Kellie started out as a copy editor with Bionews in February 2018 and now serves as SVP of Editorial of the organization. She had previously worked for a variety of newspapers as a copy editor, working her way up to deputy night editor at a regional newspaper in Virginia. She is an Army veteran and served for eight years as a Russian linguist. After leaving the service, she went on to graduate from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, with a bachelor’s degree in communication and Russian. Her interest in and experience with the Russian language led her to a Fulbright fellowship in 2012, awarding her the opportunity to spend an academic year in Oryol, Russia, teaching English to university students. A lifelong equestrian, she can usually be found at the barn hanging out with her horse, Penny, in her spare time.

Brian began working with Bionews in a consulting role in 2020 before becoming president in 2022. Brian has a long and very successful career as a founder/startup expert and digital media executive. He launched and sold several companies and, most recently, spent 12 years building the sales and marketing divisions of a successful digital media company. As president, Brian oversees sales and client operations and works alongside the CEO and SVP of Strategy and Growth in defining Bionews’ corporate strategy. Brian continues to refine the company’s operations and positions Bionews for rapid market expansion.

Chris developed the Bionews concept as a way to leverage digital news content as a means of reaching and connecting with rare disease populations who had little to no access to fresh, accurate, and authoritative information about their disease online. His vision has fueled the growth and maturation of patient/caregiver ecosystems that are enriching rare disease communities online while also providing a platform for offering valuable services for helping biotech, health, and life sciences companies fulfill their marketing and promotional objectives. Chris works in every facet of the Bionews work process, from serving as a direct contact with all clients to helping shape the editorial focus of each site in the publisher role

In her role, Marcella is involved in every facet of the work process that connects patients in our rare disease communities with ongoing clinical trials. As a creative builder and change agent, her mission is to promote a human-centered healthcare system built on empathy and radical collaboration, where patients are integral contributors to the collective efforts aimed at advancing the understanding and cure of rare and chronic diseases. Over the past 12 years, across multiple organizations, including Harvard Clinical Research Institute, Science 37, and monARC Bionetworks, she led a multitude of patient-centric projects spanning from patient-powered trial design, patient recruitment and engagement for traditional and virtual/remote clinical trials, patient community development, growth, and engagement through co-creation with peers. She serves as an adviser to pharmaceutical companies, nonprofit organizations, healthcare innovation accelerators, and startups for topics related to effective patient engagement in clinical trials and co-creation with patients. 

Ashley joined Bionews in July 2022. Ashley is a passionate and experienced client services and revenue operations leader with more than 10 years of experience in the digital health space. She is laser-focused on creating operational efficiencies, providing customer-focused solutions, and the strategic growth of revenue and people. She has previously worked for Everyday Health, Medicx Health, and Adprime Health. Ashley is from New Haven, Connecticut, and resides in Jersey City, New Jersey, with her dog, Cooper, and cat, Olivia.

Jeff joined Bionews in 2022. Jeff has spent the last 20 years in digital health startups and patient advocacy as a founder and executive leader. He has built digital health platforms that have driven more than 1 billion healthcare consumers to make better cost and quality decisions by enabling healthcare transparency at scale. At Bionews, Jeff is leveraging his expertise in digital marketing and technology to enhance the digital user experience and drive site growth.

Ethan joined Bionews in September 2022 following two decades in the health information and publishing space – where he was responsible for the launch, growth, and sale of Vertical Health to Remedy Health Media in 2019. After a few years working in business development at Remedy, Ethan joined Bionews to focus on content and community building around health conditions in need of a spotlight. Having a close family member with a rare disease only added to his interest in serving such an important and sometimes overlooked group.

Ethan is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where he lives with three boys (Rylan, Liam, and Eli) and his wife, Rachel, a mental health therapist. In addition to his work in the health information space, Ethan founded Ithaca’s Youth Entrepreneurship Market (www.YEMithaca.com), which helps young people develop an entrepreneurial mindset and gives them an opportunity to bring their ideas to life. Ethan was recently recognized as Ithaca’s Hometown Hero for his work with area youth as well as for his roles serving on several mission-driven boards and committees around the region

Lauren started at Bionews as a consultant. She resides in New Jersey with her husband and son. Lauren spent eight years working in the digital health space, leading client success and strategy teams. After a brief pause from work to spend quality time with her baby, she is excited to return. Lauren graduated from St. Joseph’s University on Long Island, New York, with a degree in business administration. During college, she worked part-time at a local hospital serving food to patients, which drove her passion for customer service in the health space. She reflects on how a smile and brief conversation with patients made a major impact on their entire day. Lauren admires the work Bionews is doing to serve the rare disease community and is thrilled to join a team whose work truly matters to patients and caregivers.