Makara bolsters leadership team on back of award wins

UK-based international healthcare communications agency,
Makara Health, has appointed 11 additional people to its rapidly growing team, including Diana Evans who joins the leadership team as Director.

 Diana comes with both agency and in-house experience, including her latest role at Napp Pharmaceuticals as Head of Communications. Diana will spearhead Makara’s patient engagement offering.

“Having started my healthcare communications career in agency and then moved to  in-house pharma roles, I’ve seen the challenges on both sides. I chose to join Makara because I know they give their clients unrivalled expertise and creativity in a collaborative way and that’s how they have become a multi-award winning agency. Leading our patient engagement offering is both a privilege and a challenge - effectively communicating with and learning from patients to deliver truly patient centred programmes should be at the core of everything we do,” comments Diana Evans.

“I wanted to deliver top quality, engaging and intelligent communications with like-minded individuals – and that’s what you get from Makara.”

Other additions to the team include Gurjit Chahal, who joins from 3 Monkeys Zeno as an Associate Director, a new digital designer and three further members of the senior writing team, amongst others.

The recruitment drive follows a successful run of award wins at the end of 2020 for Makara, including three PMEA Awards, one of which was Support Agency of the Year, and the PharmaTimes Communications Team of the Year (International Challenge).

“I am so proud of our growing team and excited about what 2021 has in store for Makara,” comments Louise Sharp, Founder and Managing Director of Makara. “Diana’s significant experience within the industry, coupled with her focus on patient engagement, puts us in an even stronger position to support our clients in meeting the evolving needs of patients during this period of rapid change.” 

Full list of new team members:

Account team:

• Diana Evans, who has held in-house roles at both Napp and GSK, worked in agencies including Ogilvy and Cohn & Wolfe and started her career at a charity The Patients Association.
• Gurjit Chahal, joins the PR and comms function as Associate Director. She has over 10 years experience and has previously worked at 3 Monkeys Zeno, Clark Health, Red Consultancy and Tonic Life Communications.
• Johanna Leifland, brings her advertising experience to the agency having worked at Woolley Pau Gyro and DDB Remedy.
• Kunbi Ayo-Okanlawon joins the medical educational side of the business as Senior Project Manager.
• Sarah Bundock who joins as Project Manager, bringing a focus on patient engagement.
• Mary Fraser who joins as Project Manager, supporting Makara’s Learning and Development work.

Digital, creative and scientific services:

• Peter Davies joins the team as Creative Projects Manager.
• Coleen Cahill joins as Digital Designer.
• Jennifer Tasker joins as Senior Medical Writer.
• Jacqi Pan joins as Senior Medical Writer.
• Gemma North joins as Scientific Coordinator.
• Becky Pamplin joins as Senior Copywriter.