SHSMD Honors Susan Alcorn with Award for Excellence

Healthcare Strategy Society’s Highest Award Recognizes Communications Leader

Chicago (October 1, 2013) — Susan Alcorn, senior vice president  at the strategic healthcare communications firm Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, Inc. (Nashville, Tenn.), was announced today as the recipient of the 2013 Award for Individual Professional Excellence from the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) of the American Hospital Association. SHSMD’s Award for Individual Professional Excellence is the highest honor the Society can bestow on one of its members.

SHSMD President-elect Mark Parrington presented the award to Alcorn at the Society’s Annual Conference in Chicago.

Alcorn has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of healthcare strategy professionals, mentoring and advising countless colleagues and using communications to help influence how healthcare is provided and financed in this country.

Prior to joining Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, Inc., Alcorn was the chief communications officer at Geisinger Health System (Danville, Pa.), where she was responsible for public relations, marketing and referral development.  Alcorn has also held other healthcare leadership positions, including vice president of public relations and marketing for Solaris Health System in Edison, N.J.; corporate director of public relations for Union Hospital in Union, N.J.; and director of public relations for Saint Mary’s and Saint James hospitals in Orange and Newark, N.J.

Alcorn served on the Board of SHSMD’s predecessor organization, the American Society for Heath Care Marketing & Public Relations (ASCHMPR), and then on SHSMD’s Board, first as a member and then as president.

She is a prolific thought leader in the profession, sharing new ideas, counsel and best practices through a large body of publications and presentations. Most recently, she co-authored the book Healthcare Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships: An Insider’s Guide to Communications.

About the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development
The Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development is the premier organization for healthcare planners, marketers and communications and public relations professionals. A personal membership group of the American Hospital Association, SHSMD serves more than 4,000 members and is the largest organization in the nation devoted to serving the needs of healthcare strategy professionals. The Society is committed to helping its members meet the future with greater knowledge and opportunity as their organizations work to improve health status and quality of life in their communities. For more information, visit shsmd.org.

Contact:
SHSMD
shsmd@aha.org
312.422.3888