The 2025 MedTech & Biotech Online PR Summit, hosted by PRLab, brought together communications leaders from across the healthcare and life sciences industries to explore one of the sector’s most pressing challenges: how to communicate science effectively in a world where attention is fragmented, technology evolves faster than understanding, and credibility has never been more valuable.
Through three sessions led by Lindsey Dinneen (Project MedTech), Aron Feingold and Eamonn Nolan (Zentalis and Agios Pharmaceuticals), and journalist Joe Darrah, the summit unpacked what it takes to make complex innovation both clear and trustworthy. The result was a common vision for the future of MedTech communication: one where clarity, consistency, and authenticity take precedence over noise.
Storytelling That Simplifies Without Diluting
Opening the summit, Lindsey Dinneen, Director of Marketing and Engagement at Project MedTech, addressed one of the field’s most fundamental tensions: the balance between technical accuracy and accessible storytelling.
Dinneen, whose background spans product launches and startup consulting, described how even the most groundbreaking technology can fail to resonate if it isn’t communicated in human terms. “One story doesn’t fit everyone,” she explained. “Clinicians, investors, and patients each have different goals. A single, rigid narrative can’t speak to all of them.”
Instead, she urged MedTech teams to develop a layered storytelling approach; one core narrative, framed differently for each audience. Clinicians need to understand efficacy and efficiency. Investors care about scalability and differentiation. Patients need to know how it improves their experience or outcomes. “It’s not about rewriting the story each time,” she said, “but aligning the same truths to different pain points.”
At the same time, she cautioned against oversimplification. Reducing scientific innovation to marketing soundbites risks losing credibility. “You can explain your product as if you’re talking to your grandmother,” she said, “but your engineers should still recognize their work in what you’re saying.”
For Dinneen, the key lies in education over persuasion. PR should not shy away from teaching, especially in industries where understanding drives trust. “Clarity is not dumbing down,” she said. “It’s an act of respect for your audience.”
Beyond storytelling, Dinneen emphasized that authenticity has become a defining currency in an era of automated communication. As AI-generated content proliferates, the most effective voices in MedTech will be those that sound unmistakably human. “Audiences can sense when a story was written by someone who actually believes it,” she said.
She pointed to thought leadership as the most accessible way to build that credibility. Opportunities like guest articles, podcast appearances, and interview contributions on platforms such as Authority Magazine or Help a Reporter Out (HARO) cost little but can yield significant returns in recognition. “You don’t need a massive budget,” she reminded. “You need consistency, humility, and a clear voice.”
Her takeaway was both simple and crucial - effective communication in MedTech doesn’t start with messaging. It starts with empathy, understanding the human context behind every audience segment and shaping stories that serve their needs, not the brand’s.
Balancing Investors, Media, and Science
If the first session focused on external storytelling, the second tackled communication from within. Aron Feingold (Head of Communications & IR at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals) and Eamonn Nolan (Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Agios Pharmaceuticals) discussed the art of balancing corporate narratives across investors, analysts, and journalists, each with vastly different expectations.
Feingold began with a principle that grounded the conversation: “You can’t write an effective corporate narrative from the outside in.” A company’s story must originate in its core purpose and be built through internal collaboration, not retrofitted to what the market wants to hear.
Nolan agreed, adding that too many companies rush to craft external messaging before aligning internally. “If you can’t define the company’s goal in one sentence,” he said, “your story isn’t ready.” The process, he argued, must start with gathering perspectives from across departments (clinical, medical, HR, technical operations) to ensure that the narrative represents the organization as a whole.
The result is a framework that can sustain long-term consistency. “A narrative should be built to last,” Nolan said. “You don’t rewrite it every quarter; you evolve it as your proof points grow.” Frequent reinvention, he warned, signals instability. “In biotech, credibility comes from continuity.”
When it comes to external audiences, both speakers reinforced the need to meet each stakeholder where they are. Technical investors may want detailed mechanism-of-action data; journalists may need context and relevance; generalist investors may look for simplicity and financial trajectory. The communicator’s job is to translate, not distort.
Feingold described an example from oncology communications where a clinical trial showed 70% of patients experiencing cytopenia, a result that initially worried investors. Reframing the data around patient experience, and explaining that such side effects were manageable and expected, shifted the perception entirely. “Data without context creates fear,” she said. “Data with empathy creates understanding.”
Relationship management emerged as another critical theme. Both speakers emphasized that trust with journalists and investors functions as relationship capital, earned gradually through transparency, responsiveness, and follow-through. “No one likes to work with someone who oversells,” Feingold noted. “Honesty travels faster than hype.”
Nolan also encouraged communicators to use discretion in how they share news. “Not every update deserves a press release,” he said. “Sometimes one well-placed exclusive achieves far more impact than a mass announcement.”
Ultimately, both agreed that in today’s environment, reputation and credibility are the true assets of MedTech communication. “Relationships outlast companies,” Feingold said. “Your integrity is what people remember.”
What Journalists Actually Want
The summit concluded with an unfiltered view from the other side of the table. Joe Darrah, an award-winning freelance journalist with bylines across more than 40 publications, outlined what separates an effective pitch from one that goes straight to the trash.
His first observation was blunt: “If your pitch reads like it was copied and pasted with my name on top, it’s already over.” Journalists can spot mass-distributed pitches instantly. The difference between being ignored and being considered often comes down to one thing: relevance.
According to Darrah, a strong pitch demonstrates familiarity with the outlet’s voice, readership, and editorial priorities. “Before you reach out, know how that publication talks to its audience,” he said. “If your pitch doesn’t fit that tone, it won’t fit their pages.”
He also reminded PR professionals that journalists work under constant time pressure. “The best thing you can do is make their job easier,” he said. That means including the basics (who, what, where, when, and why) in a concise and readable format. Avoid jargon, include context, and make contact details transparent. “Don’t hide behind generic contact forms,” he added. “List a real name and number.”
Darrah also addressed the growing use of AI in PR, which he described as a “shortcut that erodes authenticity.” While AI can assist with research or formatting, relying on it to generate pitches undermines genuine connection. “If you’re trying to reach humans, write like one,” he said.
He urged PR professionals to focus on fluency and preparation. “You don’t need to be a scientist,” he said, “but you do need to understand what you’re pitching.” Attending conferences, reading industry papers, and speaking directly with experts help communicators write from knowledge, not assumption. “Journalists know immediately whether you understand your own subject,” he said.
Above all, Darrah called for more thoughtful collaboration between PR and media. “We’re not adversaries,” he reminded the audience. “We’re both trying to communicate information that matters. When PR provides clarity and context, it’s not just good for coverage, it’s good for the industry.”
The Common Thread: Credibility as Strategy
Across all three sessions, one message came through clearly: in MedTech and Biotech, trust is the true metric of communication success.
Storytelling that humanizes innovation, internal narratives that align science and business, and media relationships built on transparency all serve the same goal: credibility. It’s the factor that turns data into dialogue, announcements into influence, and companies into partners rather than vendors.
As Dinneen, Feingold, Nolan, and Darrah each made clear in their own way, the future of MedTech communication won’t be defined by who speaks the loudest, but by who speaks the most truthfully.
