Kel Smith
Chief Innovation Officer
Kel holds responsibility for leading the company's digital innovation discipline, bringing 15 years of experience serving cross-functional development and UX teams. His therapeutic background includes patient-centric technology offerings in oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience, vaccines, and aging/disability.
Kel is a longtime speaker, author, and practitioner on digital accessibility and mobile health. His presentation credits span over 30 cities in 6 countries, including appearances for the Royal National Institute of the Blind, the Unitech ICT Network, the Society for Technical Communications, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and the World Future Society. Kel is the author of the upcoming book Digital Outcasts: Moving Technology Forward Without Leaving People Behind, slated for a 2013 release, and he currently serves as North America/Oceania representative for the United Nations World Summit Awards.
Laura Wilson, MEd
Senior Vice President, Health Education
With a specialty in health literacy and adult education, Laura spends her time at HealthEd developing and serving as leader on several different patient education materials such as a variety of patient-centered NCQA-certified health education programs as well as branded patient education campaigns.
Laura has spent years helping to create compelling and patient-focused health education programs for conditions and diseases, such as ADHD, Alzheimer’s, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, heart disease, and schizophrenia, and for women’s health.
Prior to HealthEd, Laura was an associate director of education services for the Alzheimer’s Association, where her responsibilities included designing, implementing, and evaluating educational programs for healthcare professionals, family members, and people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Laura received her bachelor of arts and a gerontology certificate from Douglass College. She also holds a master’s of adult education from Penn State University, where she wrote her master’s paper on health literacy in the pharmaceutical industry.
Ide Mills, MSW
Senior Vice President, Health Education
Ide is responsible for developing and leading patient-centered health education programs and physician-centered counseling and detail tools.
At HealthEd, she has led the development of many award-winning programs for a variety disease states, including neurology, oncology, cardiology, and mental health. These programs include print, audio, video, and Web-based components.
In 2008, Ide was honored as a Rising Star by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.
Before coming to HealthEd, Ide worked for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and served on boards of various advocacy organizations. She is also a founding member of Gilda’s Club,Westchester. Ide is a certified social worker with over 20 years of experience in clinical and administrative healthcare.Ide holds a MSW degree from New York University as well as a BA degree from Douglass College and Rutgers University. Ken Thorlton
Senior Vice President, Creative Services
Ken has been with HealthEd since 2004, now serving as senior vice president, creative services. In this role, he manages design teams and oversees all aspects of creative development—interpreting clients’ communication strategies, visually capturing patient insights and needs, and unifying that vision into a strategic creative concept. He is also proficient in the field of educational design and health literacy principles as they pertain to the creation of patient education materials.
Throughout his career, Ken has delivered creative solutions to pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, health benefit providers, and retail healthcare companies. His designs have garnered many industry awards.
Susan Collins, MS, CHES, RD
Senior Vice President, Community Leader
Susan has vast experience in the field of health education. Responsible for developing and implementing patient-centered health education programs at HealthEd, she has directed the creation of award-winning programs for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, allergies, and asthma.
Susan specializes in health education—the practice of applying patient insights, adult learning models, educational design, and health literacy principles to aid in patient comprehension, motivation, and ability to take action. She has spoken at key industry events and writes regularly about the importance of meaningful health education.
Susan is a certified health education specialist and registered dietitian, with a master's in adult nutrition education. Prior to HealthEd, she was a nutritionist with the diabetes treatment unit of New England Deaconess Hospital, program coordinator of professional education and school-based health education for the American Heart Association/NYC Affiliate, and nutrition coordinator for the worksite cholesterol screening program of the American Red Cross in New York City.
Jeff Greene
VP, Marketing and Product Development
Jeff leads social media and digital planning at HealthEd where his role is to create and collaborate on strategies that empower patients through digital, social media, and mobile channels.
An experienced marketing consultant, Jeff helps healthcare clients identify and leverage opportunities in the emerging digital landscape—including social networking, mobile marketing, and back-end technology platforms to support innovative communication channels.
Jeff is a dot-com-era veteran with more than 14 years in the marketing field, consulting for start-ups, Fortune 500s, nonprofits, and midmarket companies. He speaks regularly at association and corporate events in the financial, consumer, manufacturing, and healthcare industries about adopting new technologies for brand communications.
Jeff holds a bachelor of arts in journalism and history from Rutgers University.
Megan Beardsley
VP, Creative Strategist
Prior to HealthEd, Megan worked in other digital agencies creating Web sites and games for Fortune 500 companies such as British Airways, Texaco, Aegon, and Hachette. She also worked as an international producer for Disney’s online division.
Megan holds degrees in literature from Amherst College and the Sorbonne and was a Fulbright scholar to Germany. She grew up in Paris and speaks fluent English, French, and German.
Director, Health Education
During her time at HealthEd, Liz has worked on programs for both healthcare professionals and patients focusing on diseases such as arthritis, cardiovascular conditions, multiple sclerosis, cancer, fibromyalgia, hemophilia, and osteoporosis.
Liz is responsible for research and development of wellness programming and literature, specializing in chronic health conditions. By gathering and assimilating information about beliefs, barriers, and understanding, the health educators create patient-centric literature and outreach that address the various aspects of chronic diseases. These efforts are intensified by the coordination of diverse project review panels which provide additional input on patient, caretaker, and healthcare provider point of view.
Before coming to HealthEd, Liz was the community and public health manager at the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, where she worked on the local, state, and federal levels to provide arthritis prevention programs in regional communities. Liz also wrote, maintained, and implemented multi-level grants and coordinated research within the field of arthritis management and prevention.
Liz received her bachelor's degree from Misericordia University and her master's of public health, with a focus on community health and prevention, from Drexel University. She is also a certified health education specialist. Katie Margolis, PhD
Manager, Health Education
Katie Margolis has a particular interest in applying behavioral theories and models to improve health education outcomes. She enjoys collaborating with the creative and account teams to ensure that health education principles and models are employed in all tactics.
Prior to joining HealthEd, Katie was a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she worked to design and test health and safety communication programs. During this time, she was also an adjunct Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where she taught communication courses. Katie also planned events to raise money and awareness for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Katie earned her PhD and MA in communication, with an emphasis on health and social influence from Michigan State University.
During her graduate work, Katie taught communication courses and conducted research on how to design effective health communication campaigns. Katie received her BS from Cornell University. Rita Williams, MS, CHES
Manager, Health Education
Rita has a Masters in Health Education and is a certified health education specialist. Previously, Rita was an account supervisor for a healthcare communications and advertising agency in New York City, where her role combined account management with content and program development for both healthcare provider and patient initiatives.
For the last few years, Rita has also been an active board member for the Goa-American Heart Foundation. She was instrumental in developing the foundation's heart disease prevention education program, which is being implemented as part of a large health initiative to improve the cardiovascular health of people in Goa, India, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
