The Team

Meet the team. 

  • Stacy Robison, MPH, MCHES
    President, Co-founder
    Stacy Robison, MPH, MCHES
    A self-proclaimed health literacy geek and an expert in clear communication, Stacy is responsible for leading CommunicateHealth’s content and creative excellence. Since co-founding the company at the age of 30, Stacy has been recognized as an innovative business leader by the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Healthcare News, among other media outlets, discussing a variety of issues from entrepreneurship to health behavior change.
  • Xanthi Scrimgeour, MHEd, MCHES
    Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder
    Xanthi Scrimgeour, MHEd, MCHES
    Since co-founding CommunicateHealth in 2009, Xanthi has been driving company strategy and operations, transforming the organization into a nationally recognized multimillion-dollar consulting firm. Under her leadership, CommunicateHealth has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies by Entrepreneur and Inc. magazines 3 years in a row. A veteran public health advocate, Xanthi spent 20+ years working on the front lines with state and local health agencies. She draws on this experience to serve a diverse client portfolio that spans Fortune 500 companies and community-based nonprofits.
  • Sandy Williams Hilfiker, MA
    Chief Operating Officer, Principal
    Sandy Williams Hilfiker, MA
    Sandy joined CommunicateHealth as Principal in 2010, bringing nearly two decades of experience in interactive design for health, usability and message testing, and all types of user research. Sandy is a leading expert in engaging people with limited literacy skills in the user-centered design process. She directs CommunicateHealth’s stellar UX team, delivering value to clients like the CDC, NIH, and the Veterans Health Administration — and simplifying the user experience for millions of healthcare consumers.
  • Abigail Barnard
    Lead Product Manager
    Abigail Barnard
    Abigail has never met a problem she doesn’t want to solve — so she’s right at home leading CommunicateHealth teams that make innovative digital products. With experience ranging from scrappy health care start-ups to national nonprofits, Abigail approaches every project with a clear goal: to meet user needs by harnessing the boundless possibilities of digital products.
  • Alex Sabatini
    Operations Associate
    Alex Sabatini
    Alex is a skilled operations professional with a background in politics and IT — and a passion for making sure her colleagues have what they need to be happy and productive. We dig her positive attitude, her wealth of tech know-how, and her willingness to roll up her sleeves and find creative solutions to tricky operations challenges. 
  • Alli Hall-Jordan, MA
    Health Communication Manager
    Alli Hall-Jordan, MA
    Alli is a talented, thoughtful writer and editor who’s committed to creating easy-to-understand health information. She transforms even the trickiest content into actionable, empathetic messages that make readers think, “I can do that!” And with 10 years of health communication project management experience under her belt, Alli is a pro at delighting clients, too.
  • Andrea Mongler, MPH
    Editor
    Andrea Mongler, MPH
    Andrea is a talented writer and editor with a passion for public health and a knack for translating complicated medical research into plain language. She’s dedicated to making even the toughest health topics understandable and approachable. Andrea crafts clear, concise, and engaging health content that is accessible to low-literacy audiences — and a pleasure to read for everyone else.
  • Anna Freiman, SHRM-SCP
    Vice President, Employee Experience
    Anna Freiman, SHRM-SCP
    Anna comes to CommunicateHealth from HR leadership roles in retail, healthcare IT, and hospitality, so she’s always focused on the end user’s needs — and as our Vice President of Employee Experience, that means she ensures our team hires and retains the best and brightest, and helps them develop their talents. When she’s not doing this, Anna can often be found scouting out excellent coffee.
  • Ariana Skye-Babbott, MAcOM 
    Executive Consultant
    Ariana Skye-Babbott, MAcOM 
    Ariana is an ambitious, creative problem solver who loves strategizing about the big picture, streamlining processes, and building meaningful relationships with clients and colleagues. With first-hand experience providing health care to patients who struggle to understand health information, Ariana’s dedication to health literacy and clear communication shines through in all her work.
