Winner
Julia Cook
Summary of work
In a career spanning over 35 years, Julia Cook has consistently driven healthcare communications excellence. Starting first within industry as a medical information officer, she rose to become a junior director and president of PIPA (formerly AIOPI - Association of Information Officers in the Pharmaceutical Industry). She then moved agency-side to take up the role of managing director at Fusion, part of the first generation of medical communications companies that emerged in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
ESPRIT (Efficacy and Safety of PRescribing In Transplantation) was Julia’s brainchild and, since its foundation in 2000, she has steered the healthcare professional group from a single-company funded, one-issue campaign group into a multi-company funded, independent, not-for-profit organisation that has achieved significant improvements in transplant patient safety. This has included securing change in MHRA recommendations and, most recently, being invited to sit on the NHS Clinical Reference Group for Renal Transplant.
In parallel to running her own consultancy, StepBack Healthcare, and providing strategic communications consultancy support and training, Julia has also led the growth of the Healthcare Communications Association (HCA). As CEO of the HCA she has overseen its evolution and the diversification of its membership to reflect the changing industry environment. It is now established as the voice for multidisciplinary healthcare communications, evidenced by the acceptance of ABPI chief executive Stephen Whitehead to be HCA president. More recently Julia has turned her talents to supporting the next generation of businesses, playing an integral role in the rapid success of a number of fledgling companies, including Bedrock Communications and mXm Medical Communications.
