On April 15, 2013, what is referred to as Marathon Monday in Boston, Heather Abbott of Newport, RI set out on an annual tradition with six friends. They would attend the Red Sox game, followed by a walk over to the finish line to watch the runners. Abbott would never have dreamed this day would change her life forever.

Abbott was struck by shrapnel from the second of the two bombs, severely injuring her left foot. Strangers Matt Chatham, former New England Patriots lineman, and his wife, Erin, carried her to safety.

After three surgeries in four days, Abbott was faced with an agonizing decision – should she try and save her left foot or amputate her leg below the knee. With the help of other amputees, and the support from thousands around the country, Abbott made the difficult decision, at the age of 38, to live her life as an amputee.

Her recovery, as it is for many, was a journey through pain, anger, optimism, challenge and resilience. A significant part of her recovery was her support network – the friends, family and strangers who sent her well-wishes, the fellow amputees who helped her transition and the custom prostheses that allowed her to live her life as before.

Through insurance and donations, Abbott was given four different prosthetic legs. Just months after the bombing, she was living independently and resuming the activities she loves, including stand up paddle boarding, running and wearing high heels. Abbott has remained a model of strength and resilience and is determined to help other victims of limb loss. She is a certified Peer Counselor for the American Amputee Coalition and is helping other amputees adjust to their “new normal,” as others helped her. By starting the Heather Abbott Foundation, she has another chance to continue to pay it forward for all amputees. Heather Abbott has recently been awarded the following: the 2014 Orthopedic Association’s Spirit of an Active Lifestyle Award, an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Framingham State University in 2015, the Stonehill College President’s Excellence Award in 2015 and the 2015 Providence Business News Woman to Watch.

Currently the Vice President of Marketing and Community Relations efforts at Children's Hospital & Medical Center – Omaha, Martin works with Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officers to lead a team to deliver marketing, creative design, public outreach, and media relations for pediatric specialty hospital. Previously, Martin spent 8 years as the Director of Marketing at The Nebraska Medical Center where he planned, developed, and launched NebraskaMed.com resulting in 4 national awards in first year and over 30K in monthly, unique visitors.

In her role as Senior Director of Marketing Communications and Brand Strategy at UPMC International, Ms. Cara Carreon leads the development of strategic marketing plans and supports business development activities to bring UPMC’s clinical, managerial and technological expertise to partners overseas.

Ms. Carreon earned a Master of Science degree in Clinical Education from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. Ms. Carreon is a Registered Respiratory Therapist with extensive clinical acumen and knowledge of acute and post-acute care settings.

Dr. Patrick Carroll is the Chief Medical Officer/Divisional Vice President for Walgreen’s Healthcare Clinics. In this role, Dr. Carroll oversees all matters pertaining to provision of care, clinical outcomes, patient safety, healthcare information systems and strategic initiatives and programs that will enhance the care model. In addition, Dr. Carroll is instrumental in implementing care management programs, managing relationships with health systems and collaborating with the Clinical Office in the development of enterprise clinical programs.

Prior to joining Walgreen’s in May 2014, Dr. Carroll served as the Chief Medical Officer of Integrated Care Partners, Hartford HealthCare’s clinical integration organization. He was also the Medical Director for Hartford HealthCare’s Medicare Shared Savings Program which currently has over 20,000 patients in a Medicare/CMS shared-risk pilot program. He played a key role in leading the Hartford HealthCare’s efforts in the transition to value-based care in a time of a rapidly changing healthcare landscape. From 2010–2012, Dr. Carroll served as the Chief Medical Officer for the Granite Medical Group in Quincy, Massachusetts. Granite Medical Group is a 40-provider Multispecialty/Primary Care Group which is part of Atrius Health, a 1000 Medical Provider Group.

Dr. Carroll received his bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross and his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School. He completed his residency training at Middlesex Hospital in family practice, where he served as Chief Resident.

Dr. Carroll is Board Certified in Family Practice and in Adolescent Medicine.