  • Ashley Ring, MPH
    Health Communication Manager
    Ashley Ring, MPH
    Ashley is a passionate health communicator and plain language writer who brings creative ideas, innovative strategies, and strong attention to detail to all her tasks. Whether she’s managing complex projects or creating an award-winning health campaign, Ashley’s empathy and her belief in health equity make her a true champion for the end user. 
  • Blythe Miller, MPH
    Senior Editor
    Blythe Miller, MPH
    Blythe is a gifted health writer and editor (and resident Deadhead) who transforms complicated medical information into original, plain language content. She specializes in sexual health, and her friendly tone and conversational style make this tricky health topic a lot more approachable.
  • Brittany Linton
    Researcher, User Experience
    Brittany Linton
    Brittany is a UX researcher who specializes in studying mental models and using data to solve complex problems. With a background in journalism, education, and fashion retail, Brittany blends a human-centered design approach with a deep knowledge of UX best practices. At CommunicateHealth, Brittany conducts UX research to ensure our health communication products are clear and easy to use.
  • Cecilia Galati, MBA
    Finance Manager
    Cecilia Galati, MBA
    With more than 10 years of experience in financial and government contract management, Cecilia is a skilled finance manager and number-crunching superstar. Her strong critical thinking skills and keen eye for detail help her solve even the toughest problems, and make her an asset to all her project teams. We’re pretty sure she dreams in spreadsheets.  
  • Chuck Dowe
    Front End Drupal Developer
    Chuck Dowe
    Chuck is a seasoned front-end developer who excels at using Drupal to build streamlined, accessible digital solutions. With experience working in the non-profit and higher education sectors, Chuck is committed to creating intuitive, user-friendly websites and online tools that help people access the information they need.
  • Claire Schorin, MPH
    Health Communication Associate
    Claire Schorin, MPH
    Claire is an enthusiastic project coordinator who keeps tasks rolling and team spirits high. With a background in sexual health and communication, she is committed to creating health materials that meet audiences where they’re at. When she’s not coordinating client deliverables, you can find Claire trying to sneak puns into CommunicateHealth’s portfolio.
  • Clare Mather
    Health Communication Manager
    Clare Mather
    Clare is a talented health writer and savvy project coordinator with a background in public health communication. Whether she is writing plain language health content or coordinating tasks across project teams, Clare specializes in crafting communications that are clear, easy to understand, and mindful of her audience's needs.
  • Connie Wong
    Research Coordinator
    Connie Wong
    Connie is a dedicated, detail-oriented project coordinator with a background in research and health psychology. Experienced in working with diverse populations, she's passionate about making health information easy to understand and accessible to everyone. Connie keeps project teams on track by coordinating client communication, data collection, and research logistics.
  • Corinne Berry, MA
    Research Director
    Corinne Berry, MA

    Corinne is a brilliant health communicator — and a total research geek. With more than a decade of experience in communication consulting, mixed-methods research, and intervention design, she always has her target audience in mind. She's a go-to moderator and skilled research strategist who brings a bit of sunshine to every project.

  • Courtney Titus, MA, M.Ed
    Researcher, User Experience
    Courtney Titus, MA, M.Ed
    For more than a decade, Courtney has used quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research techniques to better understand diverse populations. With experience in the technology, arts, and health care sectors, Courtney’s wide-ranging knowledge and skills help her design and conduct studies to inform digital products that empower patients to make informed decisions about their care.
  • Cynthia Kozak
    Finance Specialist
    Cynthia Kozak
    Cynthia is a skilled, detail-oriented financial specialist. Whether she’s working through budgets and spreadsheets or double-checking deadlines to make sure invoices are submitted on time, Cynthia’s positive attitude and collaborative style make her an essential member of CommunicateHealth’s finance team.
  • David Pearl
    User Experience Designer
    David Pearl
    David is a creative thinker with a knack for designing intuitive user interfaces and engaging infographics. Drawing on his experience developing health tech innovations in refugee communities, he always keeps his end user’s needs in mind. In his spare time, you can find him pitching his next app ideas at health hackathons.
