Grey Healthcare Group, New York, has expanded its medical education expertise by hiring Frank Rodino as managing director of global medical education. The addition will complement Grey's existing medical education company, Phase Five Communications.
Rodino, who has worked on medical education in the United States and internationally, will focus on global marketing of pharmaceutical research and direct-to-physician marketing.
Pharmaceutical research marketing will include finding appropriate outlets for publishing drug research and should boost Grey's ability to work with products in the early development stage, Rodino said.
“People have opinions and an understanding of what media placement is and about the production of advertising. The same principles can be applied to medical research,” he said. “Researchers often choose publications for their research willy-nilly, and we will work with them to find the appropriate audience.”
In direct-to-physician marketing, Rodino has used symposiums, educational projects on the Internet and other methods to educate doctors about products. He says his six years' experience in clinical practice has helped his understanding of the type of information to present to physicians.
“The way you address neurologists differs from the way you address family practitioners. The nature of their practice means they have different needs,” he said. “I was on the receiving end of a lot of this and was often frustrated if I didn't get the type of information I wanted on a drug.”
Rodino was founder and president of Radius Scientific, a medical education company that was renamed Churchill Communications North America after its acquisition by Pearson PLC. He grew the business from a staff of four to more than 60 and gained international experience on the board and as head of the sales efforts of the global medical education network of Churchill Communications International.
At Grey, he will continue to focus on working internationally with companies to provide unified medical education messages in markets around the world.
“This is done a lot by local mom-and-pop shops, but few can pull it all together in a true global approach,” he said.
Rodino also has worked for the advanced therapeutics division of Physicians World Communications Group and for the consumer health group at Marketshare, a division of BBDO.