Brian is the Industry Director for Health Services for Google. In this role Brian works with several national teams that support the digital marketing and advertising programs for a wide range of organizations and companies in the Health Services industry. These organizations and industries include hospitals, behavioral treatment centers, vision and dental providers, weight loss and fitness marketers and medical device manufacturers. In addition to supporting these organizations’ advertising and marketing programs, Brian and the teams he works with also work to introduce innovation to these companies utilizing Google’s array of products and services. Prior to this role, Brian was a manager on Google’s YouTube and Display teams, with specific focus on digital video advertising. Brian also serves as one of Google’s Cambridge site leads.

Before Google, Brian held management positions at AOL, CMGI and Ziff-Davis in addition to leadership roles at two Boston area marketing platform start-ups.

Brian is actively involved in Boston’s professional community, as past President of BIMA and as an Executive Committee member of MITX, as a board member of the Boston AdClub and board member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Affiliations also include community youth sports and local church leadership.

A graduate of Dartmouth College with a degree in Economics, Brian maintains a relationship with Dartmouth as a Class Officer and District Enrollment Director.

Nathan David is a Digital Marketing & Analytics Manager at Cleveland Clinic and has been with the organization for the past 3 years. Specifically, he manages marketing patient acquisition and data analytics. Nathan has over 9 years of experience in digital marketing and has driven results for a range of businesses from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses. He has helped these businesses enhance their reporting processes and drive significant revenue in the healthcare and wellness industries. Nathan is a health nut himself and partakes in mud races, healthy cooking classes, rock climbing, and the occasional meditation retreat.

Kati Everett is the vice president of public relations and marketing partner for Novant Health where she oversees public relations, social media, brand journalism, internal communications and corporate marketing activities across a multi-state health system. She has also held marketing and public relations positions with McLeod Addictive Disease Center, Professional Golfers' Association and General Electric.

Kati is an accredited public relations professional through the Public Relations Society of America. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and public relations from Radford University and her graduate degree in business administration at Queen’s University of Charlotte. She earned a certificate in marketing strategy from Cornell University and a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University. She has also completed a behavioral economics immersion program at Yale University.

Kati has a 25-year history of solid accomplishments and excels at training and developing high-performing teams, managing communications campaigns resulting in increased external and internal engagement and patient acquisition, and increasing Novant Health’s national reputation.

Active in her profession, Kati is a past-president of the Public Relations Society of America, Charlotte chapter, a past board member and membership chair of the Carolinas Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society and has spoken at local and national venues on various marketing and communications topics. She is also very involved in her community serving on various committees and boards throughout her career.

She is the 2016 winner of the John L. Thomason Award, the highest honor presented by Carolinas Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society. The award recognizes professional excellence in the field of health care public relations as well as outstanding community service and civic achievements. She was inducted into the Hospital Marketing National Hall of Fame by DTC Perspectives, Inc. in 2017. This honors executives who have demonstrated extraordinary achievement in the advancement of marketing of hospitals or healthcare facilities based on actual accomplishments, influence on future consumer launches or campaigns, and recognized contributions and service to patients as well as the hospital marketing industry.

Berny is the National Senior Director at Kaiser Permanente and is responsible for Quality, Hospital Oversight and Equitable Care. Within the Department of Care and Service Quality, Berny is responsible for the implementation and oversight of national programs to promote health equity and reduce clinical outcomes in health disparities. She also partners across the Kaiser program working on the quality and hospital oversight program, assisting the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan/Hospitals Board of Director's Quality Health ImprovementCommittee in its fiduciary responsibilities, as well as coordinating Kaiser’s annual National Quality Conference. Prior to this role, Berny was the Assistant Administrator for Quality & Compliance at Kaiser Foundation Hospital—Fresno Medical Center. Before joining Kaiser Permanente she held the position of Nurse Executive and Quality Leader. She has her Masters in Nursing Administration and participated in the Disparities Leadership Program offered by Massachusetts General Hospital.

Fiona Greig is the Director of Consumer Research for the JPMorgan Chase Institute. Previously, Fiona served as the Deputy Budget Director for the City of Philadelphia from 2012 through 2014 and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to that, Fiona was a consultant at McKinsey & Company for five years, consulting public and social sector clients on strategy, operations and economic development.

