Gerety Awards Presents: Gerety Talks Health and Pharma Advertising (Ep. 1)

Mar. 18, 2024

Gerety Talks Health and Pharma advertising with Pamela Savage, Collette Douaihy, and Michelle Tucker.

Just like the award show, the Gerety Talks series puts some of the marketing and creative industries true changemakers in the spotlight and at the centre of the conversation for a refreshing take on what leadership looks like.

• Pamela Savage, SVP Group Creative Director, Area 23

Pam is an SVP, Group Creative Director at Area 23, the agency she has called home for over a decade. Her love of medicine goes all the back to her beginning, some might say it is part of her DNA, as she is the daughter of a pathologist and a microbiologist. After earning her doctorate in Biomedical Sciences, Pam took her career in an entirely new direction, into advertising where she had the privilege of working on the historic blood cancer blockbuster, Gleevec.

Since then, Pam has worked with major pharma companies including Pfizer, Roche/Genentech, Bayer, Novartis, Sanofi, ViiV Healthcare, Daiichi-Sankyo, Grifols, Ascendis and Astellas to help change the lives of people around the world with life-saving medicines. She seeks the good in pharma and health, creating the words that can give hope to cancer patients in their darkest moments to finding ways to help kids cope with social distancing during a global pandemic.

Her deep love of technology and innovation fuels her desire to create meaningful change in people’s lives.

• Collette Douaihy, Global Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Health

Collette has dedicated most of her career to the healthcare industry and wouldn't have it any other way. She believes that great work begins and ends with a big idea — big enough to elicit awe, wonder, delight, and even envy. Moreover, she believes it takes discovering extraordinary creative talent and giving them the platform and empowerment to do great work. It takes empathy and understanding to see things from the customer's perspective to deliver work that has the power to change lives.

After spending over a decade at Publics/Digitas Health and Evoke — agency experiences that fueled her career, she found herself in a new challenge. Collette joined Dentsu to help set the course for the launch of Dentsu Health, a commitment and ambition to unlock opportunities for growth across the network. As Global CCO of Dentsu Health, she inspires a new generation of creative talent.

• Michelle Tucker, EVP, Executive Creative Director, US Creative Health Lead, Edelman

For more than two decades, Michelle has championed results-driven campaigns for world-class consumer and healthcare brands. Michelle’s mantra is, “There’s nothing more important or more personal than our health,” and in her current role as Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director, US Creative Health Lead at Edelman, she inspires creative teams to create purpose-driven campaigns that drive systemic change and positive impact within the health and wellness space and society at large.

In addition to a current client roster that includes Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AbbVie, Haleon and Alcon, Michelle and her team have placed a keen focus on women’s health, mental wellness, and health equity efforts. Hologic’s “Serving Confidence” campaign galvanizes black women in the fight against cervical cancer. The “UNSPOKEN” campaign for the City of Chicago, drives awareness, reduces stigmas, and directs residents to vital mental health services. And Astra Zeneca’s “Up the Antibodies” campaign empowers immunocompromised people with a new choice, and a renewed voice, in their ongoing fight against COVID-19.

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