Havas Health & You (HH&Y) has expanded its UK-based contingent Havas Lynx into North America, now sitting within the Havas New York Village.

Havas Lynx New York, which was introduced with a soft launch last year, aims to create “authentic and meaningful experiences to engage with patients and improve outcomes at every step of the patient journey”, HH&Y said.

Specialisms at the agency include patient identification, patient representation and inclusivity, unbranded patient activation, patient advocacy engagement and patient support services.

Havas Lynx New York is overseen by chief executive officer Claire Knapp, while day-to-day operations are undertaken by Ludmila Crowther. Gabriel Araujo has also joined as creative director, having previously served as executive creative director at Cheil North America.

Knapp said: “We couldn’t be more excited to bring our patient strategy, activation and patient support service experience to the global and US stage… I look forward to building on what’s already been an outstanding period for Lynx as we take this next step.”

HH&Y said that the presence of Havas Lynx in North America follows “an exciting time for the agency”, adding that its “continued growth has seen development in its own specialist offerings”.

This includes a patient recruitment arm for clinical trials, Faze, which concurrently announced two new additions to its senior team: Kate Spencer and Denisa McKnight.

Spencer now serves as patient recruitment director, growth, while McKnight holds the position of senior patient experience director.

Mark Evans, managing director at Faze, said: “Launching operations in North America will allow us to offer on-the-ground expertise for clinical trial site support, patient community outreach and a closer connection to the HH&Y North American agencies... to bring predictive analytics, helping more clients identify the right patients in the right place to accelerate trial recruitment.

“This is an exciting time for Faze and the wider clinical trial recruitment industry. Welcoming Kate and Denisa represents the culmination of a significant growth period since our inception in 2018.”

The Healthcare Communications Association (HCA), fox&cat and the ADHD Foundation have launched a campaign aimed at celebrating neurodiversity across the UK healthcare communications industry.

It is estimated that there are 50% more neurodivergent practitioners working in creative sectors, such as healthcare communications, than in the general population.

Launched in alignment with this year’s Neurodiversity Celebration Week on 18 to 24 March, the ‘Thinking Different’ campaign highlights the advantages of welcoming neurodiverse individuals in the industry and seeks to create healthier communications surrounding neurodiversity so that the needs of neurodivergent people are understood and addressed by their employers.

Mike Dixon, chief executive officer of the HCA, said: “We’re delighted to be launching these new resources alongside fox&cat and the ADHD Foundation.

“It is our hope that this campaign will help in-house and agency teams working across healthcare communications to have more meaningful conversations around neurodiversity and catalyse the inclusion of neurodiverse individuals within the workplace.”

The campaign has three core materials, including the ‘Neurodiversity & Me’ guide for those who think differently and would like more information to help start a conversation about neurodiversity.

‘Neurodiversity & You’ provides information for whole teams to encourage them to find out more about working with, and having conversations around, neurodiversity at work, while ‘Thinking Different’ is a resource for employers and managers on welcoming and celebrating neurodiversity in the workplace.

Founder of fox&cat Paul Hutchings, who himself has ADHD, said: “Neurodivergent people live in a world that is not structurally made for us, so we face challenges that a neurotypical person won’t.

“This can have a negative effect on our mental well-being due to things like insufficient support, the stress of ‘masking’ and social exclusion and anxiety, meaning we can feel unfulfilled and may develop thoughts that can lead to depression.”

Professor Amanda Kirby, chair of The ADHD Foundation, added: “Our vision is to create a world that views neurodiversity and ‘thinking differently’ as a strength, while acknowledging and understanding some of the challenges associated with having lifelong neurodevelopmental conditions.”