Nearly 60 social media leaders from 33 of the nation’s largest hospitals and healthcare systems gathered at Nationwide Children’s Hospital for the Healthcare Social Media Summit 2025.
Hosted by SocialMedia.org Health, this exclusive event offered two days of candid discussions, peer-led sessions, and actionable insights tailored to the unique challenges of healthcare social media.
Here’s a look at the moments that mattered most and why our community continues to provide value for healthcare social media leaders.
Exploring the Future of Healthcare
The Summit kicked off with a tour of Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s cutting-edge facilities, including the Simulation Center and the Abigail Wexner Research Institute. Attendees experienced firsthand how virtual reality and simulation are transforming medical training and research and got to learn about genetic material by performing their own experiments to extract DNA from strawberries.
Strategic Leadership Panels: Team Growth and Mental health Considerations
The agenda was built entirely by and for healthcare social media leaders, creating a space for honest dialogue on what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next.
Panel discussions tackled the biggest strategic challenges on the minds of our members today.
Getting the Green Light for Social Media Team Growth
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Director of Social Media and Engagement Kelly Savage, Nationwide Children’s Hospital Director of Social Media Diane Davis, and Stony Brook Medicine Director of Social Media and Engagement Carley Cori explored how to secure buy-in from key stakeholders, demonstrate the significant return on investment of team growth, and how expanded teams can directly improve patient outcomes.
Mental health considerations for social media leaders
Whether it’s protecting brand reputation, overseeing community management, compiling data analytics, or building crisis response plans, the pressure for leading social media is never-ending. Franciscan Health Social Media Manager Robbie Schneider, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Manager of Digital Engagement Bailey Cargill, and Mercy Senior Social Media Specialist Jonathan King discussed how to address mental health for yourself and for your team.
Confidential Case Studies on Top Challenges
Members shared how they’re solving critical issues — from team growth to employee advocacy.
- Jennifer Woods, Director of Content and Social Media at Banner Health, shared how they broke language barriers to engage a more diverse audience.
- Children’s Hospital Colorado Social Media & Online Reputation Manager Kevin Vicker discussed how they improved their recruitment marketing results by strategically combining paid social advertising with the power of user-generated content.
- Kristi Ludlow, Social Media Manager at OhioHealth, presented their approach for repurposing existing content for employee advocacy, balancing authentic storytelling with HIPAA compliance and patient privacy, and how to make it easy for clinicians, support staff, leaders, and even MarComm teammates to participate.
- Rosaria Mineo, Director of Social Media and Public Relations at Cooper University Health Care, explained how to turn potential crises into opportunities and how to proactively spot negative sentiment and bring patients and your team together for constructive solutions.
- Carley Cori, Director of Social Media and Creative Services at Stony Brook Medicine, explored a four-step process for growing and developing a successful team. She discussed how hiring strong, capable individuals lays the foundation for success, while continuous investment in their development ensures long-term growth and retention.
Practitioner-Led Workshops on Key Topics
Social media leaders broke into smaller groups to share ideas and solve challenges. Sessions included:
- Building your social media engine — led by Danielle Thompson at Dartmouth Health
- Leveraging social media listening for crisis and issue management — led by Karina Martinez, Digital and Social Media Strategist at UC Davis Health
- Amplifying your brand in an ever-changing social media landscape — led by Lauren Carter, Marketing Manager at North Memorial Health
- Crafting compelling content across platforms and formats — led by Lexie Feikema at Scottish Rite
- Emerging social media platforms: What’s the next disruptor? — led by Cameron Knowles at Duke University Health System
- Prove your impact: Turning social data into leadership insights — led by Callista Dammann at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
The workshop format created space for practical, immediately usable solutions.
Peer Advisory Roundtables
Attendees engaged in peer-to-peer discussions on their top challenges and topics. Unlike the pre-set agendas, this format allowed our members to build the agenda “on the fly” — making the topics both uniquely timely and relevant.
Some of the top challenges benchmarked included:
- Video – EGC, content creation, and who owns it
- Political climate: Fighting misinformation and leading a team in tough times
- Social listening
- Incorporating TikTok into social plans
- Partnerships – community, sports, and joint ventures
- Implementing AI
- Navigating DEI content
- YouTube
- Influencers: Dealing with legal and working with agencies
- Analytics
- What is the most “unique” service line you have to support?
- X/Twitter – are you staying?
- And more!
A Community That Gets It
The energy in the room made it clear: this is a space where healthcare social media leaders don’t have to explain why their work matters. Everyone here gets it.
If I could choose one conference or gathering to attend for the span of my career in healthcare social media, it would be this one. No other conference has the amount of relevant knowledge as this one. I cannot wait to connect with others at the next one!
Karina Martinez, UC Davis Health
As always, attending SocialMedia.org Health summit is an amazing way to connect with colleagues who get it! I came away meeting new people! Hearing some friends present and speak on things that affect us all in social media. Every time I attend one of these I come away with so many new ideas.
Amy Arnold, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
My cup is SO full after the last two days at the SocialMedia.org Health Summit. There is really no community like it. I hadn’t been to one of their in-person conferences since before COVID, so it was an absolute joy to reconnect with so many incredible people – and make some new friends, too.
Kelly Savage, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Social media is not an easy job and fighting misinformation makes social media in health care even harder. It was great to connect with our peers from hospitals across the country who just get it. They are OUR PEOPLE!
Diane Davis, Nationwide Children’s Health
I had the absolute pleasure of attending the SocialMedia.org Health Summit! Learning from some of the brightest minds in healthcare social media has been a phenomenal experience.
DeAndre Hicks, Henry Ford Health
Join Your Peers Leading Social Media in Healthcare
If you lead social media at a large hospital or healthcare system, this is your space. The Healthcare Social Media Summit is just one part of a year-round peer community built to solve real-time challenges in social media.
