Spotlight on Biomedical Communications
(Nov. 20, 2020) ETSU’s Biomedical Communications team is celebrating a national award from the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association, recognizing their work bringing Dr. Karen Schetzina’s ReadNPlay children’s activity book series to life. The team received the 2020 Judges Recognition in the booklets category for excellence from small in-house print shops.
Located in the Learning Resources department with the Medical Library, Biomedical Communications was established to provide design and print services to the Quillen College of Medicine. The group has grown its expertise and capacity to provide a variety of products and services including elevator wraps, pole banners, scientific posters, signage, event tickets, targeted mailings, designs for print and web, promotional items, and materials for clinical environments such as letterhead and signage. The ETSU Health pole banners and elevator wraps placed around the Quillen campus last year were all designed, printed and installed by the Biomed team.
More recently, the core Biomed team – Fred Conley, Jill Fair, Taylor Campbell, and Marty Conley – has partnered with their Learning Resources colleagues Matthew Carroll and Sylvester Renner to develop and implement campaigns for ETSU’s medical residency programs, attracting applicants during a time when interested students cannot visit due to COVID-19. The team has collaborated on a variety of materials, including photo and video shoots, web graphics, virtual tours, and website refreshes to help candidates appreciate all that Quillen and Johnson City have to offer.
“The Biomedical Communications team has been instrumental in restructuring our resident and fellowship websites over the last six months,” said Dr. Michael Ostapchuk, associate dean for Graduate Medical Education. “Due to the COVID pandemic, this year has been particularly challenging for resident and fellow recruitment given the need to interview virtually rather than in person. The programs needed to showcase their many positives. The Biomedical Communications team worked with each program to make their websites fresh and welcoming. They met with each program and filmed the program directors’ welcoming remarks, conducted resident/fellow testimonials, as well as virtual tours.
“The response from applicants has been great,” Ostapchuk continued. “Although the applicant cannot visit the program and area in person they can get very near to a visit by visiting the websites.”
Biomedical Communications also has provided many products and services related to COVID-19, creating sandwich boards and other signs for our campus and clinics regarding mask use and testing site procedures. This multidisciplinary team is looking forward to future creative endeavors to support ETSU Health in partnership with Quillen’s new marketing and communications manager, Meaghan Smith.
Learning Resources Associate Dean Rachel Walden said of the team, “They have done a fantastic job supporting the college through COVID-19, and I look forward to seeing their creative approaches to any new challenges in the future.”