2026 Annual Conference Speakers and Sessions
Schedule subject to change
Tuesday, April 21
Keynote
9:00 a.m.
 Christopher King, PhD, MHSc, FACHE, Dean, Georgetown University School of Health
Health Systems / Racial Equity / Population Health Strategist
Christopher J. King is an academic administrator, associate professor, and strategist who is board certified in healthcare management and a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. With expertise at the intersection of public health and health systems administration, he envisions a world in which health status cannot be predicted by race, social class, or place of residence.
As the inaugural Dean of the School of Health and former Chair of the Department of Health Systems Administration at Georgetown University, Christopher provides visionary leadership in transforming curricula to ensure the next generation of health professionals have core competencies for improving the patient experience, reducing medical care costs, and eliminating disparities.
Christopher’s research investigations and thought leadership have been published in esteemed peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of the National Medical Association, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and the Journal of Hospital Medicine. His most recent publication, Health Disparities in the Black Community: An Imperative for Racial Equity in the District of Columbia, is a call to action for the city. His analysis on Race, Place and Structural Racism in the District of Columbia was recently published in Health Affairs – the nation’s leading peer-reviewed journal on health, healthcare, and policy.
Session 1 (Concurrent)
10:00 a.m.
▶ Small Patients, Big Challenges: Rethinking Pediatric Marketing
Explore the unique challenges of marketing pediatric care with insights from leaders experienced in children’s hospitals and health systems nationwide. This panel discussion highlights how to build trust with families, differentiate pediatric services, tell stories responsibly, and drive growth with data and creativity—equipping marketers to elevate visibility and impact in this highly specialized space.
 Desiree Duvall
Director, Strategic Marketing & Communications
Nemours Children's Health
Desiree Duvall is an experienced healthcare marketing leader skilled in brand strategy, digital engagement, and community outreach. With a background in both adult and pediatric hospitals, she brings a unique perspective to elevating visibility, strengthening trust, and addressing the complexities of pediatric marketing.
 Maria Mongelli
Managing Director, Healthcare
Aloysius Butler & Clark
Maria Mongelli, a healthcare marketing leader who began her career at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and now leads AB&C’s healthcare division, partners with Dr. Carlin Henry Barmada, a digital strategist at Children’s National. Together they bring deep pediatric expertise and research-driven communication insight to complex healthcare challenges.
 Angela S. Jones
Assistant Vice President, Media & Marketing Communications
West Virginia University Health System
Angela S. Jones leads WVU Medicine’s media relations, overseeing content strategy, video production, media events, and social media. Angela also serves on the executive leadership team of the Health System’s flagship hospital, WVU Hospitals, and is active in that organization’s day-to-day operations.
 Kimberli Alberty, MBA
Integrated Marketing Manager
Inova Children's
Kimberli Alberty, MBA, is a marketing leader with more than 20 years of experience across for-profit and nonprofit organizations. At Inova Health System, she has led marketing for multiple adult service lines and now leads marketing for Inova Children’s, driving integrated brand and engagement strategies that connect families to specialized pediatric care. Known for her collaborative and strategic approach, Kim leads with empathy and a deep commitment to making meaningful impact.
▶ Building Culture Through Communication: Strengthening the Healthcare Workforce
This session explores how intentional internal communications can drive engagement, retention, and patient outcomes. Through the “Educate, Engage, Repeat” framework, participants will learn how to transform communication into a culture-building tool. Case studies, interactive exercises, and leadership alignment strategies will equip attendees to elevate workforce connection and organizational performance.
 Stephanie Taylor
Director of Communications
Acenda Integrated Health
Stephanie Taylor is a dedicated professional in the field of behavioral health and social services, currently serving as the Director of Communications at Acenda Integrated Health. With a diverse background encompassing roles in partial care, case management, and services supporting individuals experiencing homelessness, Stephanie has demonstrated a deep commitment to making a positive impact in her community. In her current role, she leads Acenda’s internal and external communications strategy and plays a key role in planning and executing organizational events. Committed to continuous growth and collaboration, she applies her extensive experience and compassionate leadership approach to advance each initiative.
Outside of her professional pursuits, Stephanie finds joy in the great outdoors, staying active through fitness activities, cooking, gardening, and cherishing quality time spent with family and friends.
Cari Burke
Associate VP, Marketing & Communications
Acenda Integrated Health
Cari Burke, AVP of Marketing, Communications & Development, brings 20+ years of client care and leadership experience. With a decade in direct service and executive roles, she blends frontline insight with strategy. Passionate about culture, collaboration, and storytelling, she helps leaders build authentic, purpose-driven teams that drive growth.
Session 2 (Concurrent)
11:15 a.m.
