Melissa Simpson

Partner / Public Health

Melissa specializes in public health and health care communications, developing integrated campaigns that include advertising, public relations, social media, grassroots outreach and innovative partnerships to reach people at the right time with the right message. Her mission is to reduce complexity and provide health information in emotionally compelling and actionable ways. For almost 20 years, Melissa has led substance use prevention and mental health promotion campaigns for clients like the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington Health Care Authority—educating young people about the risks of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, and building up the protective factors that improve resilience through healthy coping and emotion regulation skills.

Melissa is also passionate about increasing access to health care. Through her work with the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, she designed innovative outreach strategies that helped connect more than one million people in the state with health insurance—many for the first time.