In 2009 Fiona started and ran Bank on DC, a financial inclusion program for the District of Columbia. She has published on economic and public health topics in journals such as the American Economic Review and AIDS and Behavior. Fiona was named a Rising Talent by The Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. She holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Catherine has three decades of experience working in health care management in public and not-for-profit organizations. She leads strategic planning, small group, individual and Medicare sales and service, and customer service at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT). Prior to her position at BCBSVT, she worked as a regulator of health plans at the Mayor’s Office of Medicaid Managed Care and in External Affairs for the Human Resources Administration in New York City. Catherine has an academic appointment with the University Of Vermont School Of Medicine and is a lecturer in the Master’s of Public Health program. She has an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and holds a doctorate in public administration from New York University in health services research, policy and management. Catherine serves on the Girls on the Run Vermont board and is a certified yoga instructor specializing in yoga for the workplace.

Lauren Hoogendyk is Senior Administrative Director for Advisory Services at Mass General responsible for the development and operations of international advisory activities and partnerships including Mass General’s first large scale international collaboration in Shanghai, China. Lauren completed the administrative fellowship program at Mass General, and has since held various roles throughout the organization focused on a range of strategic initiatives including Operating Room Efficiency, Clinical Operations, Capacity Management, Strategic Planning and Business Development. Lauren holds a Masters in Healthcare Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Tom Jensen is the Vice President of Digital at Mercyhealth Wisconsin and Illinois. Tom also teaches marketing classes for Southern New Hampshire University, University of Maryland University College and Upper Iowa University. He holds an MBA from Upper Iowa University and a Master's Certificate in Internet Marketing from the University of San Francisco. He is a frequent speaker throughout the country on internet and integrated marketing programs and strategies. Tom also volunteers his time to several nonprofit organizations toward the development of their internet marketing programs.

Jannienne Jones Verse is Vice President Brand Management with Geisinger. Focused on the build of innovative and metrics-based brand initiatives, Jones Verse’s work crosses the disciplines of marketing, advertising, media planning and buying, design, digital engagement, research and business operations. She walks the path of servant leadership, blending her passion for elevating teams to new levels of success with years of experience in brand architecture, technology and strategy.

Jones Verse began her career in corporate communications, evolving into strategic marketing with retail technology leader AT&T.; She aligned operations across three states, increasing AT&T;’s footprint in those markets by 64% during her tenure. Jones Verse then propelled international software giant Reynolds & Reynolds to next level B2B integrated marketing, with sales campaigns exceeding quarterly goals by the millions. In the healthcare arena, she leveraged talents in consumer journey mapping and community engagement strategies for Premier Health and Vidant Health.

Jones Verse holds many professional distinctions, among them being named one of the nation’s most talented marketing professionals and 2017 honoree as a Most Powerful & Influential Woman of Pennsylvania. Recognition for outstanding excellence in medical advertising and noted as an Emerging Executive Leader for exceptional business acumen are additional accomplishments. Jones Verse currently serves as Co-Chair for Geisinger’s Employee Resource Group BOLD (Black Outreach and Leadership Development). Additionally, she is a dedicated member of the board with the National Diversity Council and holds board membership with the YMCA in her home community. When asked of her greatest accomplishments, Jones Verse states family, and the ability to positively impact others. She views it an esteemed honor to serve as a youth mentor, develop youth leadership programs, and to share her insights and experiences via lectureship with university students, professionals and others. Designing and facilitating personal brand workshops, as well as blogging on the topic, are also areas of concentration and joy.

The Buckeye State native lived her formative years abroad. She earned academic awards and a Bachelor of Arts, Mass Communications at Wright State University. Jones Verse also achieved a Master’s in Business Administration, Marketing Concentration, Summa Cum Laude, at the University of Phoenix. She lives in Central PA, and enjoys time with her family, creative projects and travel.

Megan is the Director of Patient Experience for Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa. She has her Master’s from Drexel University and was among the first to receive her CPXP, the certification for patient experience professionals. With a background and understanding including community practice, university health, and inpatient, she has led collaborative practices to improve employee and patient experience. She is a member of the Geisinger speaker’s bureau, and a national speaker for patient experience.

At RWJBarnabas Health, Mr. Knecht is responsible for leading the strategic marketing, internal communications, digital/interactive communications, media relations and executive communications efforts of the system.

