If you haven’t gathered from our previous blogs, Aria is an office of food fanatics. Many of us whip up epic creations for our Wednesday breakfasts and monthly happy hours, and we often convene over lunch from one of our go-to restaurants and discuss everything from healthcare IT to PR to life in the Boston area.

As a healthcare public relations agency, we at Aria Marketing are certainly no strangers to reactive pitching opportunities. When the Department of Health and Human Services releases a new draft plan, we are ready to pitch our clients’ expertise on how the rules might impact the industry. When a new data breach is reported, we know which reporters will want to hear from an expert on what went wrong and how other organizations can prevent such an incident. However, while politics and healthcare are deeply intertwined, it is not every day that we pitch a client to discuss a potential national security threat. The U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January, however, presented that opportunity.

Fall is a wonderful time of year in Boston. Leaves are changing colors, apples are ripe for the picking, and this year, our beloved Red Sox are playing in the World Series. Likewise, the autumnal season brings exciting changes to Aria: this month we welcomed our newest Senior Account Executive, Cate Hannum! I sat down with Cate to get to know her better and talked everything from books and movies to travel and future goals. Here are ten things I learned about the newest addition to Team Aria:

The year has taken quite an unusual turn with a pandemic sweeping the globe and forcing everyone to stay inside in an effort to flatten the curve as quickly as possible. As a result, our beloved Boston Marathon has been postponed to September. While we’ll have to hold our celebrations for a few months, we thought we would honor the day by sharing some of our favorite memories.

Being a smaller agency with one main office means that everyone at Aria lives and works around the greater Boston area. We love our city and appreciate all it has to offer (great restaurants, killer sports teams, beautiful outdoor space, etc). So, it’s important to us to be active members in our community and find ways to give back to keep it such an amazing place.

Healthcare-Focused PR Agency Continues to Grow to Support New Business in 2018

Boston, MA – March 27, 2018 – Aria Marketing, a leading healthcare public relations and marketing communications agency, today announced it was named one of the Best PR Firms in Boston by Expertise. The recognition comes at a time of momentum for the company, as it brings on new clients, such PatientMatters, a company transforming the financial experience of care, and makes strategic hires to help support both new and existing clients.

At Aria, we provide each of our clients with a dedicated PR team that typically consists of a Vice President, a Senior Account Executive, an Account Executive (AE) and sometimes an Account Coordinator (AC). Given this set team structure, AEs and ACs typically do not have many opportunities to collaborate directly with each other on client work.

The Aria team took a break (mostly) from the world of health IT PR for a full two weeks this holiday season. After a year of hard work, a crazy pandemic, and a transition to WFH, we took some well-deserved time to relax. Read about the team’s much needed R&R over the holidays:

Meet the newest member of the Aria team, Account Coordinator, Serena Bronda. In getting to know Serena, we’ve learned that she has lived in some amazing places. So, I thought this blog post would be a great excuse to find out a bit more about her experiences around the world.

As a healthcare PR agency, it’s our job to examine the latest industry trends and developments. One trend on the minds of many of our healthcare IT clients is the rapid rise of telehealth. The pandemic has accelerated telehealth’s adoption, but will things return to the way they were post-pandemic, or will this growth continue?

If we can conduct business virtually, educate our kids online and hang out with loved ones through a computer, what about seeing a doctor? Telemedicine is not new, but a 2021 study found one in three adults turned to telehealth in the wake of the pandemic with some providers reporting a 4000% uptick in virtual visits.

Yes, we’re more connected, but is that just on the surface? Let’s look at both sides of the equation.

February may be the shortest month of the year, but that didn’t stop the Aria team from securing fantastic results for our clients. As we get ready for the snow to stop (hopefully!) and the springtime weather to arrive, we wanted to highlight some of our best client wins from February.

Drink Options for the New Normal in Office Bonding

Happy hours are a beloved tradition at Aria, and as public relations professionals, we like our drinks with a twist of creativity. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Aria team members would host in-office, themed happy hours complete with a spread to satisfy our foodie tendencies and décor to bring it all together. (A few memorable ones include the college party and Friends-inspired happy hours.)

Summer is officially over this week and the season of pumpkin spiced lattes, flannel sweaters and fall foliage is upon us. While the warm weather may be leaving us, there’s still plenty of time to enjoy the sights of Boston before winter hits. If you are looking for things to do in Boston this fall, check out the following fun (and free) activities happening around town in October and November:

New year, renewed motivation to get our clients amazing results! We worked to ensure our clients started the year off strong with a robust media presence, all while prepping for HIMSS19. Below are some of our clients’ biggest wins from January:

The need for better cognitive treatment processes in the US and beyond is urgent. Today, over 6 million Americans aged 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia and 1 in 3 seniors will die with the disease. Experts expect that figure to more than double by 2050. We all know that a healthy body starts with a healthy mind—so, why are cognitive health screenings less prioritized than cardiovascular or cancer screenings?

