Industry Veterans Mason Essif, Tina Georgeou Take Helm at Medical College
NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 28, 2015 – The Buffkin Group – a leading national retained search firm – has helped Weill Cornell Medical College expand its communications and marketing departments by placing veteran industry leaders to guide the medical college’s strategic external initiatives amid a rapidly evolving health care marketplace.
Mason Essif, who previously served as senior vice president and senior strategist at Ogilvy Public Relations in Washington, D.C., serves as the new executive director of communications and public affairs in Weill Cornell’s Office of External Affairs. Tina Georgeou, former chief marketing officer at Lighthouse International, is the office’s new director of marketing. Both report to Larry Schafer, vice provost for external affairs at Weill Cornell.
“This initiative to create dynamic and visionary communications and marketing departments was a strategic move to continue positioning Weill Cornell at the forefront of the health care industry, which is constantly changing in an era of health care reform,” said Tom Rosenwald, partner at The Buffkin Group. “With their exceptional leadership and wealth of expertise, Mason and Tina are driving national discussion about Weill Cornell Medical College and its excellence in clinical care, biomedical research and medical education.”
At Ogilvy, Essif served a variety of government health care clients including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prior to Ogilvy, Essif was a freelance producer for ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America, as well as a health care reporter/producer for CNN for 10 years. Essif was also a producer for Newsweek Productions’ PBS Healthweek show. He was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he taught media relations for its Master in Communications degree program.