London-based public affairs and public relations agency MHP Communications has opened a new global health communications practice.
MHP Global will be led by managing director John Gisborne (pictured above), who joined recently from Hill +Knowlton Strategies, where he served for six years, most recently as head of its UK healthcare and medical knowledge group.
Gisborne told PMLiVE one of the drivers behind the formation of the new division was to be able to meet the global needs of clients of the existing MHP Health business, which focuses primarily on the UK.
“MHP has a great health client base, and this is about what we can do for them on an international scale,” he said.
Reporting to MHP Communications CEO Gavin Devine, Gisborne will initially led MHP Global with a team of two, but the division will work closely with other staff from MHP’s existing health division.
Like its parent company, MHP Global will be based in London’s Great Portland Street and the new division is, Gisborne said, “an evolving offer within an established practice”.
“This is a very important move for MHP – Gavin Devine is fully behind us, and we are very committed”, he added.
Last month MHP Health was a finalist in the excellence in communications – payers/policy makers award and won the prize for specialist consultancy of the year at the annual Communiqué Awards.