Kelly Calhoun, MSM, APR is a vivacious, innovative and proven leader in communications, marketing and brand development. She has spent more than two decades in escalating roles in marketing and communications, advancing nearly the entire spectrum of healthcare delivery, research and education.

Today, Kelly serves as the assistant vice president, communications at Cincinnati Children’s, the top pediatric health system in Ohio and one of the top three pediatric systems in the United States. She is responsible for media relations, crisis communications, culture communications, social media, patient/family communications and more.

Prior to Cincinnati Children’s, Kelly led the communications team at UC Health, where she managed the communications response for more than a dozen events garnering national and/or international media interest, including an active shooter on campus, a mass casualty event in Cincinnati, the COVID-19 pandemic and more. She also led the development and implementation of the first employee communication platform.

Additional experience includes serving as assistant vice president for Marketing and Communications at Northern Kentucky University, where she led brand development for both the University and athletics, introduced and implemented the NKU promise, implemented an executive leadership influencer and communication strategy, and led the website re-design process and NKU’s first digital advertising and search engine marketing strategy. She also held escalating roles at (Bon Secours) Mercy Health, including marketing and communications strategy for six hospitals, the physician enterprise, three healthplexes, senior health and housing services in three states, and service lines including cardiology, orthopaedics, oncology, emergency medicine and bariatrics. Additionally, she led the Marketing & Communications team responsible for the opening of the $300M West Hospital and the associated closure of two community hospitals.

Originally from Cincinnati, Kelly earned her bachelor’s degree from Miami University (Oxford) in English/Creative Writing and a Master’s degree in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati. A lifelong learner, she earned her nursing home administrator’s license in 2009, completed the CAMP certification through the Association of National Advertisers, and most recently, her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America.

Kelly lives in the gaslight district in Clifton, Ohio with her husband Dustin, 10-year-old son Noah and 6-year-old daughter Alyssa.