A.D.A.M. has been serving millions of customers around the world for over fifteen years with award-winning products that have literally changed the way people look at their bodies, understand their health and wellness, and learn the science of medicine. As A.D.A.M. continues to grow, we are constantly creating new content internally while acquiring high quality assets externally.

A.D.A.M. has made public its commitment to editorial excellence by being a founding member of Hi-Ethics and participating in the URAC American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (URAC) Health Web Site Accreditation Program. These organizations support efforts to ensure quality and accuracy of health care content presented on the Internet.

A.D.A.M. was one of the first companies to receive the URAC seal for health information. The seal indicates that A.D.A.M.'s consumer health products are in compliance with 49 rigorous standards of quality and accountability, verified by independent audit by the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org). Previously, our editorial policies have been audited by URAC annually. Starting in 2006, URAC will perform the audit every two years.

A.D.A.M.'s goal is to reflect well-established, centrist medical opinion and knowledge. Our reviewers are given a style guide to help them write with the A.D.A.M. voice, and their work is reviewed by the A.D.A.M. Editorial Team to ensure that this is the case. Our content is targeted at the 8th grade reading level and is written in plain language, which allows the audience to understand and comprehend the message the first time they read or hear it. We strive to use short sentences, and common everyday words, and user friendly design features to make the content easier to read, understand, and use. Some of our more in-depth content is written at a higher reading level for readers who wish to pursue more advanced study of health topics. To continue the tradition of editorial excellence, A.D.A.M. has established an editorial process that is facilitated by the Content Review Board (CRB).

Our physicians are instructed to rely on primary sources such as recognized textbooks, major consensus guidelines, official reports and policies from NIH, WHO, CDC, FDA, and major professional societies, and major peer-reviewed journals. Changes in the articles are to be based on findings of well-designed studies, primary sources, or general medical opinion, and not on consumer or secondary sources.

To learn more about A.D.A.M.'s Editorial Process, a concise description can be found at the following page:

VeriMed Healthcare Network

A.D.A.M. also the VeriMed Healthcare Network to review and update many of its articles. VeriMed is a comprehensive group of over 550 practicing, board-certified physician writers and educators representing all medical subspecialties. VeriMed doctors are affiliated with leading institutions across the country, including the top hospitals as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. A.D.A.M. works closely with VeriMed on a daily basis to update and expand A.D.A.M.'s vast consumer information database. VeriMed physicians are chosen to review or write medical content only in the clinical areas in which they have been formally trained and actively practice. They are board certified or board eligible for that specialty, where applicable. Some of these physician reviewers are listed below.

ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY

CARDIOLOGY

DERMATOLOGY

DIET AND NUTRITION

EMERGENCY MEDICINE

ENDOCRINOLOGY AND METABOLISM

FAMILY PRACTICE

GASTROENTEROLOGY

GENETICS

GERONTOLOGY

HEMATOLOGY

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

INTERNAL MEDICINE

NEUROLOGY

OBSTETRICS/GYNOCOLOGY

ONCOLOGY

OPHTHALMOLOGY

ORTHOPEDICS

OTOLARYNGOLOGY

PEDIATRICS

PSYCHIATRY

PULMONOLOGY

RADIOLOGY

RHEUMATOLOGY

SURGERY

UROLOGY

A.D.A.M. Editorial Team

• Alan Greene, M.D. - Dr. Greene is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of California at San Francisco. Upon completion of his pediatric residency program at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Northern California he served as Chief Resident. He entered primary care pediatrics in January 1993.


• Greg Juhn, M.T.P.W. - Mr. Juhn joined the company in 1998 and has played key roles in product and business development. With 14 years of experience in patient education and public health program development, he previously directed A.D.A.M.'s editorial department, creating the company's editorial standards and processes. He co-authored the first edition of the A.D.A.M. Family Health Guide and developed the specifications for A.D.A.M.'s Health Risk Assessments and consumer-directed healthcare products. Prior to joining A.D.A.M., he authored a consumer health book and co-authored numerous scientific articles in peer-reviewed publications. Mr. Juhn has a bachelor's degree in molecular biology and a Master's degree in Medical Writing from Northeastern University.


• David R. Eltz, Editorial Director - Mr. Eltz is an award-winning journalist who has covered the health industry for nearly a decade. He was the previous Group Director for Belvoir Media Group, where he oversaw 11 monthly consumer health newsletters, including Massachusetts General Hospital's Mind, Mood & Memory and The Cleveland Clinic Men's Health Advisor. He has written for numerous magazines, including Pitt Med and I.D. David holds a degree in journalism from California University of Pennsylvania and is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.


