Healthcare: Citigate signs consultant to expand pharma

Emma Palmer joins the agency as a consultant this month. She has previously worked at healthcare PR shop Northbank Communications as head of financial comms and investor relations.

Palmer will work on a part-time basis to expand the team's activities in financial PR and comms, as well as investor relations. She will focus on listed and late-stage private companies in the UK and Europe.

Citigate has also hired Sylvie Berrebi to support the pharma and biotech team's international corporate and financial PR and IR offering across Europe.

She joins Citigate from Bell Pottinger's life science and health comms agency De Facto Communications. Berrebi previously worked in the life science comms teams at Financial Dynamics and healthcare comms agency Noonan Russo.

Palmer and Berrebi will both report to Citigate's head of pharma and biotech David Dible. The team currently consists of seven practitioners, with another appointment expected at the end of the month.

Palmer said: 'I'll be helping the franchise expand its reach, particularly among UK-listed companies and institutional investors that focus on the sector. Citigate is well positioned to support both the PR and IR needs of its clients, and a combined offering is becoming of increasing value to companies.'