The kick-off for 2007 wtook place at the UPA International Conference in Austin Texas on June 13th with a program entitled “ Healthcare Usability in the Trenches.” The program will feature Zoll Data Systems, Theo Mandel, Ph.D, Interface Design and Development, LLC, Janine Purcell from the Veterans Health Administration and Ed Israelski from Abbott. Shane Lovellette from Techsmith will present a healthcare case study.

“The importance of user-centered design in healthcare is truly about life and death” noted Elizabeth Rosenzweig, Founder and Director of World Usability Day. “Whether it’s new medical devices or technologies; drug research, approval or delivery; patient forms or medical record sharing; emergency disaster planning or increasing the functionality of hospitals and everyday healthcare delivery, everyone is effected in some way by the intersection of usability and healthcare. There are many commonalities, yet each region of the world faces its own set of unique challenges. We believe that focusing World Usability Day 2007 on healthcare will create a stronger awareness of these issues and lead to initiatives that have long term impact on the quality of everyone’s life.”