• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 7, 2014

Ad shop gyro has launched a new U.S. healthcare operation called gyro:human and the agency has brought industry veteran Wendy Lurrie on board to run it. 

The agency isn’t new to the healthcare area—having worked on assignments in the sector for medical device company KCI, regenerative medicine specialist Lifecell and Lincoln Financial. Now it will have a U.S. unit dedicated to the field. 

The agency also has a UK-based healthcare unit called Woolley Pau gyro, whose clients include Boehringer Ingelheim. Other pharmaceutical clients of the UK unit include, HRA Pharma, NAPP and TEVA. The agency said that the U.S. and UK healthcare units will work closely together. 

“This is the perfect moment to focus on healthcare in the U.S.,” said Christoph Becker, CEO and Chief Creative Officer, gyro. “Unlike any time in the history of the category, there are radical changes happening daily. In this complex category, our simple message of human relevance will shine brightly.” 

Lurrie is a healthcare marketing specialist who has worked with firms such as United Healthcare, Aetna, Eli Lilly, Boehringer and Bristol-Myers Squibb. She has held senior positions at agencies including Draft, DraftFCB and Grey where she was tasked with managing and growing healthcare portfolios. She also worked on the client side as a marketing VP at Travelers. 

“As one of the first healthcare agencies born after the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, gyro:human has a unique and history-making opportunity to change healthcare marketing in a way that drives better marketing outcomes for everyone involved,” Lurrie said.