People

Helen Appelbaum
Partner and Chief Operating Officer

Clients and colleagues acknowledge Helen’s strengths as a proactive strategic thinker with a keen client- and service-oriented approach. Her clients often remark that she is the “best account person” they have worked with, because of her excellent ability to assess, develop, and implement strategic business approaches to maximize a product’s growth potential.

As COO of Flashpoint Medica, Helen Appelbaum’s ability to anticipate her clients’ needs underscores the agency’s client and service-oriented approach. Her skills in leading successful product launches have made her a trusted resource for many pharmaceutical companies, including Forest Pharmaceuticals, UCB Pharma, Valera and Lupin Pharmaceuticals. With more than 20 years of healthcare marketing experience, Helen brings a wealth of talent to Flashpoint.

• As Senior Vice President, Client Service Director of Accel Healthcare Communications, she oversaw the agency’s account teams. The agency climbed from zero to $135 million in billings and into the ranks of the top 20 in the healthcare arena before being merged into Corbett Accel last year.

• Before that, Helen spent two years at Sudler & Hennessey, where she managed and launched products from Roche for Parkinsons’ disease and anxiety disorders as Vice President, Group Account Supervisor. She also played a key role in many of the companies’ medical education initiatives.

• At Gross Townsend - now Grey Healthcare Group - she was most recently Vice President, Account Supervisor, overseeing accounts and launching products for Bristol-Myers Squibb, Adria Laboratories, Whatman Laboratories, Convatec and Reed & Camrick.

• A practicing pharmacist before switching to pharmaceutical advertising, she was Outpatient Pharmacy Supervisor at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City in the mid-1980’s.

A graduate of the College of Pharmacy at Long Island University, with an MBA from Pace University, Helen is committed to the marriage of science and business as a means of securing a brand’s legitimate place in the market.