Sheryl Modlin

Communications & Editorial Leader | Content Strategist

Sheryl Modlin's profile photo
Government service11yrsHealth and Human Services Department (HHS)

About

Hello! I'm a communications and editorial leader driving strategic content, publications, and stakeholder engagement across healthcare, federal, government contract, biopharma, and social impact organizations.

I specialize in translating complex technical, scientific, policy, and regulatory information into clear, mission-driven content that tells strong, scalable stories.

From early health communications roles to leading a high-performing communications and editorial office within a world-leading, biomedical research institution — the National Institutes of Health (NIH)— I align content strategy with institutional priorities while building award-winning teams.

GOVERNMENT

National Institutes of Health (NIH): I led a high-performing, award-winning communications and editorial office at NIH’s second largest institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), home to a $6B+ research portfolio and 5,000+ staff (NIH is the world's largest public funder of biomedical research and considered the engine behind most U.S. medical research progress). I worked at a senior communications level to help in the mission of advancing public health for 340+ million Americans.

Also played pivotal role on 9-person NIAID divisional Senior Leadership Team for 350+ federal staff and contractors, leading the division’s content strategy and editorial efforts, driving impactful messaging and content creation for the scientific community worldwide and internally including during global infectious disease crises such as Covid-19, Ebola, H1N1, SARS.

I'm known for:

  • Building—and retaining—award-winning 8- to 9-person teams (fixing historical retention problems)

  • Growing subscribers 148% for key global publication

  • Leading complex digital and internal content strategies

  • Advancing mission priorities and reaching diverse audiences

Impact:

  • Spearheaded 3 flagship digital publications, growing subscriber base, publishing 200+ articles 36+ times/year

  • Built and managed content for 740+ internal and public-facing web pages, averaging ~2M annual global views. Content viewed as a guidepost not only for the national and international scientific community, but also for all 27 NIH institutes and centers

  • Partnered with executive-level leadership and 70+ SMEs to align communications with agency goals, regulatory guidance, and evolving policy priorities

  • 15+ awards for comms excellence, advancing mission priorities, project management, strengthening and developing digital content, and team leadership

I understand SEO and GEO; KPIs; UX design; 508 accessibility; scaling digital content; and emerging tech—including AI—to improve workflows and user experience.

Yellowstone National Park: post-college graduation, promoted at 22 to supervisor of guest agents at Yellowstone’s Canyon Lodge during demanding tourist season.

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING: SAIC (now Leidos) for DOE, LTS Corp and Global Solutions Network (sub of Kelly Services) for NIH

FOR-PROFIT (including start-ups): ITC Learning Corp (interactive multimedia company; speechwriter for CEO and web content manager); TE21 Corp (in charge of communications for start-up; spinoff of ITC); Jaffe Associates (law firm marketing); Ares-Serono (biopharma, comms office)

CONSULTING and NON-PROFIT: book editor—memoir, medical; leadership articles for advisor at Brookings Institution; Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital communications office.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherylmodlin/




Roles