News and Insights
Digital Health and Social Evangelist Ritesh Patel Joins FINN Partners as the Agency’s First Global Digital Health Lead
August 4, 2021
Patel’s Hire Further Signals FINN’s Growing Collaborative Health and Integrated Marketing Strength
NEW YORK, NY (August 4, 2021) – Global independent marketing and communications firm, FINN Partners, today announced that Ritesh Patel, a pioneering digital health transformation leader, joins the agency as senior partner, Global Digital Health. In this new position, Patel reports to Noah Finn, founding managing partner in charge of Global Integrated Marketing, and will work closely with Gil Bashe, Global Health Chair. Patel will collaborate across FINN Practices and work with the agency’s clients at the intersection of health and wellness decision-making and health-professional voice.
Most recently chief digital officer at Ogilvy Consulting, Patel is a health-technology visionary who has led the move for digital transformation that combines traditional marketing and public relations disciplines and harnesses innovative new technologies including artificial intelligence systems, chat bots, virtual reality and voice-activated systems in order to make brands and services more accessible. During recent news about a series of executive moves, FINN signaled that additional high-level personnel announcements would follow; Patel’s hire is among the first of these.
“We are thrilled that Ritesh Patel joins FINN and brings his bold approach that drives access to care through digital technology,” said Noah Finn, founding managing partner, Global Integrated Marketing. “Health and Technology are among the biggest practices within FINN and Ritesh brings to the agency and our clients his exceptional track record in building brands and using technology to connect them with customers. When people unite around information, smarter, faster, better-informed decisions are possible.”
Patel is a frequent keynote speaker at global health and digital-sector conferences. He is a United Nations Leadership Counsel Award recipient for his efforts in “Media for Social Impact,” a Medical Marketing & Media Catalyst, a PharmaVoice 100 Inspiring Leader and winner of the prestigious Clio award. He serves on the boards of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America. Patel is known for his work in digital transformation that opens opportunities for major metropolitan academic medical centers to serve a incubators and accelerators for healthcare start-ups.
“The pandemic has accelerated a long-anticipated process where patients, physicians, payers and policymakers are coming to grips with the understanding that care relationships and brand information can be enhanced by social platforms,” said Patel. “Increased competition among drugmakers — there can now be up to 10 competing products for one specific malady — is pressing pharma brands to find other means of influencing doctors; social, digital marketing and targeted advertising inside their work platforms must be part of their strategies.”
Before Ogilvy, Patel was global digital and social lead at PR agency Chandler Chicco and then became global head of digital and innovation at its parent company InVentiv Health, where he worked on creating innovative digital solutions for clinical trial recruitment for the CRO, pioneering the use of data and digital/social media to identify and recruit patients for clinical trials.
“People with pressing health concerns must navigate a health system that is highly fragmented and in which information is compartmentalized and often remains out of reach,” said Gil Bashe, Global Health Chair. “Leadership agencies must address client business objectives and recognize that our value is measured ultimately in lives improved. Ritesh brings both the knowledge and passion to accomplish both goals.”