The 26 September 2008 launch of the Stem Cell Pilot Study
The 26 September 2008 launch of the Stem Cell Pilot Study attracted media attention with Channel 10 Brisbane running an item in their main evening TV news on the same day.
Brisbane’s main daily newspaper, The Courier-Mail, sent a journalist to interview Ian and Narelle Brock. They presented the story plus photo from the Brocks’ perspective, focusing on HSP in the family.
The Foundation and this website both get a mention.
Griffith University themselves ran a well-balanced article on their website in the Griffith News section on 26 September. Medical News Today, a UK-based online publication, picked this up and reproduced it in their November 20 edition.
As a result of this exposure, the statistics for this website show a big spike in late September at the time of the launch:
- the total number of visitors to the website was just under 500, an increase of more than 50% over the previous month
- first-time visitors represented 60% of total visitors accessing the site
- 2 out of 3 visitors to the site being from Australia, but people from 47 countries represented overall (15% from the US, 5% each from the UK and Germany and a smattering of others including Spain, the Netherlands and India)
Importantly, the increased exposure has led to a number of Australian HSPers becoming aware of the Foundation for the first time and joining us as part of our community. Welcome to those people!