SHSMD Podcast Rapid Insights for Health Care Marketers, Planners, and Communicators

In this episode, Jason Wolf, president and CEO of The Beryl Institute, explores why a human experience approach, one that connects patients, employees, and communities, can drive trust, loyalty, culture, and organizational growth.

How do great leaders help emerging talent move beyond development and into opportunity? In this episode, executive leaders Melissa Fors Shackelford, Terri Flood, and Jhaymee Tynan explore the powerful connection between mentorship and sponsorship, and why both are essential for building strong health care marketing leadership pipelines. Learn practical strategies for advancing high-potential talent, strengthening succession planning, and creating a culture where advocacy fuels retention, growth, and long-term organizational success.

How do you lead communications when an emergency is unfolding by the minute and the stakes couldn't be higher? In this episode, Molly Luton, Chief Strategic Communications Officer for Ballad Health, shares firsthand lessons from Hurricane Helene, revealing how her team navigated catastrophic flooding, supported leaders and staff, and delivered transparent communication during a rapidly evolving crisis. Gain practical strategies for building trust, coordinating community messaging, and maintaining resilience when facing some of the most challenging moments in health care communications.

Want to build a Service Line Management Office (SLMO) that actually aligns strategy, data, and execution across a growing health system? Stephanie Jackson, Vice President, Service Lines at Tampa General Hospital, and Michael Parsons, Sr. Administrator, Service Line Strategic Operations at Tampa General Hospital, walk through Tampa General’s approach as it expanded from eight service lines to nearly 30 institutes. 

Learn more about Stephanie Jackson 

Learn more about Michael Parsons 

In this episode, leaders from Dayton Children’s share nine lessons from their journey to bring refreshed values to life through storytelling, leadership engagement, recognition, and strategic communication. Discover practical ideas for strengthening alignment, fostering pride and belonging, and creating a workplace culture where employees feel connected to a shared purpose.

In this episode, experts from Johns Hopkins Medicine break down the essentials of measuring campaign effectiveness and ROI, from connecting marketing leads to patient conversions through HIPAA-compliant data strategies to building dashboards that tell a compelling performance story. Tune in for practical guidance on campaign setup, data modeling, and analytics frameworks that help prove marketing’s contribution to patient growth, appointments, and revenue.

Most health care marketing teams aren't starting from zero. They're already experimenting with AI. The challenge is moving from "AI when I think of it" to "AI first." Lacey Reichwald, Director of Marketing at Aha Media Group, will discuss how marketing, digital, and strategy leaders can better understand where they are on the AI adoption curve, where their peers are, and how to build the internal conditions for intentional, scalable AI use. She discusses what AI actually is and isn't, how to benchmark your team's readiness against real industry data, and how to identify and prioritize the right pilot projects for your organization. 

Learn more about Lacey Reichwald 

Children’s Nebraska transformed fragmented data into a strategic asset by creating a centralized data warehouse and executive-facing Power BI dashboards. In this episode, learn how the organization unified claims, financial, scheduling, and demographic data to deliver real-time insights, strengthen decision-making, and fuel growth across the enterprise.

Many health systems talk about population health. But very few have done the hard work to make it real, and even fewer know how to translate it into a brand patients actually understand and trust.
This podcast explores a critical but often overlooked truth in healthcare marketing: you can’t communicate a promise your organization isn’t operationally ready to deliver. Listeners will gain a clear framework for translating complex operational, banding and marketing strategies into human-centered brand experiences that build trust and drive growth.

How do you build trust and brand preference when a hospital joins a larger system—especially in communities that value their local identity? In this episode, Cody Albert and Christina Thompson of OhioHealth share real-world insights on using research, strategic communication, and community engagement to guide hospitals through early integration with clarity and confidence. Learn practical approaches to introducing a system brand, aligning stakeholders, and strengthening connections in new and rural markets during times of change.