  • Dena Fisher, MPH
    Senior Health Communication Manager
    Dena Fisher, MPH
    Dena is a skilled project manager with 18 years of experience in health communication and social marketing. She leads interdisciplinary teams through every aspect of communication planning, from research and strategy to product development and community engagement. Dena is a passionate advocate for public health — and just the woman you want at the helm of your next communication campaign.
  • Donna Mitrani, MPH, CHES
    Senior Health Communication Manager
    Donna Mitrani, MPH, CHES
    Donna is a self-proclaimed public health nerd with a passion for developing health communication products that help people make healthy choices. With more than a decade of experience developing and implementing national health communication campaigns, Donna excels at overseeing multidisciplinary teams on complex projects that address the latest public health issues.
  • Elise McCabe
    Web and Graphic Designer
    Elise McCabe
    Elise is an innovative visual problem solver with a passion for getting to the root of an issue. The user and the bigger picture drive the holistic design solutions she crafts for clients. She is enthusiastic about being a lifelong learner and employing a less is more approach to design (and life).
  • Emily Brostek, MPH, CHES
    Content Team Lead
    Emily Brostek, MPH, CHES
    Emily is a skilled project manager with 10+ years of experience in health education, patient advocacy, and health policy. She leads multidisciplinary teams through complex projects, keeping budgets and timelines on track and ensuring client requirements are aligned with user needs. Emily is committed to empowering people with the information they need to care for their health.
  • Emily Jennings
    Social Media and Outreach Coordinator
    Emily Jennings
    Emily is a social media expert who uses online platforms to advocate for public health issues. Whether she’s drafting tweets, researching the latest Instagram trends, or organizing a new social media strategy project, Emily always brings a positive attitude and digital marketing know-how to the table.
  • Emma Scarpa, MPH
    Content Manager
    Emma Scarpa, MPH
    Emma is a skilled writer and project manager with experience in public health research and program administration. She excels at working with multidisciplinary teams to develop and maintain health content that’s easy to access and understand. Emma is dedicated to promoting health equity by ensuring that everyone has access to clear, culturally appropriate health information.
  • Fred Van Geloven, MS
    User Experience Designer
    Fred Van Geloven, MS
    Fred is a seasoned user experience designer, a creative thinker, and a problem solver. He takes pride in delivering accessible interfaces that are fun to use. Fred has played a variety of roles on digital design projects of all sizes throughout his career. These experiences, combined with his background in communication, make him an indispensable member of the team.
  • CH Alumn
  • Hannah Herrington, MPH, CPH, CHES
    Health Communication Manager
    Hannah Herrington, MPH, CPH, CHES
    Hannah is a skilled, results-oriented project manager with more than a decade of experience in public health, health education, and communication. She excels at leading teams in tackling tricky public health topics like chronic disease management and mental health. Her mission: to create user-friendly, actionable products that delight clients — and inspire people to take charge of their health.
  • Imani Cabassa
    Health Communication Coordinator
    Imani Cabassa
    As a public health advocate with experience in health education and public health program administration, Imani supports multidisciplinary teams in maintaining plain language health content that’s accessible and easy to understand. Imani is dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to clear, culturally appropriate health information.
  • Jaime Dawson, MPH
    Health Communication Project Director
    Jaime Dawson, MPH
    Jaime is an expert project director with an unwavering commitment to health literacy and more than a decade of national health communication campaign experience. Her sharp strategic vision and joyful energy help her lead multidisciplinary teams in creating communication products and campaigns that are clear, accessible, and engaging.
  • Janel Schuh, PhD
    Senior Research Scientist, Health Communication
    Janel Schuh, PhD
    Janel is a highly skilled quantitative and qualitative researcher who is endlessly curious about health communication. With more than a dozen years of applied research and strategic communication experience, she helps clients create — and validate — communication-based solutions to challenging health issues. Janel loves interacting with people from all backgrounds and working with them to improve their health.
