Kamp steps down, Bigelow takes helm at Coalition for Healthcare Communication

Jon Bigelow in September was named executive director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, succeeding John Kamp, who will continue his association with the Coalition as its Washington counsel.

“I look forward to building upon the great work that John Kamp and others have been doing as our members, the healthcare system, and available technologies all continue to evolve,” Bigelow says.
“Jon is exactly the right person at the right time to take the guiding role at the Coalition,” according to Kamp, who served as the Coalition’s executive director for 18 years and is a leading defender of First Amendment and marketing issues throughout the government. “Moreover, I’m delighted to stay on as Washington counsel to support the tradition of careful but aggressive advocacy on behalf of media and agency members.”

Bigelow has been a member of the Coalition’s executive committee since 2009, and has chaired its annual Rising Leaders Conference on Healthcare Policy in Washington since 2016. He also is president of Thayer Pond Solutions, providing strategic support on health communications and policy, and serves on boards of two companies and an ocean sciences laboratory.

From 2007 to 2014, Bigelow was CEO and president of KnowledgePoint360 Group, a leading provider of multichannel medical communications, digital and strategic consulting, benchmarking services, and workflow solutions in the United States, the UK, and Germany.

Earlier, he was president of Cliggott Publishing; group VP/general manager of CMP Medica; founding editor of a series of innovative controlled-circulation clinical journals; and president of the Association of Medical Media.

“The Coalition serves its members by monitoring key regulatory and legislative proposals and industry trends, keeping members informed about important developments and their implications, and representing the healthcare communications industry in clarifying the impact of these proposals,” Bigelow says. “In recent years, our mission has broadened from a central focus on First Amendment issues to also highlight the importance of accurate and credible health information.”

The CHC, founded in 1991, is a nonpartisan group devoted to ensuring the high quality and continued availability of accurate health information to improve patient care. CHC member companies cover a range of disciplines involved in communicating about health, including health advertising agencies, marketing firms, scientific communications agencies, medical journal publishers, and health websites.

“Our members believe that responsible communications on innovative developments in medicine assure that healthcare providers and their patients will have the information necessary to use diagnostic tools, medicines, and devices appropriately, effectively, and safely,” Bigelow says.