Background
Altruism and Business |
When reflecting on the new CDC contract, Comp Pro Med CEO and Founder, Jeff Fisher
had this to say: “Winning the CDC contract was never a deliberate campaign on our part.
We started out wanting to do good for others and somehow all those efforts led us here.”
Fisher and his company have donated medical lab systems to universities and teaching
facilities for more than two decades. “From a business point of view, you would never
give a system to somebody that otherwise might buy your product. But, if they don’t have
any money and never will have any money, why wouldn’t you give it to them?”
Jack Ladenson, a professor of Clinical Pathology and Immunology at Washington
University in St. Louis, was one of these recipients. He invited Comp Pro Med to donate
its software systems to Pathologists Overseas. “I didn’t hesitate,” said Fisher. “They
wanted the system for the African country of Eritrea. No one had to explain the need to
me. We continue servicing several labs in Eritrea today.”
Through association, Fisher met Tamrat Bekele who was very impressed with the Comp
Pro Med Polytech™ Laboratory Information System. He wanted to buy one for a lab he
was establishing in his home country of Ethiopia. “But we didn’t sell him the system. We
felt strongly that we should give it to him and we did,” said Fisher. This year, Fisher
received a call from Bekele to explain that Ethiopia would be purchasing several lab
information systems because of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR). He explained that the lab information system had to be up and running in the
country already. Comp Pro Med was the logical choice. |
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