Eileen M. Sheil, MPA is the assistant vice provost for communications and public affairs for Weill Cornell Medicine. Sheil jointly leads the Office of External Affairs and oversees its more than 40-member Division of Communications and Public Affairs, which encompasses functions including editorial, multimedia, media relations, social media, marketing and brand, and government and community affairs. The division is dedicated to increasing Weill Cornell Medicine’s profile as a premier global academic medical institution to the general public, current and future patients, and peers in academic medicine.
Formerly, she was executive director of corporate communications for the Cleveland Clinic, one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States. Sheil oversaw internal and external strategic communications, crisis and issues management, media relations and serves as the chief spokesperson for the health system locally, nationally, and internationally.
Sheil’s expertise is in crisis communications. She was intimately involved in protecting and promoting the reputation of the Cleveland Clinic and highlighting the clinical, institutional, and business priorities of the organization. She also served as a voting member of the Innovation Management & Conflict of Interest Committee.
In 2009, after President Barack Obama visited the Cleveland Clinic, Sheil and her team developed an aggressive media strategy that positioned the organization as a model of healthcare for future. Those efforts and in-depth coverage brought the Clinic into an international spotlight and gained the health system the most extensive media coverage in its history.
Cleveland Clinic also gained international attention when it announced the first near-total face transplant in the nation and the most complex at the time in the world. In addition, media coverage obtained by the Corporate Communications Office is the leading source of national awareness to the general public and a key factor in driving patient volume to the hospital.