• Kelli A. Stacy, Senior Medical Editor - Ms. Stacy has more than a decade of experience covering health and medicine, and is the former editorial director at A.D.A.M. The TV producer-turned medical writer and editor has penned articles for a wide variety of consumer and scientific publications, including WebMD's News Center, The Scientist, Popular Science, The Cleveland Clinic Arthritis Advisor, and Mt. Sinai's Focus on Healthy Aging. She is co-author of the book Encyclopedia of the Human Body: The Endocrine System, and a former recipient of the National Press Foundation's mini-fellowship on cancer reporting. Kelli holds a degree in mass communications from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is a member of the American Medical Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers, the Association of Health Care Journalists and founder of Atlanta-based NEWScience, Inc.

A.D.A.M. Medical Illustration Team

• Meredith Nienkamp, M.S.M.I. - Ms. Nienkamp joined the company in 1992 and has played key roles in department management, product development, project management, content development, and medical illustration and animation art direction. During her 14-year tenure at A.D.A.M., she has led teams to complete key products for the education, healthcare, and consumer markets and is a co-author of the A.D.A.M. Family Health Guide, first edition. In her current position, she is responsible for company's project management, editorial, and visual development departments. Meredith completed a Masters of Science degree in Medical Illustration from the Medical College of Georgia in 1993 and graduated magna cum laude in 1990 with a Bachelor's of Science-Medical Illustration from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska.


• Michael Gleason, M.S.M.I. - Mr. Gleason has worked for the company since 1990 and has played key roles in product development, 2D and 3D content development, and medical illustration and animation art direction. Michael completed a Masters of Science degree in Medical Illustration from the Medical College of Georgia in 1990.


• Dan Johnson, M.S.M.I. - Mr. Johnson has worked for the company since 1991 and has played key roles in product development, including 2D image and animation content development, audio production and medical illustration and animation art direction. Dan completed a Masters of Science degree in Medical Illustration from the Medical College of Georgia in 1991.


• Lisa Higginbotham, M.S.M.I. - Ms. Higginbotham has worked for the company since 1992 and has played key roles in product development, including 2D image and animation content development, audio production and medical illustration and animation art direction. Lisa completed a Masters of Science degree in Medical Illustration from the Medical College of Georgia in 1992.


• Kyle A. McNeir, M.A.M.S. - Mr. McNeir has been a key player with A.D.A.M. since 1992. He has directed the Editorial, Visual Production, Client Service and IS efforts for the company since 2000 through 2005, and has managed the web development efforts for the company since 1997. From 2000 to 2005, he directed the Engineering and Software Development for the company, building a strong development team that created proprietary content management and content deployment systems. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. McNeir served as product manager for A.D.A.M., responsible for the creation of award-winning multimedia CD-ROM's for the medical-legal, education, healthcare and consumer markets, many of which are still in use today. As one of the original medical illustrators and production managers for A.D.A.M., Mr. McNeir has been instrumental in producing the world's largest database of high quality medical imagery, animation and technology. From 1992 to 1994, Mr. McNeir served as a medical illustrator and multimedia producer, creating 2-D and 3-D digital animation and graphics, video as well as audio production. Prior to A.D.A.M., Mr. McNeir attended the University of Illinois, Chicago, obtaining a Master's degree in Biomedical Visualization.

ADAM licenses and resells third party content, such as news and drug information. This content may or may not contain all information normally included in our articles, such as the specific reviewer name. If the reviewer name is absent, the source of the content is recognized as the institution that produced and/or reviewed the content. If A.D.A.M. is not provided the specific reviewer information from the third party vendor, A.D.A.M. cannot display the specific reviewer information with the article, only the institution name.

ADAM continues to review "best of breed" content providers. As vendors are found and reviewed, ADAM reserves the right to add, replace or remove third party content from our licensed product line.

A.D.A.M. writes and updates its Health Management Tools, including the Health Risk Assessments and Wellness Tools. Information in these tools is written in plain language and based on scientific evidence published in peer-reviewed journals and other reputable sources. References are provided for each individual tool. Updates to these tools are documented in the "Reviewed by" section of the article. All tools are reviewed and approved by a physician every two years.

The following guidelines have been established by A.D.A.M. Inc. to govern the aspects of advertising and sponsorship. For these purposes, "advertising" includes banner, contextual advertising, sponsored content, and or promotions. "Sponsorship" includes any and all third party entities that create, promote, and/or distribute products and services. These regulations govern issues such as acceptance or denial of advertisements and or sponsorship by A.D.A.M. Inc. . This policy may be modified at any time using A.D.A.M.'s sole discretion. If a modification occurs, A.D.A.M. will post a revised policy to the www.adam.com site.

A.D.A.M. does not accept advertising from outside parties to be displayed either on the www.adam.com website, the demonstration website, the online store located on the www.adam.com website or in the A.D.A.M. licensed content.

A.D.A.M. does not place advertisements in our content, nor do we generate any revenue from advertising or sponsorships. Clients who license our content may place advertising on the individual content pages, and may use words, design or placement to differentiate this from their A.D.A.M. licensed content. The client has the ability to decide how to differentiate between A.D.A.M. licensed content and sponsored content.

