Bios

Nancy Turett

New York City, U.S.

As the Global President for Health at Edelman, I have the honor of leading an amazing cadre of…leaders. I joined Edelman exactly 20 years ago, on October 22, 1988. No kidding. At 29, I was a medical information junkie, a world citizen (always routed for the underdog in the Olympics, never the Americans), a fitness, music and dance fanatic, and the girlfriend, granddaugther, cousin, niece and best friend of physicians for many specialties.

In 1988, we were 15 health people in NY, and another four or five in Chicago and London. And we were called Edelman Medical Communications. In 1993, when I was given the leadership position in the practice, I renamed it Edelman Healthcare -- "Medical" was important but too narrow. We became Edelman Health in 2000 – but once again, too narrow.

The world was changing and we were in the vanguard of addressing the change.

In 2002, I led a task force to reveal the identity of Edelman, and through that I realized that our health business is not its own brand -- it's just an important part of Edelman. Health is something that a lot of Edelman people do, and a lot of Edelman clients want counsel and services in. It's a societal and personal and nutritional and economic and ethical and policy and global and scientific…oh yes…and a medical(!) issue.

Today, we are a life force -- more than 400 specialists in health and many more who spend the lion's share of their Edel-time working in and on health. Our leaders head up mission-integral initiatives for health corporations, providers, universities, not-for profit organizations, life science firms and trade associations. I do a lot of counseling but learn even more than I "teach" from my colleagues, clients and board and civil society engagements.

I believe that immersing myself in the world beyond my office is key to professional growth and try to stay actively involved in the causes the touch me most. I serve on various boards, including the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the World Economic Forum's Global Education Initiative, Shaping America's Health (the obesity initiative founded by the American Diabetes Association), the Silberstein Institute for Aging at NYU Medical Center, and American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge New York.

And today, at 49, I am a wife, mother of four amazing kids, and still a fitness, music and dance fanatic. And I still look forward to the NYT Science Times even more than my weekly People magazine! And engaging in health has never been more interesting…or important.

Emily Downward

New York City, U.S.

Hi, I’m Emily Downward, senior vice president of Digital Healthcare for Edelman. I've been in digital communications and marketing for 12 years, focusing on pharmaceutical and health care clients. My degree is in health education, and since I was first tasked with building the Web site for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1996, I've been hooked on using this medium to communicate health messages to consumers and physicians.

I'm passionate about health and the Web because they are both constantly changing, requiring continuous education. It's never boring. Plus, there's the regulatory environment that pharma has to work within, making my job interesting and challenging.

When I'm not online, I enjoy spending time with my adorable nieces and nephews. I also sing (currently just in church choir and the occasional karaoke bar – although I once sang the National Anthem for 8,000 race participants), and I read voraciously (mostly fiction, but also enjoy memoirs).

Andrew Fenchel

Chicago, U.S.

Not such a shadowy figure really. It’s just the photo. I’m Andrew Fenchel, senior vice president in Health in our Chicago office.

I’ve been at Edelman 8+ years, supporting a mix of pharma and association clients across many therapeutic areas. Before coming to Edelman, I worked at the University of Chicago Press, where I played a minor role in introducing the first online versions of several scientific journals. Maybe a commonplace observation in retrospect, but back then I was amazed at how the Web impacted each discipline – speed of publication, faster content searching, expanded data sets. I’m equally struck today by the possibilities through social media to educate and improve public health. If you’re inclined to follow, I’ll convey my enthusiasm daily in 140 characters or less on Twitter.

In addition to the work stuff, I care deeply about politics and baseball, both of which lend themselves to obsessive blog reading and occasional yelling at the television. And I’m having a kid this spring, our first, which lately has lent itself to some restless sleep, but more often to a lot of excitement and anticipation.

Gary Karr

Washington, D.C.

