[ Roberta's Ramblings ]

Siemens Ultrasound and Ultralistening

November 14, 1997

Hello OBGYN.netters

Great News! We are going to launch a new section devoted entirely to Ob/Gyn Ultrasound thanks to the sponsorship of Siemens Ultrasound. I wish I could say that this was all part of a carefully orchestrated plan on my part but then I would be stretching the truth. It really all came about because of the work of a lot of good people and a little luck.

Terry DuBose the author of Fetal Sonography and our OBGYN.net Correspondent, and I, have talked about doing a section devoted entirely to Ob/Gyn Ultrasound for well over a year. We had made quite a few attempts to find a sponsor among companies that already had web sites without having any luck. Everyone we approached thought OBGYN.net was a great web site and appreciated their free listing in our Vendor Directory but no one was ready to come forward and sponsor our OBGYN.net Ultrasound Section yet. I had decided that this was a project that had to go on hold till sometime next year when the market matured.

As some of you may remember Bruce and I were attending the American Society of Reproductive Medicine conference last October in Cincinnati. While we were there we decided to split up and spend some time introducing ourselves to the companies demonstrating in the Exhibit Hall.

Frankly, I was not even thinking about Ultrasound when I connected with Bruce that afternoon for lunch. He told me that he had decided to stop by the Siemens booth and he had met their Senior Market Manager for Womens Healthcare, Doug Whisler, who was very interested and wanted to meet me and discuss the idea of Siemens getting involved in OBGYN.net.

We stopped by the Siemens booth later that day and made an appointment for the following morning. Siemens was just getting ready to launch their new web site and thought OBGYN.net might be a good way to interact on the Internet with their market. This all sounded good to me! I was totally unprepared for the meeting because I hadn't brought with me any of the statistics I would normally have used to make a good Ultrasound specific sales pitch but I explained the idea and asked Doug what he needed to make his decision.

He said it would be helpful to see an example of what we had in mind for the section and to know that there was support for this project from the Ob/Gyn Ultrasound community. I told him we could have that for him in two weeks.

Back in Austin I put out the call to Terry DuBose, MS, RDMS, and Dr. Joseph Woo creator of the award winning web site Obstetric Ultrasound. Could we show a strong enough support for the Ultrasound section to warrant sponsorship? We decided to ask for support on the OBGYN.net home page, OB-GYN-L, and the existing Ultrasound email lists. Well, the response was fantastic! I kept forwarding the replies to Doug and it quickly became obvious to both him and I that this project would be very well received.:-) Ahhh, the power of email, I LOVE IT!

So I got the call on Thursday. The answer was YES! Siemens wanted to be our sponsor. Yippee!!!

The plan is to bring all the resources available on Ob/Gyn Ultrasound on the Internet into one easily navigatable place. We will then enhance it with a monthly news page where you can read and post current news, articles, events and interviews online. Best of all we will create a Forum like OB-GYN-L devoted entirely to Ob/Gyn Ultrasound that has searchable archives.

The OBGYN.net Ultrasound section will (of course) have a global focus but be devoted entirely to Obstetrical and Gynecological Ultrasound. Although it is designed primarily as a resource for professionals it will also include an extensive section devoted to education for families looking for information about Ultrasound. Also planned is a monthly Case Study where unique and interesting cases submitted by medical professionals will be discussed.

Sounds pretty cool doesn't it? I can hardly wait! :-) I think if we really get working on it we can be ready for launch by the first of the year. But of course (as always) we need everyone to pitch in and help out where you can.

If you would like to get involved here's how to do it:


A SPECIAL THANK YOU

To everyone who took the time to write to me and Doug Whisler at Siemens, thank you. You made some Ultrasound and Siemens did some Ultralistening. Everyone here at OBGYN.net is proud and grateful to have Seimens Ultrasound Group as our corporate sponsor of the OBGYN.net Ultrasound section. Please write to your local Siemens Representative (easily found on this handy, dandy little map) and let him or her know how much we all appreciate their support of OBGYN.net!

As my dear Friend Dr. Irv Reiner of Houston, Texas always says, "Dance with the one that brung ya!". So next time you are considering the purchase of Ultrasound equipment please remember who made Ultrasound at OBGYN.net possible, our good friends at Siemens Ultrasound!


If you have any interesting news, ideas, or questions you would like to share please drop me a line at roberta.speyer@obgyn.net.

11/14/97

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