Mission

We are dedicated to using information technology to make pediatric wisdom more accessible than ever before. Our goal is to improve children's health by informing and inspiring those who care for them.

By addressing the connection between the health of our children and the health of the environment, we strive to make a difference for both.

By providing information, wisdom, and perspective, we strive to prepare parents to become knowledgeable partners who can work with their children's physicians in a new and rich way.

We feel strongly that the Internet should enhance, not replace, the partnership between our readers and their own physicians.

History

In 1995, Dr. Alan Greene had a thriving pediatric practice in San Mateo, CA. He was known for being an excellent pediatrician who worked with parents and kids on health, prevention, and development issues. He spent as much time as possible with each family -- discussing, diagnosing, and providing health education at each office visit. He also gave his home phone number to many of the families with whom he worked. Despite these efforts, he still found that he wasn't able to give each family all that they needed in terms of health care information. He was frustrated and felt that he was covering only the very surface of the great depth of specific health information each individual family needed. He also found that families were scheduling appointments because "Jason has a runny nose," but what they really wanted to talk about was feeding issues, sleep issues, potty training, or other important parenting issues that health insurance may not cover. His patients would have loved to have more of his time and expertise, but there weren't enough hours in the day. What a dilemma!

DrGreene.com went online in December 1995 to address this need. The AMA has called this the pioneer physician website.

In 1996, after a life-threatening illness in the family, it became clear that providing DrGreene.com as a free, public service was a "calling", not a business.

Parents' thirst to learn about their children's health remains strong around the world. Today we receive visits from millions of people, some located on every continent on earth (including Antarctica).

Ownership

This website is owned and operated by Dr. Alan Greene and Cheryl Greene as a public service. From 1995 to 1999 it was a sole proprietorship. In 1999, adam.com purchased the site to be run by the Greene's as part of a planned health portal. The Greene's were excited about being able to reach a broader audience. However, before this was accomplished, adam.com changed their focus to providing illustrated and multimedia health content to other websites rather than building a portal themselves. They also changed their name to A.D.A.M., Inc., and allowed the Greene's to repurchase this site. Dr. Greene remains the Chief of Future Health of A.D.A.M., Inc.

The Greene's repurchased the site because of their commitment to continuing to make this public health service available. When they repurchased the site, they placed it in a corporate entity, Greene Ink, Inc.

Advertisements

From February 2001 until October 2005 the site was funded by a combination of syndicating some of its content and by the Greene's hard work in other arenas to earn money to fund the site. In early 2005, when traffic passed the 440,000 Unique Users per month, it became apparent that the site needed more income in order to continue to provide this public service. We polled our readers about how we should go about future financing for the site and the vast majority voted for banner advertising. They also asked that we refuse to run pop-up ads, pop-under-ads, and advertising that is contrary to the message of the site. In October of 2005 DrGreene.com began selling banner advertising with a commitment to honor our readers requests even though the highest paid ads may fall outside our criteria. And beyond our readers requests, we strive to always be moving toward advertising healthy products.

All of the banner advertising on DrGreene.com is clearly labeled as Advertising. There is a link from each ad to a feedback form, so our readers can easily inform us of their attitudes toward the advertisements run on DrGreene.com

Syndication

DrGreene.com continues to syndicate content through our technology partner, MedSeek.

Sponsorship

From time to time a specific live chat may be sponsored by a company whose work we believe supports the cause of advancing children's health. When this occurs the sponsorship is clearly identified. We have certain sponsored content areas, such as our Health and the Environment Module that is sponsored by a Grant from the Mitch Kapor Foundation, and the Environmental Working Group. We maintain a list of all past and present relevant business relationships of the site and any of our staff. There is a link to this list from every content page on the site.

eCommerce

We provide a link to Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com where our readers may purchase books and other supplies. As part of their affiliate program, we receive a small percentage of these purchases.

Corrections

One of the great strengths of the World Wide Web is the power of networked intelligence. We encourage readers to send us corrections or suggestions on any of our content. These are carefully considered in the review and updating of each article. Each article displays its date of original publication, and of its last review and update.

Privacy

Our privacy policy may be reached from any page on the site.

Contact Us

If you've got comments or suggestions regarding the web site, simply fill out the form on our Contact Us page and hit "Send."

If you have a question for Dr. Greene, please check out the chat schedule and find a convenient moment to ask him a question in real time.
He'd love to hear from you!

If you'd like to contact the Administrative Office offline, use the information below:

DrGreene.com
9000 Crow Canyon Road, Suite S220
Danville, CA 94506
(925) 964-1793