  • Jason Morris
    Senior Web Developer
    Jason Morris
    Jason is a front-end developer who prides himself on creating clean, responsive, intuitive websites. While he accepts (and even embraces) the constantly changing landscape of web development, he always stays focused on the essentials — keeping sites fast and accessible for all users on an increasing variety of devices.
  • Jenna Paulsen, MFA
    HR Specialist
    Jenna Paulsen, MFA
    Jenna is a skilled HR and Operations pro with a background in art and design. In addition to helping new staff members learn the ropes, she coordinates benefits and helps keep CommunicateHealth company policies up to date. She also jumps in on the occasional design, IT, finance, or general office support task, and she firmly believes that all-staff emails pair best with memes.
  • Kathleen Walker
    Senior Health Writer
    Kathleen Walker
    With experience developing health and wellness communication campaigns across a broad range of industries, Kathleen is a seasoned writer who creates plain language health content that educates and inspires. She’s passionate about promoting health literacy and ensuring that online health information is accessible to diverse consumer audiences, including those with limited literacy skills.
  • Katie Price
    Employee Experience Manager
    Katie Price
    Katie’s dedication to the principles of public health makes her a fantastic asset to our team — as does her experience in community-based research, data analytics, and health writing. She supports content and research projects to make sure things run smoothly and the end product exceeds user (and client!) expectations.
  • Katie MacKay, MPH
    Health Communication Associate
    Katie MacKay, MPH
    Katie believes in the power of accessible public health information to combat health disparities. With a background in education, gender studies, and public health, she brings a multi-dimensional perspective to all her communication work. Whether she’s coordinating tasks across teams or double-checking deliverables, Katie approaches the job with diligence and empathy.
  • Katrina Lanahan, MPH
    Researcher, User Experience
    Katrina Lanahan, MPH
    Katrina loves to solve problems, so she’s right at home leading the project teams that tackle CommunicateHealth’s toughest technical challenges. She excels at synthesizing user research findings, health behavior theories, and UX best practices to develop innovative websites and digital tools. In every project, Katrina’s former life as a usability moderator keeps her laser-focused on the end user’s needs.
  • Kerrie Kauer, PhD
    Senior Research Scientist, User Experience
    Kerrie Kauer, PhD
    Kerrie is a seasoned ethnographer and LUMA-certified facilitator who explores the social and cultural dimensions of health and wellness through human-centered design methods including contextual inquiry and user experience (UX) observations. With 20+ years of research experience, Kerrie brings a wealth of knowledge — and a healthy sense of humor — to every project.
  • Kim Hassell, MPH
    Senior Health Communication Manager
    Kim Hassell, MPH
    With expertise in health communication and contract management, Kim is a double threat — and a valuable asset to her project teams. At CommunicateHealth, Kim manages large-scale digital communication projects. Her conversational style and sharp instincts make complex projects an absolute breeze for teams, clients, and end users alike.
  • Laura Willwerth, MA, MFA
    Editor
    Laura Willwerth, MA, MFA
    Laura is a talented plain language writer who enjoys turning complicated health information into approachable, friendly content. With a background in creative writing and teaching, she approaches all her projects with a focus on clear communication and actionable messages.
  • Laura Baker
    Graphic Designer
    Laura Baker
    Laura is a versatile digital artist with a background in both animation and video game design. Her wide-ranging design interests inspire her to learn new skills and stay on the cutting edge of the field. Informed by a “simple is best” philosophy, Laura crafts straightforward, elegant design solutions that make health information accessible — and beautiful.
  • Lauren Eller
    Health Writer
    Lauren Eller
    Lauren is a skilled plain language health writer — and a bona fide word nerd. With a background in journalism and health policy, she transforms complex, technical health content into engaging copy that is accessible and relevant to her readers. Lauren’s favorite punctuation mark is the em-dash.
  • Lishai Goldstein
    Health Communication Associate
    Lishai Goldstein
    Lishai is a dedicated project manager who asks the right questions at the right times, helping project teams create health communication products that empower people to live healthier lives. We dig her cheerful presence, her impeccable attention to detail, and her commitment to advancing health literacy, especially around vaccines, maternal and child health, reproductive and sexual health, and diabetes.