Mr. Knecht previously served for seven years as Corporate Vice President, Communications and Community Relations for the Robert Wood Johnson Health System. He has over 25 years of experience in healthcare strategy, marketing and communications. Earlier, he held leadership positions at Winning Strategies Public Relations, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Bayshore Community Health Services.

Mr. Knecht and his family are residents of Middletown, New Jersey.

Melissa is extremely passionate about the experience that patients, families and staff receive. As Director of Patient Experience for Steward Health Care, she oversees corporate initiatives to drive quality, safety and patient experience within Steward’s hospitals and collaborates with Steward’s ambulatory practices to enhance the patient’s entire journey.

Alongside her experienced team, Melissa works closely with Steward’s Northeast Region of 9 hospitals where they are using qualitative and quantitative data to sustain compassionate communication techniques, hardwire bedside rounding and enhance employee engagement. Nationally, Melissa is helping to develop the Patient Experience strategy for Steward’s recently acquired 25 community hospitals under the direction of the Chief Medical Officer.

Before working with hospitals, Melissa joined Steward in 2015 working as a Performance Improvement Advisor for Steward Health Care Network where she helped drive outcomes and achieve some of the largest increases in key patient experience domains for the Network’s ambulatory practices. For more than a decade, Melissa’s career has consisted of roles in performance improvement, operations and marketing. She lives in Lakeville, MA with her husband and two girls, ages 7 and 3.

Janet (Jodi) Larson, M.D. is the Chief Quality and Experience Officer (CQXO) at NWH and is part of the Strategic Leadership Team. She has oversight of Newton-Wellesley Hospital’s quality, safety, performance improvement, patient outcomes, accreditation activities, Medical Staff office, and experience/service excellence for our patients, their families, and NWH employees. The CQXO serves as a change agent at the center of driving service culture transformation and unifying quality, safety and experience strategies to improve care delivery. Prior to that, Dr. Larson had been serving as the Acting Associate Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Larson works clinically as a hospitalist on the adult medicine inpatient service.

Alison Lemay joined UMass Memorial Medical Center as Associate Vice President, Patient and Family Experience in 2017. Alison is responsible for collaborating with clinical and administrative leadership to drive the UMMMC’s organization-wide strategy to achieve our vision of being the best place to give and get care. She works to ensure our patients, their loved ones, and other Medical Center visitors have an exceptional experience while in our care and receive the highest quality service. She is part of the Senior Leadership team and reports directly to the President of UMMMC.

Alison recently chaired the 4th Annual Patient Engagement and Experience Summit in Boston, MA. She was a panelist at the 2017 Value-based Care Summit in Boston and subsequently featured in several articles on patientengagementHIT.com.

Alison joined UMMMC from Steward Health Care where she was the Corporate Director, Patient Experience Strategies overseeing patient experience programs at eight community hospitals. During her time with Steward, she oversaw the implementation of Purposeful Rounding and Bedside Shift Report at all of the community hospitals. She also personally shadowed and coached over 100 providers on improving communication practices with their patients and families.

Prior to joining Steward, she was an Operations Management Project Manager at Newton-Wellesley Hospital where she developed a hospital-wide Patient Experience program. She also managed projects focused on length of stay reduction, patient flow and interdisciplinary bedside rounding.

Alison graduated from Boston University with a Master of Public Health focusing on Healthcare Policy and Management, and from Providence College with a B.S in Biology. She lives in Ashland, MA with her husband and their three boys, ages 9, 5 and 2.

John Looney is the Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, responsible for leading marketing and communications efforts, brand awareness and service line campaigns, digital strategy, media and community relations, and corporate communications. Previously at Lahey Health, John worked as the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, leading all communications and marketing efforts including corporate and interactive/web communications, media and community relations, marketing and creative services. Prior to that role, John served as the Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Winchester Hospital and Director Of Public Relations at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth.

