Melissa Katz

Melissa Katz is the owner and principal of Stony Hill Communications, LLC, a healthcare communications consultancy www.stonyhillcomms.com. She has more than 20 years of healthcare public relations, corporate communications and advocacy experience. She spent 14 of those year years in communication leadership positions at the worlds largest healthcare company, Johnson & Johnson. Melissa lived and worked in Belgium for two years with J&J conducting PR for all regions outside the U.S. She speaks exactly three words of Flemish. While in Washington, DC, Melissa was the spokesperson for the advocacy group NAMI and the American Psychiatric Association. She began her career at Wang Associates Health Communications in New York. While in college she co-anchored for the university news station and worked at NBC affiliates in both Boston and Cincinnati (when Jerry Springer was the anchor). She has a B.A. from Brandeis University in English and American Literature and minor in Journalism. On a personal level, Melissa gave a TEDTalk on 12.12.12 and performed as a professional improv comedian with Comedy Sportz in Washington, DC. She traveled to Muhuru Bay, Kenya in 2013 and 2014 to teach at the WISER School for Girls. www.wisergirls.org, www.educateagirl.blogspot.com Melissa is the mother of two amazing children, neither of whom find her amusing at all.