Talent

Susan Carol

President and Executive Director

While based in Virginia since 1983, Susan Carol has earned a winning reputation in a worldwide market of healthcare, technology and finance. Clients have included many publishers and expansion-stage firms as well as associations needing full-service public relations campaigns. She has grown her organization and its team of writers since 1989. The healthcare industry writers team is a division of Susan Carol Associates Public Relations, a full service firm providing integrated PR, advertising and marketing communications services. Her team produces content for medical practitioners, as well as for providers of healthcare technology and financial solutions.

A visionary who looks beyond individual projects and considers the “big picture,” Susan continually studies how her clients’ interests are affected by emerging media, cultural and economic forces. She counsels in managing communications crises, branding and establishing new marketing communications channels. Susan is an accredited and active member of the Public Relations Society of America, a leader in the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, and board member of the Friends of the University of Mary Washington-Community Orchestra in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Susan has a BA in journalism from Penn State University and has previous employment in corporate, association and military public relations, including a variety of assignments abroad.

Carla Young Harrington

Healthcare Writer and Media Relations Specialist

Carla Young Harrington’s experience in healthcare communications began as a newspaper reporter covering the medical “beat.” In the 20 years since, Carla has helped a variety of healthcare businesses, providers and non-profits to communicate more effectively with their key constituents. Her strengths include writing clear and compelling Web site content, enewsletters, brochures, case studies and articles for healthcare audiences. She also has extensive expertise generating local, state and national news coverage for healthcare organizations.

After working as a reporter at The Free Lance-Star newspaper in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Carla launched her career in healthcare communications at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. She served as assistant director of the news office, winning awards for her work communicating with reporters about the center’s research and programs. Carla later joined the news office at the prestigious National Research Council, affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. There, she publicized scientific reports via media alerts, news releases, press conferences, contributions to academy publications and news summaries of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Carla joined Susan Carol Associates Public Relations in 1992. Early on, she significantly expanded news coverage of a then little- known disorder, interstitial cystitis, through SCAPR’s work for the Interstitial Cystitis Association. Carla’s more recent work has helped Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg to increase news coverage of specific procedures; Radiologic Associates of Fredericksburg to improve communications with referring physicians; Virginia Interventional and Vascular Associates to expand awareness of its specialty via a new Web site; VISICU to educate healthcare providers and reporters about its telemedicine solutions using customer case studies; and SoftMed and 3M Health Information Systems to enhance understanding of their products through tailored brochures. She also has helped improve communications for SCAPR clients in other industry sectors, including equipment leasing and finance, and technology.

Carla is an honors graduate of the University of Richmond, Virginia.

Sue Carrington

Healthcare Writer, Editor, and Publications Manager

Sue Carrington has over three decades of experience in business communications, with a special focus on healthcare. In a career that has spanned print, broadcast and online media, she has written for an array of healthcare organizations worldwide, from global consulting firms to technology solution providers; finance companies and research firms to physician group practices.

Sue’s communications background includes 12 years with the global health sciences group of Ernst &Young. There, she wrote, edited, and directed the production of a variety of print, Web, and video communications for an international audience of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and provider organizations. In her 10 years as an independent communications consultant, Sue has continued to write and manage publications for Ernst & Young’s provider care practice. She has produced the group’s signature publication, The Board Report—distributed to the boards of major healthcare organizations throughout the United States.  She has also served as a contributing writer on two Ernst & Young annual reports:  Beyond Borders, for the global biotechnology industry, and Progressions, for the global pharmaceutical industry.

In addition to Ernst & Young, healthcare clients have included four international organizations providing training and technical assistance throughout the world:   Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Management Sciences for Health (MSH), John Snow, Inc. (JSI), and Partnership for Supply Chain Management Systems (SCMS). Sue has also provided communications services to the US Air Force Surgeon General’s office; national advisory group the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD); healthcare technology solutions providers 3M, SoftMed Systems, Inc., and VISICU; risk mitigation consultant Health Care Integrity Solutions; healthcare financing company HPSC; healthcare market research firm Manhattan Research; dental group Prizm Dental Partners; plastic surgery groups Colorado Plastic Surgery Center and Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg; faith-based health group Congregational Health ReSource, LLC, and radiology practice Radiologic Associates of Fredericksburg.

Sue’s healthcare experience has been seasoned also through service to the local community. She wrote a successful grant proposal to the Washington, DC, government to fund a home for women and children living with AIDS.

Sue is an honors graduate of Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Jeri Phillips

A multi-faceted public relations and marketing professional, Jeri Phillips performs a variety of functions for Susan Carol Associates’ Healthcare Division.  Her 25 years of experience in event planning, public relations, sales and marketing have been put to use in several local campaigns.

Jeri manages the details that go into successful trade shows, exhibits and full-scale marketing campaigns.  Most recently, her work with Radiologic Associates of Fredericksburg and Virginia Interventional and Vascular Associates has required her to take complex materials and develop them into easily understandable information for various audiences.  As a project manager, she has coordinated focus groups, Web sites, branding and advertising campaigns, and newsletters.

In addition to healthcare, she has experience working with small and growing businesses to nationally recognized tourism destinations such as Maymont Park in Richmond and the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach.  Jeri received her B.A. in Journalism and Political Science from Illinois State University.

Susan Laurel Hodges

Healthcare Writer and Editor

Susan Laurel Hodges has written for more than 70 publications and consulted for dozens of organizations.  Her work has appeared in such widely circulated publications as The Washington Post, NationsBusiness, The Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Business Journal.

A former newspaper reporter, Susan has written on scores of topics, including healthcare.  Her healthcare consulting experience ranges from editing physician-authored papers for publication in the Journal of American Psychiatry to editing Infectious Wastes News, a Washington, D.C.-based publication for generators and handlers of bio-hazardous wastes. Susan has also written instruction manuals on maintaining and enhancing sanitary conditions, including handling and disposing of hazardous medical wastes in hospitals and assisted-living facilities.

Clients value Susan’s ability to translate technical terms and complex topics into clear and interesting prose. Along with healthcare, additional areas of writing expertise include property-casualty insurance, specialty finance, information technology, transportation and real estate. Susan has implemented marketing communication plans for Freddie Mac and written about electronic warfare for the Journal of Electronic Defense. She has also written extensively about legislation and its implications for industry.

Susan received a B.A. in English and Speech from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She has continued to hone her craft through writers’ workshops at Wesleyan Radford, and George Washington universities.