  • Lizzie Barnett, ScD
    Senior Research Scientist, Health Communication
    Lizzie Barnett, ScD
    Lizzie is a Harvard-trained public health researcher who specializes in qualitative research and program evaluation. She excels at developing measurement tools and surveys, generating mixed-methods protocols, and synthesizing and translating findings to help create healthier communities. Lizzie’s thoughtfully designed studies yield rich insights to inform local, state, and federal health initiatives.
  • Luisa Ramirez
    Product Manager
    Luisa Ramirez
    Luisa is passionate about using health education to empower people to make healthy choices. With a background in global health, she has experience working on health campaigns with diverse populations. At CommunicateHealth, Luisa helps our project teams stay organized by coordinating tasks and facilitating communication among team members.
  • Lydia Franklin
    Research Coordinator
    Lydia Franklin
    Lydia is talented researcher with a background in public health, international studies, and minority health. With boundless enthusiasm, curiosity, and a passion for using health communication research to help vulnerable groups achieve better health outcomes, Lydia supports CommunicateHealth research teams on a wide variety of project management and research tasks.
  • Manjari Kumarappan
    Research Associate
    Manjari Kumarappan
    With a background in public health and chemistry, Manjari supports project teams in a wide variety of tasks — from coordinating client communication to helping with usability research. She excels at drawing on diverse perspectives and methods to identify creative solutions to tricky problems. You can find Manjari in the DC office, usually near a jar of peanut butter.
  • Mareika Phillips
    Senior Graphic Designer, Design Team Lead
    Mareika Phillips
    Mareika is an accomplished design professional with diverse experience — ranging from hand-drawn typography and illustration to web and user experience design. Her visual solutions are always innovative — a reflection of her passion for aesthetics balanced with sharp strategic insight.
  • Matt Berry
    Senior Web Developer
    Matt Berry
    Matt is a web developer who enjoys solving unusual problems. He draws on his experience of creating research websites in higher education in order to create clean, simple systems for maintaining complex sites.
  • Mikaela Momot, MPH
    Communication Associate
    Mikaela Momot, MPH
    Mikaela is a project coordinator who believes that people's health shouldn't be negatively impacted by complex and hard-to-understand health information. A former CommunicateHealth summer intern, she has a background in both public health and communication, and a true passion for health literacy.
  • Michael Godin, MS
    Web Developer
    Michael Godin, MS
    Mike’s responsible for transforming CommunicateHealth’s original ideas and designs into accessible, high-performance applications for the web. He’s worked in government, industry, and non-profit realms on topics ranging from environmental risk management to underwater robotics.
  • Monika Ramnarayan, MPH
    Product Manager
    Monika Ramnarayan, MPH
    With a background in research and program development, Monika supports project teams in creating health communication products that combine design thinking principles with public health approaches. Her strong coordination skills, flawless attention to detail, and commitment to promoting health equity make her a talented project coordinator — and a great fit for CommunicateHealth.
  • Nakeva Redmond, MPH
    Research Project Director
    Nakeva Redmond, MPH
    Nakeva is a seasoned public health professional and masterful research manager. She oversees a large portfolio of mixed-method studies, using health literacy and UX design best practices to guide all our recommendations. Nakeva’s sharp instincts help her solve tricky research problems — and her warm demeanor helps study participants and research team staff always feel at ease.
  • Nikole Baker, MPH
    Research Associate
    Nikole Baker, MPH
    Nikole is a skilled project coordinator and researcher with a background in psychology and health promotion — and a passion for using research to tackle complex public health problems. Nikole supports CommunicateHealth research teams through every phase of the human-centered design process.
  • Preston Schmidt, AAS
    Front End Drupal Developer
    Preston Schmidt, AAS
    Preston is a skilled front-end Drupal developer who builds elegant, accessible websites and digital products. Bringing a keen sense of empathy and compassion to the web development process, he excels at devising simple, user-focused solutions to complex problems. 