▶ A Tool Kit Can Get Communicators on the Same Page About Your Brand
Consistent brand messaging is as important as visuals. At the Mount Sinai Health System, many employees are responsible for communications about our complex academic medical center. We needed a Brand Messaging Tool Kit program to help these communicators understand and convey our brand voice. In this session, we explain our program to train staff and encourage usage, and provide examples, lessons learned, and a worksheet to help you think about a Tool Kit program for your institution.
 Rebecca Lingner
Senior Director, Branding
Mount Sinai Health System
Rebecca Lingner is Senior Director, Branding for Mount Sinai Health System, a world-leading academic medical center located in New York. She is responsible for the development and implementation of the Health System’s brand strategy. Previously, Rebecca repositioned AXA and was a brand consultant at several agencies. She has a BS from Cornell University and an MBA from Baruch College.
Vanessa Gordon
Director of Content Marketing
Mount Sinai Health System
Vanessa Gordon is Director, Content Marketing for the Mount Sinai Health System, leading a team that produces a digital news site, develops science content, reviews communications for quality and branding, and creates content for an e-newsletter sent to one million patients. Before joining Mount Sinai, Vanessa worked as an editor and designer at The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times.
▶ From Numbers to Narrative: Data Storytelling for Healthcare Strategy and Leadership
Turn healthcare data into compelling, leadership-ready stories. Learn to identify key insights, craft narrative-driven visuals, and apply design principles that boost clarity and confidence. Includes real-world examples and an interactive data storytelling exercise.
 Marcos Irigaray
Principal & Founder
Marka Strategy Group
Strategic healthcare leader with 25+ years in academic health systems. Proven in brand, strategy, analytics, marketing, and operations. Combines executive experience and consulting insight to drive mission-driven impact. Recognized mentor and adjunct faculty, passionate about intersecting strategy, brand, and culture.
 Tim Duer
VP, Data Analytics & Strategy
Causeway Solutions, LLC
Healthcare strategy leader with clinical, operational, and data-driven expertise. As VP at Causeway Solutions, he helps health systems grow and connect with patients through predictive analytics and market insights. A former PT and care director, he bridges clinical and business needs to drive impact and build trust.
Session 3 (Concurrent)
1:30 p.m.
▶ The Seven Deadly Sins of Healthcare Marketing (and how to repent before your audience leaves you behind)
Even the best-intentioned healthcare marketers fall into traps that undermine trust, confuse audiences, and stall results. Blending agency perspective and client-side truth, Christian Barnett and Dan Lavelle unpack the “seven deadly sins” of healthcare marketing and challenge attendees to reimagine what effective, human-centered marketing looks like in a post-truth, high-pressure landscape. Expect uncomfortable truths, actionable strategies, and a call to move from performance to purpose.
Christian Barnett
Group Lead, Strategy and Creative
Unlock Health
Christian has decades of experience leading creative and strategy for top health systems and some of the biggest consumer brands out there. He is known for his mantra of “ideas before advertising, ideas after advertising” and pushing clients to strive for big impact, delivering ideas and community activations that help hospitals rival top consumer brands in engagement and memorability.
 Dan Lavelle
VP, System Marketing
Geisinger
Dan has over a decade of experience in brand strategy, performance marketing, digital transformation, and product leadership. He drives the vision and execution of brand strategy and marketing for Geisinger’s clinical enterprise, health plan, and college of health sciences. His mission: to redefine healthcare marketing, making it the voice of consumers and a catalyst for change.
▶ The Strategy Road Trip: Plotting Your Route to What's Next
Every marketing journey needs a map. In this fast-paced session, participants will take a guided “road trip” through five key stages of strategic planning, from defining where they are to clarifying where they want to go, how they’ll get there, and who’s driving. You’ll leave with a simple, practical framework to connect goals, teams, and resources for smarter, more sustainable growth.
 Laila Waggoner
Chief Dot Connector
Strategy for Hire
As Chief Dot Connector at Strategy for Hire, Laila Waggoner offers deep expertise in strategic healthcare business, brand and service line marketing for health systems, healthcare organizations and solutions providers. She is a national SHSMD Advisory Board member, a frequent presenter at industry conferences, and provides strategy consulting and guidance to select partners.
 Karmen Horton
Regional Sales Director
Target Continuum
Karmen Horton, Regional Sales Director at Target Continuum, is a seasoned marketing strategist and storyteller who helps health system clients build capable and resilient teams to navigate industry change. Karmen uses the Working Genius assessment to help individuals and teams identify unique working styles, collaborate better together, and find more joy, passion, and fulfillment in their work.
Session 4 (Concurrent)
2:30 p.m.
