Kate O’Connor is responsible for Public Relations at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) Kate leads a team of PR professionals who develop and deliver strategic public relations programming and issues preparedness/response efforts in support of BIPI’s in-market and pipeline products. As part of this work, she and her colleagues have led a number of social media activities for the company, including authorship of its US Twitter channel and helping to create its first full complement of social media activities within a major disease awareness and consumer engagement campaign, which is currently underway. Kate joined BIPI in 2005 and has managed public relations in support of pharmaceutical products across a number of therapeutic categories in the course of her career. Prior to joining BIPI, Kate was associate director, Public Relations at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. She also worked in the Consumer Health division at Novartis, managing PR for the company’s over-the-counter product portfolio. After graduating cum laude from Colgate University with a BA in Philosophy, Kate began her PR career in the Healthcare group at Ruder Finn in New York, starting as an executive trainee and moving into a number of client service roles.