  • Rachel Pryzby, MPH, CHES
    Executive Vice President
    Rachel Pryzby, MPH, CHES
    Rachel believes that health information can be beautiful — and fun! At CommunicateHealth, she leads talented interdisciplinary teams towards that goal, through creative strategy, precise planning, and a dash of good humor. You can usually find Rachel writing content, leading brainstorm sessions, managing budgets, or geeking out about the latest public health research.
  • Rachel Martin, MPH
    Research Associate
    Rachel Martin, MPH
    Rachel loves digging for answers to tough research questions and collaborating with her colleagues on research reports, coordinating data collection, and keeping the research team on track. Rachel is passionate about helping teen and college-aged populations choose healthy behaviors. When she's not in the Northampton office, you can find her perfecting her karaoke repertoire.
  • Rachel Oziel, MPH
    Research Manager
    Rachel Oziel, MPH
    Rachel is passionate about building healthier communities by creating health information that people can understand and use.  When she’s not assisting the team with project management and research tasks, you can find her  at community photo shoots  for  CommunicateHealth's new stock image website, Picture Public Health.
  • Rebecca Wright
    Senior Content Strategist
    Rebecca Wright
    Rebecca is a skilled writer and editor who specializes in applying CommunicateHealth’s content-first ethos to complex digital UX and research projects. Whether she’s crafting an intuitive information architecture or refining a tricky health insurance enrollment tool, Rebecca is committed to advocating for the end user at every step along the way.
  • Sami Cohen, MPH
    Health Communication Project Director
    Sami Cohen, MPH
    With joie de vivre, Sami leads project teams in developing thoughtful, innovative solutions to tricky health communication challenges — on time and in budget. She’s a deft project director and talented public health professional who can manage even the most complex projects with ease.
  • Sarah Pomerantz, MPH, CPH
    Project Director
    Sarah Pomerantz, MPH, CPH
    Sarah is passionate about environmental justice. And it’s a good thing, because she directs our environmental health work. It’s Sarah’s job to oversee the research, design, and development of stellar communication products — for professionals and the public. She’s also a data nerd, lending her expertise to national initiatives like DATA2020.
  • Sean Arayasirikul, MSPH, PhD, CHES
    Senior Research Scientist, Health Communication
    Sean Arayasirikul, MSPH, PhD, CHES
    Sean is a social and behavioral researcher who studies how racial, ethnic, and other minority populations make complex decisions about their health care. He’s committed to a “high-touch, high-tech” approach to our websites and digital tools — creating cutting-edge tech that’s approachable and empowering.
  • Sean Wikman, MPS
    HR Coordinator
    Sean Wikman, MPS
    With a background in industrial and organizational psychology and a passion for helping others do their best work, Sean is a key member of our Employee Experience team. In addition to coordinating hiring processes and onboarding for new staff, Sean pitches in where he’s needed to support a variety of Employee Experience initiatives.
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  • Yifan Tian, MA
    Research Associate
    Yifan Tian, MA
    Yifan is a thoughtful, creative researcher with an interest in cross-cultural communication and health behavior theory — and a skilled quantitative analyst who's never met an SPSS data file he couldn't wrangle. He’s also a tech geek with a passion for using new technologies to create engaging, user-friendly products. When he's not in the Rockville office, you can find him biking on Rock Creek Trail.
Meet our partners.

Noah Smith

Noah SmithNoah Smith co-founded Common Media in 2007 after completing a Master’s degree in Computer Science at Tufts University. Since then, Noah has built Common Media into an award-winning web development firm. Noah’s primary responsibilities are business development, solutions architecture, and company-wide technical direction.

 

Morgan Griffin

Morgan GriffinMorgan has spent his career in health communication, most recently as a content guru at CommunicateHealth, and before that as reporter and editor with WebMD. His ongoing mission: to root out baffling medical jargon wherever he can and to create guidance that’s both compassionate and clear.