Juan is responsible for company-wide diversity efforts to identify and implement strategies to grow Tufts Health Plan's presence in diverse communities, comprising members, providers, brokers, employers, employees and vendors. Previously, Juan was the company's director of health care services where he led various strategic initiatives, including medical cost management and provider contracting strategy and analytics. Prior to joining Tufts Health Plan in 2010, Juan held management positions at Blue Cross Blue Shield and Deloitte Consulting. He serves on several boards including The State of Massachusetts Latino Advisory Commission, The Dimock Center Foundation Board, The Boston Foundation Latino Legacy Fund, ALPFA Boston's Corporate Advisory Board, the State of Massachusetts Health Information Technology Council and Quality Interactions Corporate Advisory Board. Juan's leadership has not gone unnoticed as he has received several recognitions including the 2017 Boston College John A. Dinneen, S.J., Alumni Community Service Award, 2017 Get Konnected's 50 Most Influential People of Color in Health Care, 2016 El Planeta's Powermeter: Most Influential People for the Hispanic Community, 2015 Boston Business Journal's 40 Under 40, 2015 Whittier Street Health Center's Men's Health Champion, ALPFA's National 2013 Most Promising Business Professional and the 2011 Medical Law Report's Rx for Excellence Leader in Quality. Juan earned a B.S. from the School of Management at Boston College. He is originally from Medellin, Colombia and resides in Waltham, MA.

Jill McDonald Halsey, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer Ms. McDonald Halsey is responsible for the brand alignment of marketing and advertising, website and social media, community sponsorship, internal communication, public relations and crisis communication at Lawrence General Hospital.

Ms. McDonald Halsey also advises on and provides support for cultural development around employee engagement, quality and safety, and strategic alignment of employees and physicians. Under her leadership, the institution’s brand recall and reputation have improved dramatically in consumer ratings, patient volume has increased from all primary service area zip codes, and ad campaigns for several service lines have driven strong growth in patient volume.

A journalist by early training, she views healthcare marketing as another way to employ her passion for story telling.

Deborah Pesanka is a Senior Corporate Improvement Specialist for the Clinical Improvement Department at the Wolff Center at UPMC. Since January 2007, she has served as an internal consulting resource for quality, safety and process improvement in enterprise-wide initiatives. Deborah assesses operations and processes in a comprehensive current state analysis and leads interprofessional teams in the development of clinical outcomes that drive quality patient outcomes, optimize patient experiences and reduce resource utilization.

Deborah began her career as a critical care nurse in the cardiothoracic ICU at UPMC Mercy Hospital. With an early interest in improvement of care delivery, she moved into a newly- created cardiac outcomes management role. Deborah was in nursing leadership for many years and this operational role drove her passion for patient safety. Clinical expertise and project management experience came together in the 2004 development of a new in-patient cardiac surgical service line.

Deborah graduated from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in 1989 and completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Carlow University in 1993. She obtained her Masters of Science in Management and Technology from Carlow University in 2001. She holds a green belt in Six Sigma methodology and teaches quality courses across UPMC. Deborah has presented both nationally and internationally on quality.

Megan Pruce is a proven healthcare executive who brings marketing, communications, engagement and operations best practices to today's business and clinical challenges. Experienced and comfortable in both patient-facing and behind-the-scenes issues facing hospitals, health systems, practices and networks, she is attracted to and fueled by challenging work. She is eager to tackle challenges that involve rethinking current marketing and communication approaches to be successful in today's healthcare "Alphabet Soup," especially when it comes to ingredients like population health, payment reform, clinical integration and accountable care organizations. Experienced in building effective strategies across a variety of consumer, business and clinical stakeholder groups.

As Vice President of B2B Marketing & Communications at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Megan leads a team that supports the medical center’s communications, engagement and growth-related goals as it works to transform the delivery of care from fee-for-value to fee-for-volume among its providers and facilities as well as across the region via its clinically integrated network, the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network, and its new business ventures.

Nick Ragone, Esq., is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Ascension, the nation’s largest non-profit health system and the world’s largest Catholic health system, and a member of the Office of the President.