▶ Trust, AI, and the New Patient Journey: What Hospital Marketers Need to Know
As AI reshapes how patients search for care, trust has become the new competitive advantage. In this session, Lacey Reichwald (Aha Media Group) shares brand-new consumer research, updated specifically for this conference, on how people interpret and trust AI-generated healthcare answers. Ryan Younger (Vice President of Marketing, Virtua Health) brings the data to life with real-world examples, including the questions his team is asking, how Virtua is working to show up in AI-driven search, and how cross-functional teams are collaborating to maintain patient trust. The session connects research insights to practical hospital marketing decisions.
 Lacey Reichwald
Director of Marketing
Aha Media Group
Lacey Reichwald is the director of marketing at Aha Media Group, where she leads brand and content strategy to support healthcare marketers. With a background in entrepreneurship, she brings sharp instincts and a love of strategy to everything she does. Lacey speaks often about how AI is changing content and search. Outside of work, she enjoys books, board games, and time in nature.
 Ryan Younger
Vice President of Marketing
Virtua Health
Ryan Younger is vice president of marketing at Virtua Health, the largest health system in southern New Jersey. Over the past seven years, he has contributed to significant organizational growth through leadership in rebranding, marketing transformation, experience, and digital and analytics innovation. Ryan serves on the board of the Society for Health Care Strategy and Market Development and is a frequent national speaker on these topics.
Previously, Ryan was vice president of strategic marketing at Hackensack Meridian Health, with enterprise-wide responsibility for academic medical centers, children’s hospitals, diversified health ventures, and service lines. He also held marketing and planning leadership roles at Mass General Brigham, a global leader in research, teaching, and clinical care.
Ryan received a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from Boston College.
▶ Internal Marketing: From Quick Wins to Brand Ambassadors
Your marketing campaign is getting amazing results – you’re getting new patients, winning awards and generating a positive ROI. It’s a trifecta! Or is it? Do the accolades count if your internal audience is unaware?
In this workshop, learn the difference between internal communications and internal marketing, inventory existing opportunities, identify where you can build or strengthen internal partnerships, and learn how you can get started with quick wins on your way to developing a long-term strategy for sharing your team’s success and building brand engagement internally.
 Loren Farquhar
Principal, Loren Farquhar Marketing + Communications
Loren Farquhar has 20+ years of experience in the industry. Before founding her consultancy, she was vice president of Marketing & Communications for Luminis Health. She has worked for both payers & health systems, giving her a deep understanding of how the industry works and what it takes to succeed. Loren brings expertise in branding, marketing, internal communications, and public relations.
Session 5 (Single session)
3:15 p.m.
▶ Stronger Together: How Strategic Partnerships Elevate Healthcare Marketing
In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, no organization succeeds alone. The most impactful campaigns—those that truly change behavior, improve outcomes, and build patient trust—are born from strong, strategic partnerships. This session explores how cross-industry collaboration can unlock deeper insights, expand reach, and accelerate innovation in healthcare marketing.
 Reba Thompson
Vice President, Client Partnerships
WG Content
 Steve Koch
Managing Partner
Cast and Hue
After spending half of his career in marketing and advertising, Steve Koch evolved to focus on understanding the needs, motivations, and decision-making drivers of people to design more effective customer and patient experiences. Today, he is privileged to be part of the team at Cast & Hue as they utilize human-centered design to empower brands to differentiate in competitive markets.
 Dean Browell
Chief Behavioral Officer
Feedback
Dean Browell is Feedback’s resident PhD with a passion for how generations interact online. He is a Board Member of SHSMD, The Poe Museum, and University of Richmond Institute on Philanthropy. He teaches Social Research and Digital Ethnography at VCU's School of Business, is co-founder of Hidden In Plain Site, and co-authored “Don't You Forget About Gen X: One Generation's Crucial Role in Healthcare.”
Maria Mongelli
Managing Director, Healthcare
Aloysius Butler & Clark
Maria leads the Account Service team at AB&C. With 30 years of experience in agency and nonprofit sectors, her experience includes developing strategic communications programs, award-winning marketing and providing counsel to clients. Prior to joining AB&C, Maria served in PR, marketing and corporate communications roles at Crozer Health and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
 Jenni Freas
Senior Director of Marketing
MedStar Health
With over 30 years of experience across the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and consulting sectors, Jenni is a seasoned marketing leader who has spent the last two decades focused on the healthcare landscape. At MedStar Health, Jenni spearheads strategic initiatives for premier service lines, including Integrated Surgical Services and Heart and Vascular. A veteran of the industry, she brings a wealth of expertise in navigating complex market dynamics to deliver measurable results.
Wednesday, April 22
Session 6 (Concurrent)
9:00 a.m.
