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GREAT RIVER, N.Y., June 26 /PRNewswire/ — Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-wide software and services for health and human services organizations, today announced that Liz Vasti will join the company as vice president, Netsmart University. Vasti will have responsibility for managing the strategy and growth of the Netsmart University, the company’s comprehensive education, online learning and learning management unit. The company also announced a recent new contract and a referral relationship for Netsmart University.
Vasti joins Netsmart from the Oracle Corporation, a leading worldwide enterprise software company, where she has served in e-learning and curriculum management positions since 1994. She will help further define behavioral and public health-specific content and lead the development of Netsmart University’s full-featured learning management system, which enables organizations to create their own personalized Web-based corporate learning portals to support accreditation efforts, gain staff continuing education units (CEUs), and improve staff retention and productivity.
Vasti will also provide innovative, experience-based leadership for internal Netsmart corporate learning initiatives, including development of company-wide e-learning solutions to facilitate staff training, compliance and knowledge consolidation.
“Our selection of an industry leader to guide Netsmart University reflects our commitment to take e-learning in behavioral and public healthcare to the next level,” said James L. Conway, chief executive officer, Netsmart Technologies. “Liz’s extensive global e-learning experience is a perfect fit for her role in continuing to build Netsmart University as a leading provider of comprehensive learning content and source for training and certification.”
Sheree Graves, founder of Netsmart University, will assume a new role as a strategic development consultant and also manage learning content partner development.
“The addition of Ms. Vasti demonstrates Netsmart’s dedication to raising the bar in learning management and growing the quality and quantity of its online training offerings,” Graves said. “I look forward to working with her to grow Netsmart University as a premier source for online workplace curricula and competency management.”
Vasti received bachelors and masters degrees in education from the University of South Florida. She joins Netsmart University as it expands both its customer base and strategic relationships.
NorthCare, one of Oklahoma’s largest mental health counseling agencies, moved to Netsmart University from another learning provider and will use Netsmart University’s extensive course catalog and learning management platform to manage training and development for more than 400 full-time and part-time staff.
“The key elements in our selection of Netsmart University were its integration with Netsmart’s CMHC/MIS software and the extensive content of the Netsmart University course catalog,” said Butch Rice, chief financial officer, NorthCare.
Netsmart also announced a partner referral agreement with the United Methodist Association of health and Welfare Ministries, a national association of United Methodist-related and other faith-based ministries and professionals actively involved in promoting quality care in a faith-based setting. The association will offer access to Netsmart University online and classroom courses to its more than 400 health and human service organizations and professionals nationwide, which serve nearly 32 million persons each year.
“We’re excited to offer our members access to Netsmart University’s outstanding training resources through what we are calling UMA University,” said Rev. Dr. Mearle L. Griffith, president and chief executive officer of the United Methodist Association of health and Welfare Ministries. “The learning management system will be an effective management tool for our member agencies, and the many useful courses will enhance the preparation and job satisfaction of their employees.”
For information about Netsmart University and Netsmart’s full range of solutions for health and human services organizations, visit or call 1-800-421-7503.
About Netsmart Technologies, Inc.
Netsmart Technologies is an established, leading supplier of enterprise-wide software solutions for health and human services providers. More than 18,000 customer organizations, including 350,000 care providers and nearly 40 state systems, use Netsmart products to help improve the quality of life for millions of people each year.
Netsmart’s customers include mental health and substance abuse treatment agencies, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health practices, public health departments, vital records offices and managed care organizations. Netsmart’s products are full-featured information systems that operate on a variety of operating systems, hardware platforms, and mobile devices, and offer unlimited scalability.
Netsmart’s Connected Care initiative allows behavioral and public healthcare providers to share clinical data electronically within their internal processes, externally with other providers, and with consumers via a Web-based portal, enabling high quality, consumer-directed care.
Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

