VCU AND VCU MEDICAL CENTER HOST MULTIMEDIA BROADCAST STUDIO

By Eric Peters

Virginia Commonwealth University and the VCU Medical Center remind various network media outlets today of their technology that gives media live or taped interview access to some of the world’s leading physicians, specialists and researchers for breaking news, features or trend expertise.

Since 2010, VCU has had a broadcast-quality, VideoLink ReadyCam system, a remotely or locally controlled camera technology that uses fiber optics to connect to VideoLink’s headquarters in Boston. From there, experts in VCU’s studio, located on the university’s MCV Campus, can be routed to virtually any location.  

A sample of faculty experts includes:

• Sheldon Retchin, M.D., senior vice president for Health Sciences at VCU and CEO of the VCU Health System, is a national expert on the role of the safety net in health services delivery. In 2007, Retchin testified before a congressional committee about proposed Medicaid regulatory changes on behalf of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). He is considered a national expert in health policy and health care delivery.
  
  
• Vigneshwar Kasirajan, M.D., assistant professor and chair of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in VCU's School of Medicine, has extensive training, experience and expertise that qualify him among the top cardiothoracic surgeons at academic medical centers in the U.S. He is an expert on artificial heart technology and leads a national clinical trial of technology that allows artificial heart patients – with the help of a device carried in a backpack – to recuperate, rehabilitate and wait in the comfort of their own homes until a donor heart becomes available for transplant.
  
  
• Kelly O'Keefe, professor of brand strategy in the VCU Brandcenter, is a highly regarded new media and branding entrepreneur who has served as president of O’Keefe Brands, a brand strategy firm that has worked with such clients as ESPN, Hamilton Beach, Sesame Street and the National Association of Broadcasters. He has spoken to reporters previously about such brand-related topics as guerilla marketing, franchise filmmaking, Super Bowl advertising and product placement, among many other issues.
  
  
• Andrew Chesnut, Ph.D., author and religious studies professor at VCU, is an internationally recognized expert on Latin American religious history and Catholicism. He is the author of “Devoted to Death,” a book that examines Santa Muerte, the “holy saint of death,” and its connection to drug traffickers, prostitutes, insecure lovers and forgotten segments of Mexican society.

For a complete list of experts, visit http://www.news.vcu.edu/experts/Default.aspx.

Contact VCU University Public Affairs to book an expert at (804) 828-1231. Networks can then call the VideoLink Operations Center at (617) 340-4300 to coordinate the shot.