Aren't I too old to be here? I hope not! When I was a child, Walter Cronkite told you "the way it is." That might be why I enjoyed being a journalist, and it's why I enjoy writing, blogging and using Facebook and Twitter: it's my way to try to tell people who might want to listen “the way it is” in my own voice, or the voice of our clients if it's a business project. The changing communications landscape can be daunting, especially when it comes to politics and public policy, but it's also exciting. That's what makes the work I do in Edelman's Washington, D.C. office on behalf of health care associations and companies so enjoyable. I came here in 2006 from the U.S. government's Medicare program – the largest insurer of health care in the world – where the challenge to communicate with seniors and with the news media was sometimes a conflicting one. Competing and conflicting agendas is something I'm used to, not just from Washington but my prior life as a reporter and a governor's press secretary in Columbia, South Carolina.

I'm a Los Angeles native and the proud father of a teenage daughter, who, as I say on my blog, is mortified by my mere existence in the known world. I'm also a big fan of the Green Bay Packers, courtesy of my wife, Jen, and I do bleed cardinal and gold since my days at the University of Southern California. When I'm not perusing “the Internets,” waiting for some charcoal to catch fire or trying to sneak in a round of golf, you usually can find both of us cheering on the Pack or the Trojans. As they say around a guy named Tommy: "Fight On!"

Rick Murray

Chicago, U.S.

Hi, my name is Rick Murray, and I'm the president of Edelman Digital.

For the past two years, I've had the pleasure of leading me2revolution - a group Edelman formed in 2006 to help us change the way people thought about and practiced public relations in this digital, and very social age.

That group has now been merged with Edelman Interactive Solutions and Edelman Mobile into this new, global brand we call Edelman Digital.

I live in Chicago, but lately have been away from here more often than not. I collect guitars and will always prefer an all night jam session to a night at the opera. I'm a Canadian citizen, but have a very definite point of view on US politics (which you can follow, if you care to on Twitter), and an even stronger one on the Cubs and why this is their year.

I ride my bike about 5,000 miles a year; I'm training right now to ride 50 miles in 50 states in 50 days. Still looking for the right charity to support on that ride. I’ve been married to a wonderful lady from El Paso for 26 years. Together, we have three amazing daughters, but I respect their privacy so you won’t ever hear me reference them by name online.

I am a member of the board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and helped WOMMA craft its ethics code in 2005. I still believe in its veracity and loudly advocate its adoption whenever asked.

Finally, I will never write about our clients without their permission, and I will always disclose the nature of our relationship with any client in any post I do after receiving that permission.

Ben Seal

Sydney, Australia

I’m Ben Seal writing for Edelman Australia’s health team. There is a love for traditional media Down Under, but things are slowly changing. A quicker broadband is on the horizon and Generation Y are more than happy to share information online. This is also true for health information and Edelman Australia is riding the wave of digital and looking for ways to help our clients engage with HCPs and patients online.

I’m really excited about digital and how this new medium is changing PR. The tectonic plates are shifting and there are new skills required to listen, engage and take positive action online.

Digital has created the potential for greater interaction and multi-dialogues between sphere of cross-influence. Sound complicated? It isn’t once you understand that today’s technology has almost limitless potential. The good news is that human behaviour won’t change overnight so many of the principles are still the same… we just have more toys to play with.

Heather Harper

San Francisco, U.S.

I’m Heather Harper. I’ve been following with fascination the transformation of our health care world in recent years from the impact of technology to the health 2.0 revolution and now to the maturing e-patient community and its calls for more participatory -- or what we at Edelman call engaged -- medicine.

As an executive vice president at Edelman, my main job is working with health care innovators, often in the medical device, biotech, information management, provider and payor fields. I’m glad to have this opportunity to contribute to the discussion by sharing thoughts drawn from work we’re doing to help these organizations increase awareness, build loyal followings, raise funds, evolve the delivery of care, and ultimately achieve success that improves peoples’ health.

I originally joined Edelman in 1999 after 7 years of working at other communications firms in New York City and graduating from college at Denison University. Along the way I got an MBA from New York University and moved to our San Francisco office.

Away from the office, I’m still recovering from my days as a New Yorker and enjoying all of the culture, food and activities the Bay Area has to offer.