NEW YORK, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — mtvU, MTV’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning college network, and the Kaiser Family Foundation, in partnership with POZ Magazine, today unveiled “Pos or Not” ( an online game that challenges stereotypes and breaks down the barriers that may prevent people from talking openly about HIV/AIDS, getting tested, and using protection.
People from across the U.S. - half of whom are living with HIV and half who are not - share parts of their lives for “Pos or Not” by divulging their HIV status to help dispel myths and misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. Players confront their own HIV stereotypes as they guess whether a profiled participant is positive or negative based only on a photo and a few personal details, such as what they do on the weekends or their favorite kind of music.
Among the participants who are positive, we’re provided a window on the circumstances in which they learn their HIV status - including after the birth of a child, calls from ex-lovers, and long-postponed HIV tests. HIV negative participants share how the disease has touched their lives, claiming boyfriends, girlfriends, mothers and best friends. Every individual stresses that HIV affects everyone and that the only way to truly know your own or some else’s HIV status is by getting tested.
While “Pos or Not” confronts stereotypes and popular misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, it also provides users with information about HIV prevention, as well as local HIV and STD testing resources from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). In addition, players are invited to join the game to help underscore that there’s no way to tell a person’s HIV status from how they look or what they do.
Several of the most requested acts on college campuses and major pop culture figures are also lending their efforts to help stoke the online viral spread of “Pos or Not,” including Wyclef Jean, Fall Out Boy, Will.i.am, Alyssa Milano, Say Anything, Perez Hilton, Angels & Airwaves, Atmosphere, The Spill Canvas, 30 Seconds to Mars, Aesop Rock, Motion City Soundtrack, All Time Low and Rise Against. Beginning today, these and many others are sending the game to their fans, families and friends, via a feature that allows users to share “Pos or Not” with everybody in their e-mail address books with only a couple clicks.
“‘Pos or Not’ is an urgent analogue to HotorNot.com, designed to capture college students’ attention and harness the viral nature of the Web in the ongoing fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS,’” said Stephen Friedman, GM, mtvU. “‘Pos or Not’ was created to shatter myths, challenge assumptions and promote responsible sexual behavior - and we salute every participant, as well as the team of college students who conceived the game, for breathing life into it.”
“‘Pos or Not’ confronts the stigma and stereotypes that fuel the continued spread of this disease some 25 years since the first diagnosis,” said Tina Hoff, vice president and director of Entertainment Media Partnerships at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “‘Pos or Not’ has the powerful effect of allowing young people across the country to learn more about those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and in doing so hopefully form a more personal understanding of the disease.”
“The HIV-positive community has the unique ability to debunk myths and dissolve dangerous stereotypes around HIV/AIDS,” said Regan Hofmann, editor-in-chief of POZ magazine. “Having a face-to-face encounter with a person living with the virus can also positively affect the choices people make regarding behaviors that can lead to their contracting HIV. I think that ‘Pos or Not’ is a wonderful way to allow the HIV community to serve as an awareness and prevention tool for those who are - but who do not believe themselves to be - at risk.”
“Pos or Not” was inspired by the winners of the “Change the Course of HIV Challenge,” a nationwide competition that asked college students to propose a viral, Web-based game that would creatively engage people to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. The winning concept was submitted by a team from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and included designers Brendan McLeod and Matthew Laurence, programmers Chris Camilleri and Gabriel Montagne, and artist Chip Lundell.
College students helped conceive “Pos or Not” and are pioneering the future of digital activism every day, so mtvU, the Kaiser Family Foundation and POZ Magazine are calling on users to imagine ways the game can be even more viral and impactful. Anyone with a vision for how “Pos or Not” can be effectively executed on other platforms (mobile, social networks, etc.), remixed, or in any way serve as an even more powerful call to action on the HIV/AIDS epidemic are encouraged to send ideas to . mtvU and the Kaiser Family Foundation are committing to incorporate the best concepts into future versions of the game - or a completely re-imagined iteration - so it continues to evolve and reach more people.
“Pos or Not” follows on the success of “Darfur is Dying” (), mtvU’s student-developed videogame - now played more than 3 million times by over 1.5 million people - designed to spread awareness of and spur action to end the genocide in Darfur. “Darfur is Dying” is a narrative-based simulation where the user, from the perspective of a displaced Darfurian, negotiates forces that threaten the survival of his or her refugee camp. The game is a key element of mtvU’s nearly four-year, student-led, Emmy Award-winning Sudan campaign.
Representatives from mtvU and the Kaiser Family Foundation will be presenting “Pos or Not” at the fourth annual Games for health Conference, taking place May 8 - 9 in Baltimore, Maryland. To learn more about the conference, please visit .
About The Kaiser Family Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation dedicated to providing information and analysis on health care issues to policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public. The foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. Information on HIV/AIDS is available at , and a daily news summary report on developments in HIV/AIDS is available on , the Foundation’s free health information service.
About mtvU
Broadcast to more than 750 college campuses and via top cable distributors in 700 college communities nationwide, mtvU reaches upwards of 9 million U.S. college students - making it the largest, most comprehensive television network just for college students. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, mtvU can be seen in the dining areas, fitness centers, student lounges and dorm rooms of campuses throughout the U.S, as well as on cable systems from Charter Communications, Verizon FiOS TV, Suddenlink Communications, AT&T u-Verse and nearly 70 others. mtvU is dedicated to every aspect of college life, reaching students everywhere they are: on-air, online and on campus. mtvU programs music videos from emerging artists that can’t be seen anywhere else, news, student life features and initiatives that give college students the tools to advance positive social change. mtvU is always on campus, with more than 500 events per year, including exclusive concerts, giveaways, shooting mtvU series and more. For more information about mtvU, and a complete programming schedule, visit .
mtvU also owns and operates the College Media Network, the largest interactive network of online college newspapers in the US, and RateMyProfessors.com, the Internet’s largest listing of collegiate professor ratings. The College Media Network comprises nearly 600 campus publications that serve institutions including Brown University, the University of Illinois, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and Duke University, with a combined enrollment of over 5.5 million students, reaching an average of 5 million unique users each month. RateMyProfessors.com reaches approximately 2.9 million college students each month, via the site’s more than 6.6 million student-generated ratings of over 1,000,000 college professors.
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom , is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN/THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.
About POZ
POZ is the premier lifestyle, treatment and advocacy magazine for people living with — and those affected by — HIV and AIDS. The award-winning magazine and website () provide the most complete and expert HIV/AIDS information available in the United States. Together, the magazine and website reach more than 70 percent of all of those living with HIV/AIDS who are aware of their status. The website provides extensive opportunity for both public and private social networking and represents one of the largest communities of openly HIV-positive people in the world. For more information, please visit .
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Henry J. Kaiser Foundation

