Privacy Policy
Effective as of March 12, 2025
MedHum (“MedHum,” “we“, “us” or “our“) is an online educational resource which cultivates critical thinking and empathy in a curated forum of reviews, interviews, and opinion pieces exploring the human condition as expressed through medicine, literature, and the arts. This Privacy Policy describes how MedHum processes personal information that we collect through our digital or online properties or services that link to this Privacy Policy (including as applicable, our website located at https://medhum.org/, and social media pages) as well as our marketing activities and other activities described in this Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Service”)).
Personal information we collect
Information you provide to us. Personal information you may provide to us through the Service includes:
- Contact data, such as your first and last name, salutation, email address, billing and mailing addresses, professional title and company name, and phone number.
- Demographic data, such as your city, state, and country of residence.
- Communications data based on our exchanges with you, including when you contact us through the Service, social media, or otherwise.
- Transactional data, such as information relating to or needed to complete your donations on or through the Service, including amount/number of donations and donation history.
- Marketing data, such as your preferences for receiving our marketing communications and details about your engagement with them.
- User-generated content data, such as comments, questions, messages, reviews, and other content or information that you transmit, or otherwise make available on the Service, as well as associated metadata. Metadata includes information on how, when, where and by whom a piece of content was collected and how that content has been formatted or edited. Metadata also includes information that users can add or can have added to their content, such as keywords, geographical or location information, and other similar data.
- Payment data needed to complete donations, including payment card information is collected and processed directly by our project sponsor, New York Foundation of Arts (“NYFA”) as further described below in the “How We Share Your Personal Information” section.
- Other data not specifically listed here, including data inferred or derived from the categories listed in this section, which we will use as described in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection.
Third-party sources. We may combine personal information we receive from you with personal information that we obtain from other sources, such as:
- Public sources, such as government agencies, scientific journals, research databases, public records, social media platforms, and other publicly available sources.
- Service providers that provide services on our behalf or help us operate the Service or our business.
Automatic data collection. We, our service providers, and our business partners may automatically log information about you, your computer or mobile device, and your interaction over time with the Service, our communications and other online services, such as:
- Device data, such as your computer or mobile device’s operating system type and version, manufacturer and model, browser type, screen resolution, RAM and disk size, CPU usage, device type (e.g., phone, tablet), IP address, unique identifiers (including identifiers used for advertising purposes), language settings, mobile device carrier, radio/network information (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE, 3G), and general location information such as city, state or geographic area.
- Online activity data, such as pages or screens you viewed, how long you spent on a page or screen, the website you visited before browsing to the Service navigation paths between pages or screens, information about your activity on a page or screen, access times and duration of access, and whether you have opened our emails or clicked links within them.
Communication interaction data such as your interactions with our email, text or other communications (e.g., whether you open and/or forward emails) – we may do this through use of pixel tags (which are also known as clear GIFs), which may be embedded invisibly in our emails.
Tracking Technologies
Cookies and similar technologies. Some of the automatic collection described above is facilitated by the following technologies:
- Cookies, which are small text files that websites store on user devices and that allow web servers to record users’ web browsing activities and remember their submissions, preferences, and login status as they navigate a site. Cookies used on our sites include both “session cookies” that are deleted when a session ends, “persistent cookies” that remain longer, “first party” cookies that we place and “third party” cookies that our third-party business partners and service providers’ place.
- Local storage technologies, like HTML5, that provide cookie-equivalent functionality but can store larger amounts of data on your device outside of your browser in connection with specific applications.
- Web beacons, also known as pixel tags or clear GIFs, which are used to demonstrate that a webpage or email was accessed or opened, or that certain content was viewed or clicked.
For information concerning your choices with respect to the use of tracking technologies, see the Your choices section, below.
How we use your personal information
We may use your personal information for the following purposes or as otherwise described at the time of collection:
Service delivery and operations. We may use your personal information to:
- provide the Service;
- enable security features of the Service;
- communicate with you about the Service, including by sending Service-related announcements, updates, security alerts, and support and administrative messages;
- communicate with you about events or contests in which you participate; and
- provide support for the Service, and respond to your requests, questions and feedback.
Service improvement and analytics. We may use your personal information to analyze your usage of the Service, improve the Service, improve the rest of our business, help us understand user activity on the Service, including which pages are most and least visited and how visitors move around the Service, as well as user interactions with our emails, and to develop new products and services. For example, we use Google Analytics for this purpose. You can learn more about Google Analytics and how to prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our sites here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.
Marketing. We and our service providers may collect and use your personal information for direct marketing communications and may personalize these messages based on your needs and interests. You may opt-out of our marketing communications as described in the Opt-out of communications section below.
Compliance and protection. We may use your personal information to:
- comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas, investigations or requests from government authorities;
- protect our, your or others’ rights, privacy, safety or property (including by making and defending legal claims);
- audit our internal processes for compliance with legal and contractual requirements or our internal policies;
- enforce the terms and conditions that govern the Service; and
- prevent, identify, investigate and deter fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical or illegal activity, including cyberattacks and identity theft.
