Kathleen Larey Lewton

Kathleen Larey Lewton ’70, Fellow PRSA, principal of Lewton,Seekins & Trester, has spent more than 40 years in healthcare public relations and strategic marketing, providing counsel to leading U.S. academic medical centers, national health systems, pharmaceutical companies and public health organizations. She was an executive at New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Medical center, a senior VP at global PR agencies including Porter Novelli and Fleishman Hillard, working in the pharmaceutical and health policy areas, and has served clients from Abbott to Cleveland Clinic, the American Heart Association, St. Jude Children’s, the American Medical Association and PBS. Lewton authored the textbook “Public Relations in Health Care: A Guide for Professionals,” (American Hospital Association, 1991 and 1995), and was national president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Chair of the PRSA Foundation Board of Trustees and Chair of the global Commission on Public Relations Education. She was honored with the Health Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and was a Glamour magazine Outstanding Working Woman. She has written for major professional journals and spoken to dozens of conferences, as well as The Economic Club of Detroit. She has graduate degrees in journalism from Northwestern Medill School and healthcare administration from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. At IWU, Lewton is a 20+-year Trustee, co-chair of the marketing committee and an active member of the Diversity, Engagement and Involvement Committee; co-chaired the Sigma Kappa Centennial; has hosted fund-raisers, chaired major events, helped establish several scholarships, and co-led her class reunion committee since graduation in 1970.https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/awards_loyalty/1030/thumbnail.jp