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 29 /PRNewswire/ — Developing countries need more than just access to medicines, and should
not be fooled into thinking there is a quick fix for their health needs, the
AIDS Institute, Alliance for Health, Education, and Development (AHEAD),
patient groups and other experts from around the world said Tuesday.

This warning came as the second session of the Intergovernmental Working
Group (IGWG) on Public Health, Innovation, and Intellectual Property met in
Geneva ahead of an important policy-setting meeting of the World Health
Assembly next month.

Representatives from patient groups and civil society from India,
Argentina, the Slovak Republic, Uganda, Ghana, São Tomé and Príncipe, Canada
and the United States met in Geneva to underline real-world problems
currently being ignored in the IGWG discussions as the result of the
exclusion of patient groups and others with important experience and insights
on the link between access to medicines and research and development.

“As stakeholders, we share the WHO commitment to ensuring patients in
developing countries have access to the best healthcare, including affordable
medicines. But the IGWG plan of action will not do this,” said Durhane
Wong-Rieger, founder and Chair of the Consumer Advocare Network. “The
proposed solutions do not benefit patients in the poorest countries but serve
the political and business agendas of other stakeholders, including
manufacturers and governments of ‘less poor’ countries,” she said.

The groups decided to gather in Geneva to share their common concerns
with the recommendations and process. “Public health is everyone’s
responsibility, so we believe we have a duty to share our experience and
analysis,” said James Sykes, Global Program Coordinator for The AIDS
Institute.

The IGWG was established by member countries of the World Health
Organization (WHO) in 2006 to tackle the problems with the current access to
medicines and R&D environments. This is the first high level international
body to consider both R&D and access to medicines issues at the same time.
The working group will present its proposal at the 61st World health Assembly
in Geneva in May.

“The long-term solution to developing country health care requires a
multi-faceted approach that tackles poverty, lack of infrastructure, lack of
health care workers and access to basic necessities such as clean water and
food,” said Regina Kamoga, Country Manager, Uganda, Community health and
Information Network (CHAIN Uganda). “Partial solutions risk almost certain
failure,” she said.

Unlike IGWG itself, “we have made sure to be as inclusive as we can by
inviting groups from around the world who have real-world experience of the
situations facing patients,” said Bishop Council Nedd for AHEAD.

This event was supported by PhRMA, which shares the stakeholders’ views
on the need for a comprehensive approach to providing health care and
innovative medicines worldwide.

The AIDS Institute is a public policy research, advocacy, and education
organization addressing HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis as
well as healthcare systems issues such as consumer access and patient safety.
http://www.theaidsinstitute.org

The Community health and Information Network is an international not for
profit organization registered as a charity and company in the UK and Uganda.
Set up in 1998, CHAIN promotes the empowerment of people living with HIV and
AIDS. CHAIN’s work is mostly undertaken in Africa, where it has Offices in
Kigali, Rwanda and in Kampala, Uganda.

The Alliance for Health, Education, and Development (AHEAD) was
established with the primary goal of educating members of underserved
communities about their full range of choices and options in the areas of
health, education, and economic development. To accomplish this goal, AHEAD
employs a full range of implementation strategies including: the organization
of educational outreach programs; the presentation of special events and
seminars on the regional and national levels; the publication of materials;
and the establishment of scholarship and recruitment programs.
http://www.ahead-usa.org

The Aids Institute and Ahead