InfoCommerce Launches Healthcare Info Arm

US database consulting and research firm InfoCommerce Group (ICG) has launched a division catering for the medical, life science and healthcare sectors.

The firm says its new Health Content Advisors practice will serve as an 'industry connector' and provide perspective on how to turn trends into opportunities. It will also monitor the shifts in information usage in all sectors of the healthcare market to help clients evaluate where new investment should be made.

Explaining the reason for the launch, ICG Founder and MD Russell Perkins said that despite the growing need for healthcare information, the health content industry remains fragmented and compartmentalized. 'Improving the flow of information among health content providers is itself an important part of building best of breed products that address both the business needs of the healthcare industry and the trend toward consumer-driven healthcare,' he added.

Group MD Janice McCallum will head the new practice. With a background of more than twenty years in online publishing, McCallum has previously held senior-level product management and content development positions for companies including Individual Inc, Dialog Information Services (now part of Thomson Scientific) and DeepCanyon, a Hewlett-Packard company. She has an MBA from the University of Chicago.

ICG was formed in 1995 to provide guidance, research and advice to producers of commercial database content. Based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, the company is online at www.infocommercegroup.com .