cation, enhance patient care, and collect valuable community
health data. On November 10, at a black tie Awards Gala, Silicon
Valley leaders and delegates from the United Nations will join
together to honor all 25 Laureates, and one Laureate from each
of five categories will be awarded a $50,000 cash honorarium.

This year, an esteemed panel of judges considered more than 320
applications from 80 countries, a 20% increase in countries rep-
resented over last year?s applicants. This year?s 25 Tech Awards
Laureates come from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, In-
dia, Guatemala, Nepal, Nigeria, Singapore, The United States,
and Uruguay. ?The Tech Museum Awards uniquely recognizes those
who use technology to benefit mankind,? said The Tech?s Presi-
dent and CEO Peter Giles. ?By celebrating this spirit of innova-
tion, The Tech seeks to inspire a new generation of socially
conscious leaders who will leverage technology to address the
myriad of challenges we face as a global community.? ?The Tech
Museum Awards honor leaders who have developed breakthrough
technologies demonstrating innovation and advancement world-
wide,? stated Jim Morgan, Chairman of presenting sponsor Applied
Materials. ?By harnessing technology, they have truly benefited
society with their life altering work around the globe.?

For more information on the awards and laureates, visit
http://www.techawards.org

About SATELLIFE
SATELLIFE is a registered 501(c)3 organization based in Water-
town, Massachusetts. To realize its mission of improving health
in the world?s poorest nations through the innovative use of in-
formation technology, SATELLIFE and its partners have created
HealthNet, a global information and communication network that
facilitates knowledge exchange and communication among health
professionals around the world.

For more information about SATELLIFE and its handheld computer
project, please visit http://www.healthnet.org or contact Execu-
tive Director Holly Ladd <hladd@usa.healthnet.org> or phone:
+1-617-926-9400.

About The Tech Museum Awards
The concept for The Tech Awards and its five categories was in-
spired in part by The State of the Future report of The Millen-
nium Project of the American Council for the United Nations Uni-
versity, which recommends that award recognition is an effective
way to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and technological ap-
plications to improve the human condition. The Tech Awards were
inaugurated in 2001, and have since recognized 75 Laureates for
their pioneering work to benefit society through the use and/or
development of new technologies. For more information visit
http://www.techawards.org

The Tech Museum Award Partners
The Tech Awards represent a collaborative effort among educa-
tional institutions and business. Silicon Valley leaders sup-
porting The Tech Awards include presenting sponsor Applied Mate-
rials, Inc. and Santa Clara University?s Center for Science,
Technology, and Society. Category sponsors include Intel, Accen-
ture, Microsoft, and Agilent. Sponsorship of The Tech Awards
provides an organization with an opportunity to showcase its
support of the global community and align itself with a prestig-
ious program whose sole focus is to address critical challenges
facing the world. For more information on sponsorship opportuni-
ties, email corporate@thetech.org.

About The Tech Museum of Innovation
Located in the heart of downtown San Jose, Silicon Valley,
Calif., The Tech Museum of Innovation, a non-profit organiza-
tion, engages people of all ages and backgrounds in exploring
and experiencing the technologies affecting their lives and aims
to inspire the young to become innovators in the technologies of
the future. For more information, visit www.thetech.org or call
+1-408-294-TECH.

Media contact:
Holly Ladd
Executive Director, SATELLIFE
Tel. +1-617-926-9400
mailto:hladd@healthnet.org
or
Rebecca Riccio
Director of Programs & External Relations
SATELLIFE
Tel. +1-617-926-9400
mailto:rriccio@healthnet.org

Tony Santos
The Tech Museum of Innovation
Tel. +1-408-795-6226
mailto:tsantos@thetech.org

Mike Barash
Ketchum Public Relations
Tel. +1-415-984-6147
mailto:michael.barash@ketchum.com


--
Leela McCullough, Ed.D.
Director of Information Services
SATELLIFE 30 California Street
Watertown, MA 02472, USA
Tel: +1-617-926-9400
Fax: +1-617-926-1212
mailto:leela@healthnet.org
http://www.healthnet.org