Bio

Gil Bashe
Executive Vice President
Makovsky & Company

Gil Bashe believes that communication enables medical advances to make their biggest impact on society in connecting patients’ needs with physicians’ desire to heal.  As executive vice president and health practice leader at Makovsky + Company, Gil puts this notion into action by serving as a senior counselor to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device manufacturers and patient advocacy groups. 

His work has had a positive influenced on public policy on patient care. Gil led a team whose efforts resulted in the first reversal in a Medicare senior drug benefit action which led to reimbursement – and patient access to – a leading heart disease medication. Gil was able to trump complex regulatory law with the need for safe and effective patient care.

In 1999, he launched Health!Quest Global Communication Partners, with support from GTCR Golder Rauner, one of the nation’s largest private-equity firms.  He continues as a limited partner in GTCR Fund VII.

Gil was formerly CEO of CommonHealth, the health-marketing consortium of WPP Group, having served as its vice-chairman for strategic planning.  At sister-company Hill and Knowlton, he was executive vice president and worldwide director of the Health and Pharmaceutical Practice.  Prior to Hill & Knowlton, Gil led specialist healthcare firm Medicus PR, recognized by the influential industry publication Inside PR as “Hottest Healthcare Agency.”

Working with Fortune 500 companies, he has demonstrated that commitment to science and public health translates into good business.  He was among the core team that developed A Difference in a Women’s Heart, an initiative combining the commitment of the DuPont Company, American College of Cardiology and American Medical Women’s Association advocating early diagnosis of heart disease in women.  Working with Merck & Co. Inc. he helped create the Merck Model Cities Program, focusing on community-wide understanding of hepatitis B and vaccine protection.

Part of teams recognized with the most prestigious public relations industry awards, Gil was named “Health and Medical All-Star” by Inside PR in 1995.  He was listed as “one of the top ‘brains’ in the new world of work” by Fast Company magazine, and cited as a “healer” in Creating Covenants:  Healing Health Care in the New Millennium recounting his service as an airborne combat medic.

His commitment to society matches his commitment to client service.  Gil is immediate past chair of the American Heart Association (AHA) New York and chaired the chapter’s Heart of New York Gala for three consecutive years.  Additionally, he served as chair of the American Heart Association National Marketing Communication Subcommittee and was a member of the Strategic Working Group charged with developing the AHA 2010 mission. 

A past vice chair of the Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) board of directors, he is a recipient of its PINNACLE Award, one of the highest honors the University can bestow.  He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and humanities from FDU; attended the international relations graduate program at Clark University and received rabbinic ordination.  Gil is a co-editor of the book, Branding Health Services: Defining Yourself in the Marketplace. He is a member of the American Pharmacists Association.

Gil resides in Metuchen, New Jersey, with his wife Elinor, a clinical psychologist, and daughter Kayla.

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