We are pleased to announce the election of several new and continuing members to the Public Affairs & Marketing Network (PAMN) Steering Committee. They join the others on our board in helping to shape our organization and in planning for next year’s annual conference in Kansas City. Our thanks go out to them and their sponsoring cancer centers for their willingness to invest in PAMN’s future. We appreciate their commitment.
NEW MEMBERS
Cassidy Stevens
Marketing Manager
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Cassidy Stevens is a key leader on the marketing and communications team at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA). She is focused on strategic and creative direction for multi-platform paid media campaigns, which includes the execution of digital strategies for physician engagement. In her six years at SCCA she has led brand development projects and pioneered the development of a robust patient acquisition strategy across key service lines at SCCA. She is passionate about health-care marketing as a means to provide access to the best care for patients. She lives in Seattle and graduated from Northeastern University.
Meredith Vehar, MPA
Associate Director, Communications
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Meredith Vehar, MPA, is associate director of communications at Huntsman Cancer Institute. July 2021 marks her 16th year with the cancer center, which has more than doubled in size and staff during that time. Meredith is passionate about sharing stories, simplifying messaging through plain language and health literacy principles, and leading her creative team. She strives to be an agent of change and enable others to recognize their potential. She considers it a huge honor to work with creative communication professionals who represent the cancer center through brand management, social media, web content and design, patient information, annual reports, multimedia, internal communications and more. This meaningful work is personal and it takes heart — camaraderie, sincerity and laughter are key.
Meredith earned her master of public administration degree from the University of Utah in 2018, along with a master’s certificate in health communication. Outside of work, she loves hiking mountain trails in the Salt Lake Valley, exploring the Utah wilderness and red rocks, running with her rescue pup and traveling with her family.
RETURNING MEMBER
Cynthia Wall
Editor/Writer
University of Mississippi Cancer Center and Research Institute
Cynthia Wall is an editor/writer with the Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She has an extensive background in newspapers as an editor and reporter and in the start-up of two small businesses. She previously served a two-year term on the PAMN Steering Committee.
As a CCRI representative she has worked on campaigns to improve cancer screening, to promote better and earlier cancer care and to provide patients with information on reducing cancer risks as well as providing information about CCRI programs and physicians.
Cynthia also has worked on improving internal communications to unite cancer providers at five locations and researchers from three universities and the state health department. Within UMMC she works with the communications, marketing and web teams to promote those messages.
RE-ELECTED MEMBERS
Lindsey Gruenberg
Marketing and Communications Manager
Weill Cornell Medicine
Lindsey Gruenberg leads marketing and communications for the Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Joint Clinical Trials Office.
As part of a large academic medical center with a matrix cancer center, Lindsey is keenly aware of the complexities and nuances involved in effectively promoting the institution’s exceptional patient care, innovative technologies and portfolio of basic, translational and clinical research.
Lindsey oversees a team responsible for digital and traditional initiatives spanning web development, social media, community outreach, patient education events and mixed media productions, including podcast, photo and video. She received a B.S. in Biology and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lindsey has served on the PAMN Steering Committee and board of the New York City Big Apple Badgers chapter of the Wisconsin Alumni Association.
Gillian Irwin
Communications Strategist
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University
Gillian Irwin joined the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center administration team in 2005 and has served as communications strategist since 2014. Gillian directs all marketing and communications efforts of the center, including web content and strategy, social media marketing and digital communications. In this role, she works to increase cancer center visibility and recognition in the community and throughout the nation.
Gillian has been a member of the PAMN Steering Committee since 2019 and chair of membership subcommittee since 2020.
Gillian earned her master of arts degree in nonprofit administration from John Carroll University and a graduate certificate in nonprofit organizations from Case Western Reserve University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and history of art from The Ohio State University.
Jane Kollmer
Director for Communications
University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jane Kollmer is the director for communications at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. With 16 years of experience in health-care and science communications, Jane is well-versed in strategies that attract and engage audiences through the strategic use of compelling content.
Jane began her career as the editor of a radiology magazine near Philadelphia. She later worked for a professional nonprofit organization in nuclear medicine in Reston, Va. Since moving to Chicago, Jane gained experience as a writer for the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. She later joined a life sciences marketing and public relations agency to lead the content marketing team. In 2018, Jane returned to UChicago Medicine CCC to become director for communications.
In her role, Jane is responsible for elevating the CCC’s profile as a leading cancer research institution and raising visibility of and positive affiliation for the CCC among members, staff, medical and research communities, news media and the public. To achieve these goals, Jane uses a mix of print and digital communications pieces aimed at various audiences. Jane is interested in learning more about how to use data to improve communications efforts and how to work effectively in a matrix organization to create a unified message for the cancer brand.
As with many of us, cancer is personal for Jane. As a result, Jane is also interested in cancer advocacy and supporting cancer survivors. She loves being able to communicate the latest advances in cancer research to the general public.