In this role, he oversees the creation and execution of brand strategy, brand experience, direct-to-consumer marketing and advertising, public relations and thought leadership, social and digital strategy, internal communications, and consumer access for Ascension and its subsidiaries. Since joining Ascension, Mr. Ragone has led a cross-function effort to centralize and optimize the marketing and communications strategic approach to support the Mission and the business of a highly integrated health system, with more than 2,600 sites of care and 165,000 associates. In addition, he has focused on defining and strengthening the Ascension brand, overseeing a robust thought leadership plan, developing a corporate social responsibility platform, and transforming the marketing model into a digital and data-driven approach that creates a more personal relationship with patients. In 2016, Mr. Ragone led the national rebranding of Ascension’s local health systems and sites of care to adopt the unified Ascension name, the largest such undertaking ever in the provider space. In both 2016 and 2017, Mr. Ragone was recognized by PRWeek as one of the 50 most influential marketers and communicators in healthcare. In 2017, the Holmes Report, a leading marketing and communications trade publication, recognized Mr. Ragone on its inaugural “Influence 100” list, which identifies the 100 most influential marketers and communicators around the globe. In 2007, Mr. Ragone was named to the PRWeek inaugural “40 under 40” most influential list. In 2015, Mr. Ragone was instrumental in developing Your Move Chess, an after-school chess program for underserved students in the St. Louis region beginning with the Ferguson-Florissant School District, in partnership with the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. He is also an active fundraiser for St. Louis non-profits Marygrove and Covenant House Missouri.

A former Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., Mr. Ragone is the author of four books on American government and leadership and has been a regular contributor to CNN, Fox News Channel and Fox Business on issues of politics and communications, as well as writing for U.S. News & World Report, The Star-Ledger, and Real Simple Magazine. He is frequently quoted in PRWeek, Advertising Age and The New York Times, among others.

Prior to joining Ascension, Mr. Ragone was the Director of the Washington, D.C., office of Ketchum, a global public relations firm, where he led operations for the 130-person office. Mr. Ragone served as a senior strategist, counselor and media trainer to many of the agency’s largest clients.

Before leading the Washington, D.C., office, Mr. Ragone was the Associate Director of Ketchum’s New York office, where he ran the media, social media, corporate and issues practices. He helped create Ketchum’s national media group of 19 full-time media professionals, the largest dedicated group in the agency.

Mr. Ragone is a graduate of Rutgers University, the Eagleton Institute of Political Science (undergraduate program), New Jersey, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. He lives in St. Louis with his wife and two children.

Hernando Ruiz-Jimenez is the Chief Marketing Officer for NewYork-Presbyterian. In this role, he is responsible for the development and implementation of the Hospital’s marketing, advertising, physician referral, and digital marketing strategies.

Previously, Mr. Ruiz-Jimenez was Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Triple-S Insurance Group, BlueCross BlueShield licensee in Puerto Rico. Prior to Triple-S, Mr. Ruiz-Jimenez served in a variety of senior management and marketing roles at a wide range of companies, including Impremedia (a leading Hispanic media group, where he run El Diario, La Raza and La Prensa), Wireless Idea (a company dedicated to the creation, distribution and sale of mobile content), Diageo North America (where he led Captain Morgan to become the #3 spirits brand in the US), and Pepsico (where he led the global marketing efforts of PepsiCo’s flavor brands).

Mr. Ruiz-Jimenez graduated summa cum laude from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He obtained both a Master in Business Administration and a Certificate in Public Management from Stanford University. Mr. Ruiz-Jimenez is a Member and Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA).

As senior social media specialist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Carrie Strehlau is responsible for increasing the recognition and understanding of St. Jude science, medicine and translational research through social media. She focuses on expanding and monitoring the hospital’s social media presence and reputation; developing content to elevate awareness, patient referrals, recruitment and company culture that fit within the hospital’s strategic plan; working with hospital departments to develop content for social media posts and campaigns tied to their fields of expertise; and growing employee social media engagement and advocacy.

She started at St. Jude in 2003 on the media relations team after five years in communications at the Memphis Zoo. After almost 13 years on the media team, Carrie transitioned to the first social media position created at St. Jude. Since then, St. Jude has opened five social media platforms.

A graduate of the University of Memphis, Carrie received PR News’ “15 to Watch” national award in 2006. She has also received awards for the St. Jude Medical Minute from the Public Relations Society of America Memphis chapter and the Tennessee Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations. In 2017, Carrie presented at PR News’ Digital PR & Marketing Conference in Miami.

Thorsten Wirkes is a Vice President at Oscar Health focused on building Oscar's business operations. During his time at Oscar, Thorsten has led a number of high-profile initiatives like the insourcing of Oscar's operations or Oscar's partnership with the Cleveland Clinic. Prior to Oscar, Thorsten served as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. He holds a Master in Business from Germany's WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management and an MPA from Columbia.