Tom Halstead

Tom Halstead is a patient technology rights activist, educator and advocate. Former President of Stadtlanders Pharmacy (10,000 employees and $600 million in sales), And Co-founder of Hemotherapies, Inc.,, Halstead has been asked by the U.S. Food and [...] Administration (FDA) to provide expert testimony on a number of technology transfer and patient rights issues, including prescription [...] advertising with AARP and Searle where he was the Searle board representative under Donald Rumsfeld for prescription [...] advertising, and the safety of Rezulin.. Stadtlanders and Merck & Co. launched the first effective HIV medication under Halstead's leadership. As Executive Vice President of Quantum Health Resources, Halstead brokered a large number of biotech/pharmaceutical new technology/ rare biologicals distribution agreements, including Genentech, Genzyme, NORD (National Organization of Rare Disorders), Biogen, Glaxo, Pfizer, Searle, Rhone-Poulenc, Bayer, and many others, making previously unavailable rare biologicals available to children with rare, often genetic, disorders. These biologicals, not previously available to patients due to cost and rarity, include Factor VIII, IVIG, Ceredase, Prolastin, Prostacyclin, Indinavir, Riluzole, and numerous others in Neurology, AIDS, SCID / Severe Childhood Immune Deficiencies, ALS, Lyme Disease, CFIDS, Hemophilia, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, Cancer and Heart Disease. As a General Manager at General Electric Medical Systems, Halstead was responsible for the launch of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems throughout Europe, and developed the proprietary MAPS software system of technology assessment, providing expert testimony to hundreds of technology assessment committees worldwide. Jack Welch stated that MAPS "brings the Wal Mart approach to medical technology, basing it on community needs." Halstead was on the first (Hillary Clinton) panel on healthcare reform, and testified on the economics of chronic illness and technology transfer. As an early civil rights activist, Halstead worked with Father William T. Cunningham on the establishment and growth of Focus: HOPE, and was a speechwriter for Michigan Governor William Milliken.

Biographical background

Mr. Halstead was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1949. He graduated from Sacred Heart Seminary High School, received his Bachelors in Pre-Med and Mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1971, His MBA from Marquette University in 1988, and did PhD work at the University of Wisconsin and Scripps Clinic. He has worked with Lee Iacocca, Jack Welch and Don Rumsfeld in venture funding, mergers and acquisitions, new technology launches, charitable donations, and foundation screening. Halstead flew for the military in the 1960s, and is a commercial helicopter pilot with med evac ratings, as well as multi engine commercial fixed wing and jet ratings. On the venture capital side, Halstead has been a frequent columnist on charitable giving, trading and other investment, retirement and venture topics, and was one of the earliest trading columnists on the fledgling Investopedia, now owned by Forbes Digital.

Tom's lifelong commitment to kids with genetic illnesses, and activism for consumers in medical technology follow a personal history of tragedy. His maternal grandfather died at 44 of lung cancer, and his paternal grandfather younger than that when he froze to death in a snowbank after an accident when Halstead's father was only 16. His uncle, a professional wrestler, was killed when his car skidded off an icy road and the steering wheel pierced his chest. As a result, Tom's father, an Engineer at GM, invented and is named in the first patent on the collapsible steering wheel, and subsequently, the disc brake. He died at an early age of ALS (Lou Gerigh's disease), contracted in the islands serving in World War II. His mother was a special ed teacher in the low income projects in Detroit, and contracted Leukemia, in part from overexposure to radiation in the healthcare system. Halstead's first two wives both died tragically at under 35 years of age, one in an automobile accident, and one of breast cancer, leaving three young children. Remarrying, adopting, and accepting permanent foster care, the Halsteads have 8 grown children and 15 grandchildren, who include the lead team doctor for an NFL team, a restaurant owner featured on Top Chef, and siblings in social work, nursing, business, education and venture capital.

Current activities

As a fundraiser for children's programs in cancer, Halstead has worked with Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center and The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and is currently on the board of the Splendor Kids Foundation. Halstead also is the lead engineer and author of the Soul Maze video and internet games for kids with terminal illness. Halstead also is currently raising funds for the Health for Humanity1 Global Physicians training programs,, and is Founder of the MedTechAdvocates patient rights advocacy foundation.

Flomax and Avodart controversy

The MedTechAdvocates foundation has been instrumental in lobbying the U.S. Food and [...] Administration (FDA) and manufacturers (Boehringer and Glaxo) for diabetes warnings on Flomax and Avodart..

Author

Pastoral Counseling, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9841167-2-0 The Medusa Code, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9841167-1-3 Millenishocks, 1999, ISBN 0-9667846-6-9

Articles