To create aggregated, de-identified and/or anonymized data. We may create aggregated, de-identified and/or anonymized data from your personal information and that of other individuals whose personal information we collect. We make personal information into de-identified and/or anonymized data by removing information that makes the data identifiable to you. We may use this aggregated, de-identified and/or anonymized data and share it with third parties for our lawful business purposes, including to analyze and improve the Service and promote our business.
Cookies and similar technologies. In addition to the other uses included in this section, we may use the Cookies and similar technologies described above for the following purposes:
- Technical operation. To allow the technical operation of the Service.
- Functionality. To enhance the performance and functionality of our services.
Analytics. To help us understand user activity on the Service, including which pages are most and least visited and how visitors move around the Service, as well as user interactions with our emails. For example, we use Google Analytics for this purpose. You can learn more about Google Analytics and how to prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our sites here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.
How we share your personal information
We may share your personal information with the following parties and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, in other applicable notices, or at the time of collection.
Service providers. Third parties that provide services on our behalf or help us operate the Service or our business (such as hosting, information technology, customer support, email delivery, marketing, consumer research and website analytics).
Payment processors. Any payment card information you use to make a purchase on the Service is collected and processed directly by our project sponsor, NYFA. If you would like to learn more about the NYFA, please refer to their privacy policy here: https://www.nyfa.org/privacy-policy/.
Third parties designated by you. We may share your personal information with third parties where you have instructed us or provided your consent to do so.
Partners. Third parties with whom we partner, including parties with whom we co-sponsor events or promotions, with whom we jointly offer products or services, or whose products or services may be of interest to you.
Professional advisors. Professional advisors, such as lawyers, auditors, bankers and insurers, where necessary in the course of the professional services that they render to us.
Authorities and others. Law enforcement, government authorities, and private parties, as we believe in good faith to be necessary or appropriate for the Compliance and protection purposes described above.
Business transferees. We may disclose personal information in the context of actual or prospective business transactions (e.g., investments in MedHum, financing of MedHum, or the sale, transfer or merger of all or part of our business or assets), for example, we may need to share certain personal information with prospective counterparties and their advisers. We may also disclose your personal information to an acquirer, successor, or assignee of MedHum as part of any merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or similar transaction, and/or in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership in which personal information is transferred to one or more third parties as one of our business assets.
Other users and the public. At your election, your reviews, comments, and other user-generated content data may be visible to other users of the Service and the public. For example, other users of the Service or the public may have access to your information if you chose to make your profile or other information available to them through the Service, such as when you provide comments, reviews, survey responses, or share other content. This information can be seen, collected and used by others, including being cached, copied, screen captured or stored elsewhere by others (e.g., search engines), and we are not responsible for any such use of this information.
Your choices
Opt-out of communications. You may opt-out of marketing-related emails by following the opt-out or unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the email, or by contacting us. Please note that if you choose to opt-out of marketing-related emails, you may continue to receive service-related and other non-marketing emails.
Cookies. Most browsers let you remove or reject cookies. To do this, follow the instructions in your browser settings. Many browsers accept cookies by default until you change your settings. Please note that if you set your browser to disable cookies, the Service may not work properly. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your browser and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. You can also configure your device to prevent images from loading to prevent web beacons from functioning.
Blocking images/clear gifs: Most browsers and devices allow you to configure your device to prevent images from loading. To do this, follow the instructions in your particular browser or device settings.
Do Not Track. Some Internet browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals. To find out more about “Do Not Track,” please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.
Declining to provide information. We need to collect personal information to provide certain services. If you do not provide the information we identify as required or mandatory, we may not be able to provide those services.
Othersites and services
The Service may contain links to websites, mobile applications, and other online services operated by third parties. In addition, our content may be integrated into web pages or other online services that are not associated with us. These links and integrations are not an endorsement of, or representation that we are affiliated with, any third party. We do not control websites, mobile applications or online services operated by third parties, and we are not responsible for their actions. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of the other websites, mobile applications and online services you use.
Security
We employ certain technical, organizational and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information we collect. However, security risk is inherent in all internet and information technologies, and we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.
International data transfer
We are headquartered in the United States and may use service providers that operate in other countries. Your personal information may be transferred to the United States or other locations where privacy laws may not be as protective as those in your state, province, or country.
Children
The Service is not intended for use by anyone under 18 years of age. If you are a parent or guardian of a child from whom you believe we have collected personal information in a manner prohibited by law, please contact us. If we learn that we have collected personal information through the Service from a child without the consent of the child’s parent or guardian as required by law, we will comply with applicable legal requirements to delete the information.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by updating the date of this Privacy Policy and posting it on the Service or other appropriate means. Depending on the change that we make to this policy, we might notify you of the change or ask for your consent to it. Any modifications to this Privacy Policy will be effective upon our posting the modified version (or as otherwise indicated at the time of posting).
How to contact us
Email: in**@****um.org