Privacy Policy

1. Scope

This Privacy Policy describes how Athena Clinical Experts, LLC handles information collected through athenaclinicalexperts.com (the “Website”). It does not cover information collected outside the Website, information exchanged under a formal engagement, or information handled by third parties not under ACE’s control.

2. Information We Collect

Consultation requests. The Website provides a Request a Consultation form. When you complete that form, ACE receives the information you choose to submit, which may include your name, organization or firm, email address, phone number, professional role, requested service, timeline, preferred contact method, a brief high-level description of the matter, and your acknowledgment of the notices displayed with the form.

Expert network applications and uploaded documents. The Expert Network page provides an application form. If you apply, ACE receives your name, email address, phone number, credentials, specialty area, years of experience, current role, licensure state, area of interest, any message you write, and the CV file you upload. Uploaded CVs are stored in private, non-public cloud storage that is not accessible without authorization. ACE does not offer public file sharing and does not publish uploaded documents.

Email delivery records. To operate and troubleshoot the notification emails generated by these forms, ACE retains delivery records containing the recipient address, the submitting party’s email address, and delivery status.

Abuse-prevention records. To limit automated form abuse, the Website records a one-way cryptographic hash of the submitting email address or network address, rather than the address itself. These records hold no directly readable identifier and are automatically deleted within twenty-four hours.

Automatic technical information. Like most websites, basic technical information (such as IP address, browser type, device information, referring pages, and pages visited) may be processed by the Website’s hosting infrastructure for security, reliability, and diagnostic purposes.

No analytics, advertising, or tracking pixels. The Website does not currently use third-party analytics, advertising networks, tracking pixels, session-replay tools, or cross-site tracking cookies.

No account system and no payments. The Website does not provide a login or user-account feature, does not accept payments, and does not offer subscriptions or recurring billing.

No PHI is requested or required. None of the fields above ask for protected health information (PHI), patient-identifying information, medical records, or privileged case documents, and you should not enter such information in the free-text description, your message, or an uploaded CV. See Section 4. The Website does not screen submissions for such content, so anything you enter is transmitted and retained like the rest of the submission. If you believe you submitted information you should not have, contact ACE at the address in Section 16 and ACE will delete it on request, except where retention is required by law or a litigation hold.

3. How We Use Information

Information submitted through the Website is used only to:

• evaluate inquiries for fit, availability, and conflicts;
• respond to inquiries about case review, consulting, education, or the expert network;
• evaluate expert network applications;
• maintain the security and integrity of the Website; and
• comply with legal obligations.

ACE does not use information submitted through the Website for advertising, behavioral profiling, or automated decision-making.

4. Do Not Submit PHI or Privileged Information

The Website’s public forms and any ordinary email correspondence are not intended for, and are not secured for, protected health information (PHI), patient-identifying information, medical records, privileged communications, or confidential case documents. Please do not submit such information through the Website. If ACE determines documents are appropriate for review, ACE will provide an authorized secure transfer method.

5. Categories of Third Parties That Receive Information

ACE uses third-party service providers to host and operate the Website and to deliver the notification emails generated by its forms. These providers act on ACE’s behalf and fall into the following categories:

• Website hosting and infrastructure — serves the Website and runs its form handlers; processes request metadata and form content in transit.
• Managed database and cloud storage — stores email delivery records, unsubscribe records, abuse-prevention hashes, and uploaded CV files in private storage.
• Email delivery — transmits form submissions to ACE’s business inbox and processes the contents of those messages in doing so.
• Domain and DNS services — resolve the Website’s domain name.

ACE may also disclose information where required by law, legal process, or a governmental request, or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. A current list of material service providers can be provided on request.

6. No Sale or Sharing of Personal Information

ACE does not sell personal information, and does not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising or targeted advertising purposes. ACE does not disclose information submitted through the Website to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

7. No Artificial Intelligence Processing

The Website does not include any artificial intelligence, machine learning, large language model, chatbot, automated decision-making, or AI-generated content feature. Information you submit through the Website is not transmitted to an AI provider and is not used to train any model. If ACE adds an AI-assisted feature in the future, this Policy will be updated to describe what information is processed, why, by which provider, and under what retention terms before that feature is made available.

8. Protected Health Information and HIPAA

The Website, the public Request a Consultation form, the Expert Network application form, ordinary email sent to or from ACE, and any file submission through the Website are not represented as HIPAA-compliant channels. ACE does not accept PHI through these channels. If a matter requires the exchange of PHI or medical records, ACE will establish an appropriate written agreement and a secure transfer method before any such exchange occurs.

9. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Website does not set advertising, analytics, or cross-site tracking cookies, and does not load third-party tracking scripts. Because the Website uses no non-essential tracking technologies, no cookie consent banner is presented. The Website’s hosting infrastructure may use strictly necessary cookies or similar technologies required to deliver pages, maintain security, or prevent abuse. If ACE later introduces analytics or advertising technologies, this Policy will be updated and, where legally required, consent will be obtained before those technologies are activated.

10. Data Retention

Information submitted through the Website is retained only as long as reasonably necessary to evaluate and respond to the inquiry or application, to document conflict review, and to comply with applicable legal or professional obligations. In particular:

• Abuse-prevention records are automatically deleted within twenty-four hours.
• Internal download links for uploaded CVs expire after thirty days.
• Inquiries, applications, uploaded CVs, and email delivery records are retained under ACE’s internal retention schedule and deleted when no longer needed, subject to any legal hold.
• Records that become part of a formal engagement are governed by the applicable engagement agreement rather than by this Policy.

ACE does not retain public inquiry information indefinitely.

11. Security

ACE uses commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information submitted through the Website, including encryption of data in transit, private-by-default file storage, database access controls that restrict data access to ACE’s server-side systems, and abuse rate limiting on public forms. The Website stores no passwords and no payment card information. No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure, however, and ACE cannot guarantee absolute security. Do not submit sensitive information through the Website.

12. International Processing

ACE operates in the United States, and information submitted through the Website is processed and stored in the United States by ACE and its service providers. If you access the Website from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those of your jurisdiction.

13. Children's Privacy

The Website is intended for adult professional and organizational audiences. It is not directed to children under 13, does not knowingly collect personal information from children, and offers no accounts, registration, or features intended for minors. If you believe a child has submitted personal information through the Website, contact ACE at the address below and ACE will delete it.

14. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights regarding the personal information you submit. Where those rights apply, you may request to:

• access or obtain a copy of the information you submitted;
• correct inaccurate information;
• delete your inquiry, your application, and any CV you uploaded;
• obtain your information in a portable format;
• withdraw a consent you previously provided; and
• appeal a decision ACE makes about your request.

To make a request, email contact@athenaclinicalexperts.com or use the contact form on this Website. ACE will respond consistent with applicable law and may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, generally by confirming the request comes from the email address used to submit the original information. ACE will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. ACE may retain information where required by law, professional obligation, or an active legal hold, and will tell you if that is the case.

15. Changes to This Policy

ACE may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes take effect when posted on this page with an updated Effective Date. Your continued use of the Website after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

16. Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy or ACE’s handling of information submitted through the Website may be sent to contact@athenaclinicalexperts.com or submitted through the contact form on this Website.