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HMatW Podcast Host, Jerry Franz

Jerry’s experience makes him well qualified to provide senior counsel to communications challenges of associations, corporations, and government agencies, especially in the areas of health care and nutrition. He has served at senior levels in both public relations agencies and the nonprofit health sector, where he conceived solutions to complex communications challenges involving the roles of science and medicine, medical treatment, primary prevention, food, nutrition, and lifestyle factors and the points of view of corporate, voluntary health and federal government organizations.

Prior to opening his own consulting business, Jerry was an Executive Vice President with Spectrum Science Communications, providing senior counsel and management for association and corporate clients, including Bristol-Myers Squibb. Immediately prior to Spectrum, Jerry was an Executive Vice President with the global public relations agency Porter Novelli International, where he led the firm’s efforts in support of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, jointly issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture, as well as an integrated communications program for diabetes awareness and education.

Jerry has special expertise in diabetes, obesity and metabolism, having served for 11 years (from 1993-2004) as Vice President, Communications, for the American Diabetes Association (ADA). While with ADA, Jerry directed scientific and medical media relations and outreach to the public, developed communications activities to align with advocacy/government relations and corporate-sponsored educational programs, and supported public awareness efforts of ADA’s fund raising staff and volunteers.

Jerry was ADA’s representative for collaborations with the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, helping to build strong partnerships and alliances, such as with the 2001 roll out of the results of the Diabetes Prevention Program. He was a member of ADA’s senior staff team that created a unique collaboration with the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association, focused on primary prevention of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

For the first 15 years of his career, Jerry was with the founding office of Porter Novelli in Washington, DC. His first four years with Porter Novelli were spent in the market research department, conducting qualitative and quantitative research.

Jerry is an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at George Washington University, teaching a graduate course in communications and marketing in public health. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland in Communications.