Privacy Policy

Amgen Inc. and The Amgen Foundation, Inc. (collectively, “Amgen,” “We,” “Our” or “Us”) are committed to respecting your privacy.  This Online Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) applies to information that We collect from you via this web site located at www.amgenscholars.com and www.amgenscholars.eu (this “Site”) and from your use of any Services that We provide via this Site.  For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Services” means services provided by or on this Site and any other services described in the Terms of Use for this Site.

This Site and its Services have been developed to provide an online community for members of the Amgen Scholars program (“Amgen Scholars Community” or “Community”).

The Scientist operates this Site on behalf of Amgen and may only use the information that you provide as directed by Us in accordance with this Privacy Policy, or as directed by you.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully, as it will tell you:

• what information We collect about you and your use of Our Services
• how We collect, use, share, and protect that information
• the choices you have about how We use and share such information

By using Our Site or any of its Services, you agree that you fully understand and consent to this Privacy Policy and to all other terms relevant to your use of Our Site or Services, including Our Terms of Use which are incorporated into this Privacy Policy by this reference.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

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Personal Information that you Provide

As described below, you may choose to provide Us with Personal Information through your use of Our Site or Services. “Personal Information” includes any information that could be used to identify or contact you such as your name, address, telephone number or e-mail address.

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E-mail Subscriptions

To subscribe to Our e-mail Services, you will need to provide your e-mail address. You may also be asked for other information when you subscribe.

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User Accounts

In order to register with this Site and use certain Services, like chat rooms or message boards, Amgen Scholars will send you an e-mail that includes a unique user name and password that you must use to log in.  When you log in, you may complete a user profile for your account (“User Account”) by providing certain Personal Information and other information about yourself, such as your first and last name, date of birth, address, telephone number, or e-mail address. You are responsible for maintaining and updating the registration information in your User Account with current and complete information.

We urge you to take steps to keep your registration information in your User Account safe by:

• memorizing your password or keeping it in a safe place (separate from your User Name), and
• logging out of your User Account and closing your Internet browser before leaving your computer.

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Community Areas

Any information you post on bulletin boards, chat rooms, question and answer forums, Community profile pages, or other Community areas of this Site (“Community Areas”) will be available to the others in the Amgen Scholars Community.  This Privacy Policy does not apply to information you choose to disclose in Community Areas.  Please do not post any information in a Community Area that you would not want disclosed to the general public and used without limitation.

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Interactive Features (Polls and Surveys)

To participate in Our online polls or surveys, you may need to provide Personal Information, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, or date of birth.

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Customer Service

Some of Our Services may provide customer service via telephone, online chat, or e-mail. Whenever you communicate with customer service, an operator may view and make changes to the information in your User Account, if you have one, or store information about you in Our records.

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Correspondence with Amgen

You may send an e-mail to amgenleadership@mit.edu  to ask questions or report problems with this Site, Our Services or Our products. If you communicate with or request information from Us, We will have your e-mail address as well as all other information you include in your e-mail.

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Business Ideas or Inventions.

We do not accept unsolicited business ideas or inventions.  If you send or post any business ideas or concepts to this Site, you do so with no expectation of confidentiality or privacy.

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Information Collected by Other Means or Media

In some situations, We may collect Personal Information and other information about you through means other than this Site. For example, if you answer a poll or survey on a third party’s web site (or through some other medium, such as by wireless phone), We may collect your information from the third party to fulfill some function in relation to your activity (e.g., to collect and analyze results) or if you request additional communications from Us. In addition, if you provide information to other companies who share information about their customers, We may collect information from those third parties about you. In each of these cases, We will apply this Privacy Policy to any Personal Information collected about you and combined with the information collected through this Site.

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Information About Other People

If you submit Personal Information about other people to Us, a record of that communication may be maintained as allowed or required by law. 

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Special Notice Regarding Children Under 13

We recognize the sensitivity of Personal Information concerning children under the age of 13 and are committed to complying with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.  As this site is not designed for, or directed to, children, We will not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13.

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Information that is Routinely Collected By Our Site Technology

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General Use

You may access some parts of Our Site without submitting any Personal Information. In that case, the only information We collect will be log information, which your Internet browser automatically sends whenever you visit a web site on the Internet.  Our servers automatically record this log information, which may include your Internet request, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browser language, and the date and time of your Web page request.  To assist Us in Our use of this log information, We may deploy one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser (see “Cookies” below).

