John Howser, chief communications officer of Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health, plans to retire in March 2027, closing out a Vanderbilt career of nearly 40 years.
Mr. Howser started at Vanderbilt in 1987 as a staff photojournalist at the medical center, according to an Oct. 20 announcement from the health system. He moved through several communications leadership roles and has headed the organization’s communications work since 2012.
In that time, he guided the Office of News & Communications through Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s 2016 split from Vanderbilt University, the rollout of its eSTAR electronic medical record system, the health system’s regional growth and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I could not have asked for a better adviser and communications partner,” Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Vanderbilt Health and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said in an Oct. 20 news release announcing Mr. Howser’s retirement. “Throughout the years, John has been instrumental in positioning Vanderbilt Health as a leader in academic medicine and helping us navigate the ever-changing media landscape.”
The communications office grew alongside Vanderbilt’s national profile. According to the health system, the medical center now earns more than 100,000 media placements each year and has logged more than 1.6 million positive mentions in total.
Mr. Howser also worked to put Vanderbilt patients and clinicians in front of national television audiences through documentary and reality series, among them the Discovery+ series “Last Chance Transplant,” which centered on Vanderbilt’s transplant center.
That project carried extra weight for him. Diagnosed with an autoimmune liver disorder in 2003, Mr. Howser was on Vanderbilt’s transplant waiting list while the series was being filmed. The call for a donor organ came May 10, 2022.
“Not only did coming to work here change my life, Vanderbilt also saved my life,” Mr. Howser said in the announcement. “Without the extraordinary care I received here, I would not be alive today.”
The announcement did not name a successor.
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