PRODUCTION CREDITS

MedForum® is an on-line publication developed by the Sixth-Estate, a company specializing in news, multimedia, and Internet production. However, this project has required a multi-disciplinary team of medical experts, journalists, researchers, and computer wizards. The principal developers on this project are two journalists with over 35 years combined experience, Gina Presson and Susan Lavery.

Gina Presson, Publisher, is an award-winning broadcast journalist with over 16 years experience in electronic media. She started exploring the world of cyber-journalism in September 1994, and made a commitment to develop and produce an on-line service in January 1995. Her recent broadcast credits primarily involve news and social issues for both affiliate stations, PBS and radio including:"Culver Sentencing: The Family Secret," which won the International Gabriel award, "Best General Reporting in Tampa Bay", and placed fourth in the international New York Festival; "Assignment 10:Juvenile Crime" which won the Florida Associated Press and Tampa Bay SPJ award for "Best News Special", and placed fourth in the international New York Festivals", and "Everyday Heroes" a program which was carried statewide on PBS about people offering solutions to the growing problem of kids "at risk". Presson has also written and produced educational programming distributed to journalists internationally by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and spent nearly 10 years reporting for and producing for affiliate stations in Dallas, Richmond, and Raleigh-Durham. Presson is deputy chair for the (Society of Professional Journalists) Professional Development Committee, Deputy-Regional director for Region 3, and a past-President of the Tampa Bay Pro Chapter.

Susan Lavery, Executive Producer, is a veteran broadcast journalist with over 20 years experience in electronic media who joined Presson in this cyber-journalism adventure in January 1995. Her long-format television and radio news productions have garnered the coveted, Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia award, Emmy awards, RTNDA's Edward R. Murrow award, and numerous others. Her recent broadcast credits include: "Right to Retire?" for Tampa and National Public Radio, "Under the Influence", an hour-long documentary about alcoholism; "Criminal Illness", a documentary about the release of the psychotic patients into the community; and "James Richardson Goes Free" about a man wrongfully convicted finally released from prison. Lavery has worked as reporter, producer, anchor and news director for both radio and television. Several times in the last year, Lavery shared her experiences with journalists in Slovakia as part of the Soros Foundation Center for Independent Journalism. Lavery is Scholarship Director, and past-President of the Tampa Bay Pro Chapter of SPJ.