▶ Building a Flywheel for Greater Visibility in AI Search in Healthcare
With AI platforms, healthcare organizations must adapt their digital presence. This shift requires content to be structured, relevant, and consistently updated to maintain visibility in AI platforms. In this session, we’ll discuss how leveraging schema and GEO performance dashboards can create a data-driven strategy to enhance discoverability. Additionally, hear from MedStar Health about their experience scaling schema deployment from 210 to over 7,000 pages, boosting their AI visibility.
Jeffrey Katz
Head Enterprise Sales
Milestone Internet Marketing
Jeff Katz is Milestone's Head of Enterprise Sales. Jeff has 12+ years of SEO and digital marketing experience and leads Milestone's Healthcare Practice. Jeff has a deep understanding of healthcare specific challenges and business objectives and how they specifically map back to the technologies that enable competitive advantage. Jeff has an MBA in Technology Management and a BS from the Univ. MD.
 Seena Chettiveettil
Assistant Vice President of Digital Strategy and Optimization
Medstar Health
Seena Chettiveettil, AVP of Digital Strategy and Optimization at MedStar Health, drives the enterprise’s website strategy, budget, and roadmap, advancing innovation in user experience and engagement. A digital pioneer with 30+ years across healthcare, government, and business, she holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science and conducted doctoral research in human-computer interaction.
▶ Generic Hospital: Why Standing Apart Starts From Within
Participants will be challenged to assume the view of today’s healthcare consumer and explore the widening gap between what brands believe they deliver and what patients actually experience. The interactive elements of this session will reveal how consumer choice, patient relationships, and internal alignment intersect to determine whether an organization's brand is truly distinctive—or simply generic.
 Ryan Donohue
CEO
Golden Advisory
Ryan Donohue is a nationally recognized thought leader in brand strategy and healthcare consumerism. He is the newly minted CEO of Golden Advisory, a strategic branding firm, and also serves as Strategic Advisor for NRC Health, the largest surveyor of healthcare consumers in the U.S. Ryan's latest research has culminated in the book Patient No Longer, co-authored by Dr. Stephen Klasko.
Session 7 (Concurrent)
10:00 a.m.
▶ An Internal Influence: How Employee Ambassadors are paving the way for brands
In an era where algorithms rapidly change and budgets are stretched thin; it’s time to rediscover the power of authentic organic engagement. We’ll explore social media as an asset that reflects an organization’s culture, mission, and voice. Attendees will learn how authenticity, transparency, and employee advocacy strengthen trust and engagement. Learn how to empower staff as social ambassadors to build sustainable, people-driven communication that enhances culture, credibility, and brand value.
 Genevieve Moorhead
Social Media Specialist
Sheppard Pratt
Genevieve Moorhead is the social media specialist at Sheppard Pratt, Maryland's leading behavioral healthcare system. A Salisbury University graduate with marketing and communications experience, she oversees strategy, content, and execution for brand social channels and leads the organization’s social ambassador program, showcasing Sheppard Pratt’s mission and services.
▶ Not All Crises Are The Same: Customized Approaches to Crisis Communications Best Practices
Join renowned healthcare communications specialist Jerry Doyle and Corporate Affairs expert Patrick Witmer to discuss how to best prepare your organization, leadership and team for any crisis. It’s not a question of “if” but “when” you will face a potential crisis.
 Jerry Doyle
SVP, Yes& CommCore
Jerry Doyle provides presentation, messaging, storytelling, and speaker coaching, along with strategic counsel across finance, healthcare, government, academia, biotech, tech, and more. He also leads crisis communications. He prepares C-suite leaders, managers, physicians, HCPs, patients, and global experts for presentations, speeches, and panels worldwide.
 Pat Witmer
Corporate Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications
B. Braun
Pat is a public affairs and communications leader with extensive experience in global manufacturing. He oversees government relations, external affairs, and corporate communications in North America and serves on B. Braun’s Executive Leadership Team. Previously, he spent 16+ years at Merck as Director of Communications, leading U.S. and global franchise communications.
Session 8 (Single session)
11:00 a.m.
▶ Always Be You: Leading with authenticity, vulnerability, grace and a bit of humor
Forget imposter syndrome! Learn to confidently lead while still staying true to yourself and your values. You don’t have to be an extrovert to lead effectively. Learn how to lean into your strengths and lead in your own authentically YOU way.
 Amy Comeau
Author, Every Storm Runs Out of Rain
Principal Consultant & Founder
Amy Comeau Consulting, LLC
Amy Comeau is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and consultant specializing in finding clarity in chaos. A former Senior Executive (Emory Healthcare VP), she applies her proven, cross-industry track record across healthcare, higher education and the arts to drive brand and revenue growth. Amy shares her authentic leadership approach in her award-winning book, Every Storm Runs Out of Rain.
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