One of Aria’s newest clients, Linus Health, aims to disrupt cognitive care by integrating AI with proactive early detection and intervention methods to detect and curb the progression of cognitive decline up to 10 years before symptoms present. Founded by David Bates, Ph.D. and Alvaro Pascual-Leone, M.D., Ph.D., Linus utilizes digital biomarkers to reveal subtle signals of cognitive issues that are invisible to the human eye. Its flagship solution, the DCTclock, is a next-generation digital evaluation tool that, after more than ten years of development at MIT and Lahey Medical Center, has been reviewed in over a dozen research publications and is proven effective in identifying the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease pathology in patients with no outward symptoms. The DCTclock was one of TIME's 100 Best Inventions of 2021. The company’s healthcare delivery platform, which includes the DCTclock, provides a tried-and-true approach to aid with early detection, granting clinical insights for healthcare professionals as well as tailored action plans for patients.

Linus Health engaged Aria to support its thought leadership development via a comprehensive media relations program that emphasizes the power of AI and digital tools to help detect dementia early and help guide clinicians in identifying patient-specific recommendations. We have also been working to raise awareness of the critical nature of early detection and early interventions while there is still time to slow decline. To date, Aria has secured many prominent placements including:

• Healthcare Business Today byline from David Bates on long Covid-Alzheimer’s link
• HIT Consultant byline from VP, Interventional Therapy Dr. Joyce Gomes-Osman, Ph.D. on making the case for early intervention and detection

• Neurology Live interview with Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone to discuss AAIC research findings and how they influence the way neurologists care for late-life patients

• MedCity byline from Dr. Joyce Gomes-Osman explaining how lifestyle changes are more effective and sustainable than any dementia drug available on the market today

Aria has helped Linus capitalize on all of its growth and accomplishments by helping the company win multiple awards recognizing its successes in 2022. Linus was named by Boston Business Journal as one of the Largest Healthtech Companies in Massachusetts and was also recognized for its fast growth in BostInno's 2022 Fire Awards in the Medtech and Healthtech category. The company also won Technology of the Year in the Healthcare Tech category for Mass TLC's Tech Top 50.

As the healthcare industry continues to seek out better detection and treatment options for patients with cognitive disorders, the advancement of digital biomarkers and digitally enabled solutions will drive clinical research and patient care in the years ahead. We're excited to continue collaborating with Linus Health and promoting its mission to a broad audience, and ultimately move the needle on the significance of regular proactive cognitive screening and improve cognitive assessment methods in the world's battle against Alzheimer's and dementia.

If you or your company are interested in elevating your brand through public relations, please contact Scott Collins at scollins@ariamarketing.com so we can discuss our strategy and how we can create a plan that meets your goals. As always, you can also keep up with Aria on Twitter and LinkedIn. If you’re interested in learning more about Linus Health and want to follow their upcoming announcements, you can find them on Twitter and LinkedIn or visit their website at linushealth.com.

They say the month of March comes in like a lion, which certainly rang true for our Aria team as we began the month by heading to Las Vegas for HIMSS18 (which we lovingly refer to as our PR Super Bowl). The event was a great success for us and our clients, but it wasn’t the only March highlight. Check out some other notable client wins from last month:

One of the greatest benefits about transitioning to a virtual workforce is having the ability to access a talent pool far beyond Massachusetts (where our office was formerly located). At Aria, our healthcare public relations team is quickly taking advantage of this, welcoming employees from outside the Greater Boston area, like our newest Senior Account Executive, Karina Stabile, who joins us from Long Island, New York. I had the pleasure of (virtually) sitting down with Karina to find out a bit more about her. Teaser: when Karina isn’t writing pitches, creating thought leadership agendas, or developing media strategies, she’s busy training for marathons or enjoying a Broadway show. Read on to learn more about Karina.

Like many college grads and young professionals who entered the workforce during the pandemic, my first glimpse of Aria Marketing was through a Zoom meeting. However, even though I joined the company as a virtual employee, I immediately knew that it was the right fit for me— so much so that I referred my roommate to also apply to this healthcare public relations agency. I’m happy to say that Elizabeth Coleman, my former Boston University classmate, joined Aria last April as a fellow account coordinator. To introduce Elizabeth to the broader Aria community, I sat down and interviewed her over coffee (in our living room/office) last week.

It’s hard to believe it has been more than six months since Aria Marketing became a fully remote agency. Though there have been some bumps in the road, the transition has gone surprisingly well and has actually helped us to grow as an agency. We are now able to hire public relations all-stars from across the country. One such all-star is our newest employee, Account Coordinator Haley Collins. I had the pleasure of virtually catching up with Haley to get to know her a little better and to find out how she likes to spend her time when she is not securing coverage for our healthcare IT clients. Read on to learn more!

The Aria team has been working remotely since March of 2020. Of course, this transition came with initial challenges but we are fortunate to be in a profession where we can secure results for our health IT clients from anywhere with a WiFi connection. Despite the tumultuous nature of past year, it has been one of steady growth for Aria, and we are excited that we were able to welcome many new faces to the team!

Maddi Larsen, account coordinator and trivia superstar, joined Aria at the beginning of 2021. I had the pleasure of catching up with her to discuss quarantine hobbies, her background, and why she moved across the country to Boston: