Healthcare communications specialist, Bastion Brands, has added seven staff to its Sydney and Melbourne teams to help meet strong new demand from the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector.
Founder and chief executive, Simon Davies [feature image], said the Covid-19 pandemic has seen major changes to how healthcare products and services are being delivered to patients around Australia.
“Big changes like the emergence of eHealth, sales representatives unable to meet with GPs, virtual sales conferences and a much bigger focus on health from the public have seen the demand for effective, differentiating communications higher than ever before,” Davies said.
“New demand for services from Bastion Brands has been built around break-through products we’ve developed for pharmaceutical companies to communicate during the Covid-19 world with doctors, specialists and – on disease awareness initiatives – with the end patient,” Davies said. “The fastest-growing demand for specialised communications support is in Medical Education, and we’ve added four new experts to this capability.”
Bastion Brands has added four new staff to its Melbourne office, and three in Sydney. The new hires are:
- Ana Vulinovich
Account Director
Ana joins Bastion Brands from London, where she was an account handler at leading healthcare communications agencies CDM London and Hive Health. Ana brings a broad range of experience having worked across oncology, dermatology, respiratory and neuroscience brands, and on both prescription and OTC products. Ana has a Master of Science in Pharmacology.
- Dr Sue Cripps
Senior Medical Consultant
With a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and more than 25 years’ experience in medical communications, Sue has led medical writing teams at several leading healthcare communication agencies.
- Laura Butters
Account Manager
Laura joins Bastion Brands after almost three years working in the UK with Cello Health Communications and more recently at Think HQ. She has worked across gastroenterology, hepatology and OTC brands. Laura has a Master of Science in Biological Sciences.
- Kate Wilson
Senior Medical Writer
Kate has worked as a medical writer at two leading healthcare agencies in Sydney. This followed many years in molecular biology research, and health and fitness marketing. Kate has a Bachelor of Science (Molecular Biology & Genetics) and a Master of Communications.
- Adam Hall
Senior Medical Writer
Adam joins Bastion Brands from London, where he worked in the pharmaceutical Pricing and Market Access team of a global clinical research organisation. He has experience across a variety of therapy areas and his qualifications include a Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a Master of Drug Design and Biomedical Sciences.
- Donna Bartlett
Medical Education/Strategy Development
Donna spent 17 years working in the pharmaceutical industry in medical and marketing roles then moved over to become Program Director for a specialist medical communications and education agency. She has a Bachelor of Pharmacy, a Graduate Diploma of Media and Communications and extensive experience in developing health communications strategy and tactical plans.
- Kristina Djikanovic
Account Executive
Kristina joined Bastion Brands in July after having worked for a full-service healthcare agency in London. Her tertiary qualifications include a Bachelor of Business Administration, and Master of Strategic Public Relations.
