Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this covers

KOLective is an expert network that connects eye care professionals (ophthalmologists and optometrists) with industry teams looking for expertise for advisory boards, research, education and speaking. KOLective is operated by Identity Media Group, L.L.C. (“KOLective”, “we”, “us”).

This policy explains what personal information we collect through kolective.ai and how we use it. It covers:

• visitors to our website;
• eye care professionals who request access to their profile or join our founding group;
• eye care professionals who answer profile questions in their KOLective account;
• industry professionals who ask us to help find experts;
• people who share their interest in working with us; and
• eye care professionals whose professional information we assemble from public sources.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

• Eye care professionals requesting access: the last name and state, or NPI, you search with; the public record you confirm is you; your name and email; your country and, if you practice outside the United States, where you practice; and whether you’d like to join our founding feedback group.
• Eye care professionals with an account: your answers to profile questions, such as your specialty, practice, training, approximate professional activity and procedure volumes, the kinds of work that interest you and how you like to work. Some questions are optional, including questions about your compensation expectations.
• Industry professionals: your name, work email, company and role; what expertise you’re looking for and for what project; and optional filters (subspecialty, geography, collaboration type).
• People interested in working with us: your name and email, the areas you’re interested in, an optional LinkedIn or portfolio link, and your note to us.

We also record which link or QR code brought you to the page (for example, a code at a conference), so we know which outreach works.

Professional information from public sources

To help eye care professionals be found for their work, we assemble professional information about US ophthalmologists and optometrists from public sources. These include the National Provider Identifier (NPI) registry, published research (such as PubMed), clinical trial registries (such as ClinicalTrials.gov), Medicare utilization and Open Payments data published by CMS, and professional society and conference records. This information is about professional activity, such as specialty, practice location, publications, trials and society roles. We do not collect patient information.

We do not show this information to anyone, including the professional it describes, until our team has reviewed it. A professional who requests access can review it, correct it, add to it, and choose how they take part.

How we check profile information

To keep profiles accurate, we compare what a professional tells us with the information we have from public sources. When they differ, our team reviews it. We don’t change a professional’s answers or our records automatically, and we keep track of which information was provided by the professional and which came from public sources.

Technical information

Our hosting provider records basic technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, to operate and secure the site. If you sign in, we use cookies to keep you signed in. We do not use advertising cookies.

3. How we use and share information

We use it to

• confirm a professional’s identity before giving access to a profile;
• prepare, review and provide profiles, and let professionals correct them and choose how they take part;
• respond to industry requests, including sending example experts for a project;
• match professionals with opportunities that fit the interests and preferences they tell us;
• analyse answers to profile questions internally, so we can improve how we onboard and support professionals;
• contact you about your request, our founding group, or a role you’re interested in;
• understand which outreach brings people to KOLective; and
• operate, secure and improve the site.

We share it only

• With service providers who run the site for us: hosting (Vercel), our database (Supabase), and email delivery (Resend). They may use the information only to provide their service to us.
• With industry teams, only as a professional chooses. We don’t share a professional’s profile with an industry team unless the professional has reviewed it and chosen to be considered for that kind of collaboration.
• When required by law, or to protect the rights, safety and security of KOLective, our users or others.
• In a business transfer, such as a merger or acquisition, subject to this policy.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for targeted advertising.

Optional permissions

Some uses need a professional’s permission first: using their minimum compensation answer to match them with opportunities, and including their compensation answers in our internal analysis. Compensation answers are confidential. We never show them on a profile, publish them, or share them with industry teams or other professionals, and they never set what an engagement pays. A professional can withdraw either permission in their account at any time, and we stop using that information from then on.

4. Your choices and other details

Your choices. You can ask us at any time to see the personal information we hold about you; correct it; delete it, or stop using it to contact you; and, for eye care professionals, review the professional information we’ve assembled about you, correct it, or ask us not to include you. We’ll respond within 30 days. We may need to confirm your identity first. Every email we send includes a way to stop receiving them.

Retention. We keep signup and contact information while your request or relationship with us is active, and delete it when you ask or when it’s no longer needed. We keep answers to profile questions until you ask us to delete them or our team removes them. We keep professional information from public sources while it’s accurate and useful, and review it regularly.

Security. Signup information is stored in a database that only authorised KOLective staff can read. We use encryption in transit and access controls. No system is completely secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security.

Children. KOLective is for professionals. We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

Where we operate. KOLective is based in the United States. Eye care professionals outside the US are welcome to join; their information is stored and processed in the United States. If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you can use the rights described above (access, correction and deletion) and also object to our processing, by writing to team@kolective.ai.

Changes. If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top and, for significant changes, let you know.

Contact. Questions or requests: team@kolective.ai, or Identity Media Group, L.L.C., 8435 SW 102nd Pl, Miami, FL 33173.