If you are using Our wireless Services, We may also automatically collect information such as the type of wireless device you are using, your mobile identification number and telecommunications carrier.

Your use of Our Site will be anonymous unless you provide Us with Personal Information or have a User Account.

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Cookies

We collect information about your use of Our Site and Services through cookies.  A “cookie” is a unique numeric code that We transfer to your computer so that We can keep track of your interests and preferences and recognize you as a return visitor to Our Site.  Other than the “Remember me” feature of this Site, Our cookies do not collect or keep Personal Information.  Cookies also allow Us to collect anonymous “clickstream” data, which reflects a user’s activities on this Site.   We do not allow third parties to  use any cookies on this Site for the purpose of gathering Personal Information or associating clickstream data with a particular user.

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Beacons

Beacons are tiny graphic image files embedded in a web site or e-mail that send information from your browser back to the beacon’s originating server. The information collected by beacons allows a web site to statistically monitor how many people are using the web site. We may use beacons to track your activity on this Site or across web sites or to let Us know if you have opened an e-mail that We sent.

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HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION

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Anonymous Information

We use information about your activities and use of Our Services to monitor user traffic patterns and try to analyze what Our users prefer so that We can improve Our Services. From time to time, We may use and share with third parties aggregate information (not including Personal Information) to show general demographic and preference information among users of Our Site.

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Use of Cookies

We may use the data We obtain through the use of cookies to customize your experience on Our Site by anticipating the information and Services that may interest you. We also analyze the information collected with a cookie to help Us improve Our Site’s functionality by monitoring traffic in popular areas and to modify the Services We provide. We may link clickstream data available to Us to the Personal Information that you provide through use of Our Services or through another source. We use the information We collect through cookies, beacons, server log analysis and other technologies as they are developed for Our business purposes, including operation and development of Our Services.

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Use of IP Address

In addition to logging the IP address of your computer as you move about Our Site, We also may use your IP address to personalize Site content. We retain IP addresses, and We may link IP addresses to Personal Information that you provide.

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Personal Information

We use information about you to deliver the Services that you request, to keep you informed about changes affecting Our Services or your account, to inform you of other Services or offers in which you might be interested, and to improve Our Site and Services.

If you opt in to receive e-mail from Us, you can always opt out of future messages by following the directions in each message to “unsubscribe.” However, if you choose to opt out of future messages, We reserve the right to contact you regarding your account status, technical support, changes to account terms, and any other matter that might affect Our Site or Services.

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Product Reports

If you contact Us or post anything in the Community regarding an experience using one of Our products, We may use the information you provide to submit reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and as otherwise required of Us by law.  We also may use and disclose the information you provide to contact the prescribing physician to follow up regarding an unexpected event involving use of Our product.

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Disclosure to Operations and Maintenance Contractors

We may contract with third parties such as The Scientist to provide services for Our Site or Services.  These contractors include vendors and suppliers who provide technology and content, vendors who analyze data collected on Our Site, and vendors who send or respond to e-mail on Our behalf (each a “Contractor”).  These Contractors may have access to your Personal Information in order to provide services to Us or on Our behalf.  If We allow a Contractor to have access to your Personal Information, We will not authorize the Contractor to use the information for any purpose that is not consistent with this Privacy Policy.  We contractually prohibit Contractors from using Our cookies for their own purposes or placing their cookies on your computer when you access Our Site or Services.

Please note that if you opt in to receive future communications from The Scientist or another a third party providing Services on Our Site, your information will be subject to the third party’s privacy policy.  If you later decide that you do not want that third party to use your information, you will need to contact the third party directly.  We have no control over how third parties use information that you have chosen to provide them.

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Disclosure for Legal, Safety or Other Reasons

We may need to release Personal Information and other information associated with Personal Information to third parties:

• to respond to a request or complaint that you have made,
• to comply with legal requirements, or
• in special cases in which We believe it is reasonably necessary to identify, investigate and bring legal action against someone who may commit or cause harm, fraud, abuse, or illegal conduct.

In the event that We are legally compelled to disclose your Personal Information to a third party, We will notify you, unless We believe that doing so would violate the law or a court order or pose a threat or danger to anyone.