A.D.A.M. has sole discretion for determining the types of advertising that will be accepted and displayed on the www.adam.com, and under no circumstances shall A.D.A.M.'s acceptance of any advertisement be considered an endorsement of the product(s) and/or service(s) advertised or for the company that manufactures, distributes, or promotes such product(s) or service(s).

A.D.A.M. retains the exclusive right to determine the way in which any and all search results for specific information by topic, keyword or code are displayed on the www.adam.com website or in A.D.A.M. licensed content. A.D.A.M. search results are not influenced based on monetary incentives provided by any advertisers or sponsors.

A.D.A.M. does not license or display "sponsored" content on the www.adam.com website or license "sponsored" content to our clients. All content found on our website or licensed to our clients has been created by, provided by, or influenced by either A.D.A.M. personnel or consulting professionals hired through our preferred vendors, who have a demonstrated ability to track, review schedules, article versions, and ongoing feedback on specific information. Vendors must also have safeguards against editorial conflicts of interest.

A.D.A.M. will not contact you to promote goods and services. A.D.A.M. will only contact you if you have selected "Yes" from the "Would you like to receive future email updates from A.D.A.M. " checkbox found in our online forms or requested sales information through our sales contact form.

A.D.A.M. 's editorial staff members must disclose all financial and/or other interests that he or she may have in medical, medical device, biotech, drug, or other companies that have a vested interest and/or influence in health care. Disclosures must be made to the appropriate manager, director or vice president at hiring or when said interest develops. Supervisors will review with company officers to decide if there is a conflict of interest. If conflict of interest is determined, the staff member will be reassigned or steps will be taken to rectify the situation.

A.D.A.M. has no conflicts of interest in editorial decisions. Our review partner, VeriMed, asks their professionals about potential conflicts of interest. To date, no reviewers have had any conflicts of interest. As most of the physicians A.D.A.M. and VeriMed use are in fellowships and at the peak of their academic training, they tend not to be at the point of their careers where they have developed consulting agreements with pharmaceutical and/or device companies.

A.D.A.M.'s editorial processes are completely independent of any client relationships, except when we develop custom content for specific clients. In these instances, the content does not, nor will ever contain any mention of URAC or display the seal.

A.D.A.M. has no financial and/or business relationship based on linking to third party web sites. A.D.A.M. selects its content partners after a thorough analysis of competing vendors. Only vendors with high editorial standards are considered, such as Reuters News, HealthDay News, Multum an Lexicomp. A final decision is made based on vendors that use qualified staff and have reliable procedures in place for developing and updating their own content. This includes a demonstrated ability to track review schedules, article versions, and ongoing feedback on specific information. Vendors must also have safeguards against editorial conflicts of interest. For more information, please read our linkng policy below.

A.D.A.M. (A.D.A.M.-NASDAQ) is a publicly traded company. Our content is not supported or endorsed by any individual, group, company, or industry that could influence the content.

The web site owner is:
A.D.A.M., Inc.
1600 RiverEdge Parkway
Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30328


Linking Policy

A.D.A.M. has no financial and/or business relationship based on linking to third party web sites. A.D.A.M. does not include sponsored links, paid inclusion links, cross-promotional links with agreements of a financial nature or any other associated programs. A.D.A.M. content links only to a select number of high quality web sites. These sites must have the following criteria:

• Non-profit organization
• Mission and goals clearly explained on site
• Focuses on a specific disease or health topic
• Provides in-depth information that is easy to find on the site
• Content is developed by qualified staff, including physician review, and kept up to date

A.D.A.M. does not host/deliver our medical health content for end-users, and does not link to third parties from our corporate website. A.D.A.M. licenses and delivers it's content to clients who in turn, deliver this content to end-users. A.D.A.M. has chosen not to install code in our content notifying the end user that selecting a hyperlink linked to an outside party may take them away from the host site nor do we provide the information in a pop-up window. The decision and technology used to handle "linked sites" is left up to each individual client.

Spyware is software that is installed deceptively to gather information about you without your knowledge. This can include centrally recording your personal internet usage, monitoring your keyboard strokes or capturing personal information.

Web pages and content provided by A.D.A.M., Inc. contains NO spyware. A.D.A.M., Inc. does not condone the use of spyware nor support the distribution of spyware to others.

On occasion, A.D.A.M. uses "Session Cookies", which are not considered "Spyware", to enhance the usability and functionality of the A.D.A.M. websites, in particular our Online Store. Information derived from "Session Cookies" are solely used by A.D.A.M., Versign, and our shipping vendors to move you through the forms needed to purchase, process and ship a product, and not in any way distributed to any other third parties. In addition, these cookies may be used to determine if the user has previously completed an online form, and populate these previous responses in the form. "Cookies" are solely used to enhance the user experience of the website to the end user. In no way is the information contained in or derived from the use of "Cookies" used outside the scope of its intended purpose.