Public Relations, Engagement/Experiential & Direct Jury

Kimberly A. White is the global chair of Edelman’s Health practice, with a focus on providing counsel to a wide variety of healthcare clients. She was most recently vice president of corporate communications for Baxter International Inc. In this position, Kym was responsible for leading Baxter’s global communications function, which included corporate reputation; crisis and issues management; media relations; executive, employee, web and financial communications; community relations; the Baxter International Foundation; and initiatives related to the company’s long-term commitment to sustainability. She held this role from 2007
until 2010.

Prior to joining Baxter, Kym spent 16 years with Ogilvy PR Worldwide in a variety of roles. During her tenure there, Kym served as the General Manager of the New York office and was Co-Managing Director of the agency’s global
healthcare practice.  

Kym’s experience includes 20+ years of work in corporate communications, healthcare product marketing and related issues management. Her work at Baxter spanned issues ranging from the overdose of a celebrity’s children with the company’s product and related publicity and litigation, to the 2008 heparin contamination that led to congressional hearings, to management of communications around the company’s pandemic vaccine for H1N1. She has developed and overseen U.S. and global communications programs for products at all stages of their lifecycle for many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Kym has been recognized as one of the top 50 healthcare PR professionals by PR Week. She was elected to the Arthur Page Society in 2008, and elevated to its Board of Trustees in 2009. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a Bachelor of Science in communications and
political science.