Carolyn Clancy, MD, is director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; Washington), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unit charged with analyzing the nation's healthcare activities to facilitate improvement. She joined the agency in 1990, working first as director of its Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. She was named acting director in March 2002, the official appointment as director coming in early 2003. (Biomedical Business & Technology)

The "Mile High" city will attract the attention of the nation this evening as Sen. Barack Obama accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for U.S. president at Denver's Invesco field. And Colorado is using that attention to boost as well its status and strength in bioscience and med-tech, with the recent rollout of metrics underlining that strength. (Medical Device Daily)

The Democratic and Republican national conventions to crown U.S. presidential candidates have become largely media events. And a major healthcare coalition is using a successful media product – one of the best-selling documentaries of all time – to launch a lobbying effort at this year's Democratic gathering to push the approval of single-pay, universal healthcare coverage for all Americans. (Medical Device Daily)