Cori Ashford Joins Weber Shandwick as Senior Vice President, Healthcare in Chicago 

Published

CHICAGO, Jan. 22, 2013 – Weber Shandwick, a leading global public relations firm, today announced that Cori Ashford has joined the agency as a senior vice president in the firm’s global Healthcare practice. Joining from Chandler Chicco Agency, Ashford will be based in Chicago.

Weber Shandwick Names Gail Heimann President, Chief Strategy Officer; Frank Okunak, Chief Operating Officer

Ashford joins the firm with more than a dozen years of experience managing global pharmaceutical accounts in disease areas such as oncology, cardiology, metabolic and autoimmune diseases, among others. Her past experience includes strategic counsel, issues management, data communications, regulatory milestones, national and international brand launches and consumer campaigns.

 

Over the course of her career, she led the agency team responsible for global and U.S. communications activities for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s rheumatoid arthritis medication Orencia, spanning the pre-launch, launch and lifecycle management phases for this treatment. In addition to her immunology experience, Ashford has also worked extensively in the oncology and cardiovascular therapeutic areas, providing strategic counsel to clients and helping shape proactive global and national programs and comprehensive issues management approaches. Most recently, she led the agency team responsible for launching Janssen’s Zytiga, a treatment for advanced prostate cancer.

 

Ashford has worked on issues management for a number of brands, including a supply shortage of the ovarian cancer treatment Doxil and U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Congressional actions regarding Procrit, a treatment for anemia resulting from chronic kidney failure or chemotherapy.

We are thrilled to welcome Cori to the team. She will be managing a variety of pharmaceutical and other healthcare accounts, adding to our bench strength in the Chicago office and to the Healthcare practice at Weber Shandwick, which continues to grow,

Laura Schoen

President of Weber Shandwick’s Global Healthcare practice

Ashford graduated cum laude from Ohio University with a Bachelor’s of Science in journalism.