Amar Urhekar Named President Of McCann Health Americas

NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Amar Urhekar, a veteran of the Global McCann Health network, has been promoted to the newly-created position of President, McCann Health Americas, it was announced today by John Cahill, global CEO of McCann Health. Urhekar most recently served as McCann Health's Executive VP based in Singapore, leading its Asia Pacific network of 14 offices in nine countries.

Urhekar will be taking over leadership of McCann Health's North and South American professional healthcare operations during a period of intensified investment, innovation, integration and growth. McCann Worldgroup recently announced that it has begun to expand these regional operations in response to changes in the consumer and healthcare communications environment, in part related to healthcare insurance reforms in the U.S.  McCann's expansion includes having launched an extensive investment program that encompasses talent, enhanced digital health platforms, and improved healthcare professional-patient information management programs. Urhekar will be based in New York.

"We are seeing dramatic changes in the healthcare industry within the Americas," said John Cahill. "There is an increasing confluence of stakeholders, with regulators, payers, providers and patients/ consumers all encountering each other's messages on a daily basis. Additionally, the advent of the empowered health consumer in both the U.S. and Latin America is creating greater opportunities to expand community health services and a new orientation towards the patient as a customer."

Continued Cahill: "Technology is at the center of this evolution and our work over the last five years has put us in a good place to capitalize on these market developments both in our professional and consumer businesses in the Americas. Amar's work in Asia Pacific and across the global McCann Health network in these areas will provide valuable experience-based understanding for how we can capitalize on those opportunities whilst at the same time providing a unique global connection for our clients in the Americas."

Urhekar began his career with McCann Health in 2000 when he founded the agency in India, which grew quickly into a two-office, 60-person operation. In 2004, he moved to become Managing Director of McCann Health Greater China, and in 2009 moved to President of Japan McCann Health group. In 2010 he was made head of the Asia Pacific region. Under his leadership, McCann Health was named "Specialist Agency Network of the Year" by Campaign Asia magazine in four out of five successive years, and he himself was named by the magazine as 2012 Agency Head of the Year for the Japan/Korea markets.

McCann Health's global network includes ad agency networks and worldwide medical communications practices and consultancies, all of which Urhekar has worked with in his regional and global roles as a member of McCann Health's worldwide board. The three agency networks—McCann Healthcare, McCann Regan Campbell Ward, and McCann Torre Lazur—are all recognized leaders in professional healthcare in the Americas as well as globally. These professional agencies are a major part of the total McCann Health offering in the Americas. Additional capabilities are found in medical communications and consultancy with McCann Complete Medical and Double Helix respectively and the consumer health group in McCann HumanCare. 

On his new role, Amar Urhekar said, "I am excited by the opportunities this move provides to myself and our network at this time when the healthcare marketplace is changing through reforms and consumerization. Our experience of more than a decade of fast-paced market shaping in volatile emerging markets in APAC will help ensure we stay ahead of the curve and capitalize on the large-scale growth opportunities that exist across the Americas. Working closely with the existing talented leadership across our agencies, we will be offering expanded platform services to existing clients and untapped stakeholders."

McCann Health's expanded global footprint will include integrated market access and medical communication programs to better serve value demonstration, a newly formed Complex Science practice group to address the changing needs of personalized therapies, and a new suite of consumer behavior capabilities complemented by novel patient engagement modules. McCann Health will also add health data and analytics capabilities focused on improving outcomes for a variety of clients including Novartis, Merck, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, GSK, KOWA, Lundbeck and Takeda.

McCann Health, in addition to recording a leading awards performance that recently included being named Healthcare Agency Network of the Year for the second year in a row at the prestigious Global Awards show, delivered on a record-setting new-business year in 2013. It has added a number of additional projects and/or brands from its existing clients — Alexion, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, GSK, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen and Merck Serono. 

About McCann Health
Comprising the world's most connected health and wellness experts, McCann Health (www.mccannhealth.com) is the most awarded professional and consumer health communications network with the largest international expertise spanning 35 countries and 57 offices. McCann Health's global network includes McCann HumanCare, McCann Healthcare, McCann Regan Campbell Ward, McCann Torre Lazur, McCann Complete Medical (the leading worldwide medical communications practice), and Double Helix (an international healthcare consultancy focused on working with clients on strategic market research and market access issues). McCann Health is a part of McCann Worldgroup.

About McCann Worldgroup
McCann Worldgroup, part of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), is a leading global marketing company with 23,000 employees in more than 120 countries comprising McCann Erickson (advertising), MRM (digital marketing/relationship management), Momentum (event marketing/promotion), McCann Health (professional/dtc communications), CRAFT (global adaptation and production), UM (media management), Weber Shandwick (public relations), and FutureBrand (consulting/design).

SOURCE McCann Worldgroup