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Disclosure to Our Affiliates

We may share information about you with Our affiliates, but We contractually require those affiliates to use and share your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

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Disclosure to Subsequent Owner or Operator

If all or part of Our company is sold or merged into another entity, the information We have about you may be transferred to a third party as part of that transaction. We will take steps to assure that no Personal Information that is transferred will be used or shared in a manner inconsistent with this Privacy Policy without your consent. However, in the event of a sale or merger, your continued use of this Site or any Services signifies your agreement to be bound by the privacy policy and other applicable terms of the subsequent owner.

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Limited Disclosure of Your Information

Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or as you specifically agree or request, We will not disclose to any third parties any information We collect from or about you through Our Site or Services.

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Your California Privacy Rights

California residents have a right to request certain information regarding Our disclosure of Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not share Personal Information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.  California customers may request further information about Our compliance with this law by e-mailing amgenfoundation@amgen.com.  Please note that We are only required to respond to one request per customer each year, and We are not required to respond to requests made by means other than through this e-mail address.

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OUR SECURITY MEASURES

We want your Personal Information to remain secure. When you transmit Personal Information to Our Site, The Scientist uses encryption technology to protect it. As an added security precaution, all Personal Information is kept behind firewalls that meet or exceed industry standards to prevent intruders from gaining access. Although We will make reasonable efforts to protect Personal Information from loss, misuse, or alteration by third parties, you should be aware that there is always some risk that an unauthorized third party could intercept an Internet transmission or that someone will find a way to thwart the Site’s security systems.

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YOUR PRIVACY CHOICES

When you use this Site, you have the following choices about the information you provide.

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Accept/Reject Cookies

Your browser software can be set to reject all cookies or receive a warning before a cookie is stored. If you reject Our cookies, certain functions of Our Site or Services may not work properly.

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Correct, Update or Delete Personal Information

You are responsible for maintaining and updating the information in your User Account to keep it current. You may correct or update Personal Information that you have provided to Our Site at any time by updating your User Account. You may also request deletion of your User Account by sending an e-mail to amgenleadership@mit.edu.  If you have signed up for Our e-mail Services and would like to unsubscribe, you can do so by following the instructions in the e-mails We send. 

All information that you provide via Our Services is stored in servers that are operated and maintained by Us or Our Contractors. You should be aware that it is not technologically practical to delete all information that We collect. The need to back-up Our systems to protect information from inadvertent loss means that a copy of information about you may exist in a non-erasable form that will be difficult or impossible for Us to locate. Nevertheless, upon receiving your request, We will delete all Personal Information stored in the databases We actively use for this Site. In addition, after receiving your request for removal, We will use commercially reasonable efforts not to disclose any Personal Information stored in a non-erasable form, except as required by law.

Finally, We reserve the right to maintain copies of information about you, including Personal Information, for as long as We deem it necessary for business purposes, subject to applicable law.

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Communicate with Us by E-mail

You may communicate with Us via e-mail at amgenleadership@mit.edu if you have questions about this Site or Our Services. We will not disclose Personal Information that We receive in e-mail unless such disclosure is necessary to respond to your request or inquiry or is otherwise permitted as described above. However, all e-mail transmissions are vulnerable to unauthorized interception. In addition, We remind you that e-mail sent or received through an employer’s computer or computer system is not confidential and may be the legal property of your employer.

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CONSENT TO PROCESSING IN THE UNITED STATES AND ELSEWHERE.

This Site is owned and operated by The Amgen Foundation, Inc. in the United States, but the information you provide will be accessible to Our affiliates and Contractors in other countries.  Furthermore, if you are visiting this Site from a country other than the United States, your communication with Us will necessarily result in the transfer of information across international boundaries. The level of legal protection for personal information is not equivalent in all countries; however, We will take the security measures described in this Privacy Policy in an effort to keep your information secure. By using this Site or any of Our Services, you consent to the collection, storage, and processing of your information in the United States and in any country to which We may transfer your information in the course of Our business operations.

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LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES; ADVERTISEMENTS

For your convenience, this Site may include a link to The Scientist web site.  We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of The Scientist web site or other third party web sites which may be advertised on or linked to it.  We encourage you to be aware of and read the privacy policy and other terms of each web site you visit on the Internet.  This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected by Us.

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CHANGES IN OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We will only use your Personal Information in the manner described in the Privacy Policy in effect when you provided the information.  However, We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy.  When We do, We will revise the “Effective Date” set forth below and notify you by e-mail of any material changes to the Privacy Policy.  All updates to this Privacy Policy will be effective as of the date indicated, and you will be deemed to accept those changes by your subsequent use of this Site or any of its Services.

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Effective date: 10/28/2009