Former WebMD Editor Kristy Hammam Dies
3 min readDec. 24, 2021 — Kristy Hammam, WebMD’s previous editor-in-chief and senior vice president, has died of breast cancer. She was 50 a long time previous.
Kristy resigned from a 22-calendar year profession at WebMD in June 2021, just after shedding a lot of her vision as a end result of treatment options in her fight towards triple-damaging breast cancer. She recounted her diagnosis and her practical experience as a affected person in a current aspect story for WebMD.
In the story, she talked about the difficulties of navigating the U.S. wellness care technique while working with cancer, and it was her aspiration to begin a nonprofit to aid other patients who had fewer support than she did.
Kristy started her profession as a author and duplicate editor at CNN right before joining the healthcare information provider Greenberg Information Networks, exactly where she manufactured a day-to-day broadcast for Medcast. She was sooner or later promoted to head of programming. Greenberg was obtained by Healtheon and WebMD, and she ongoing to mature with the enterprise to turn into its editorial director, in demand of most of the functions of WebMD’s Atlanta office environment.
Kristy was regarded by her colleagues for the expertise she introduced to her perform duties and for quite a few personalized traits that were really valued. She was admired for her grace, kindness, compassion and the way she produced anyone truly feel significant, such as listening respectfully and seeking out views that may well have been unique from her personal through meetings. She would typically persuade individuals to get challenges and was typically the initial to celebrate her colleagues’ expert accomplishments and personalized joys.
“Her door was often open,’’ claimed Kristy’s previous government assistant Mary Cooper. “She often had time for another person else.”
Mary remembers that Kristy asked her to talk in a enterprise assembly, and she demurred, telling her manager she was shy.
“You are not shy!” Kristy told her. “You may well be uncomfortable addressing a group, but I truly feel that you do it well, so you will be speaking.”
Beloved by her co-workers at WebMd, Kristy inspired the enterprise to have interaction extra with its communities and structured paid volunteer times for workers.
“No one had a even larger impact on my profession at WebMD than Kristy,” claimed Michael Smith, MD, a previous chief healthcare editor at WebMD. “She served form who I am right now equally personally and professionally. Her impact will often be felt.”Kristy was instrumental in generating the annual Wellbeing Heroes Awards to aid WebMD recognize standouts in wellness and medication.Kristy championed the thought of an functions committee and served manage functions that became enterprise traditions, such as a Halloween party and a potluck Thanksgiving evening meal that produced quite a few of our relatives feasts pale by comparison.
Kristy was instrumental in assisting to form WebMd by means of the a long time. For case in point, she performed a key part in setting up out healthcare reference for consumers to include award-winning wellness information, options and videos. One of the proudest moments for Kristy and her colleagues was when a online video about schizophrenia was highlighted at the Tribeca Film Competition.
“Right from the begin, Kristy did an astounding job,” claimed Steve Zatz, MD, previous chief government officer at WebMD. “She was equipped to juggle all these disparate duties that she had and do them beautifully. She could wrangle celebrities and spreadsheets with equivalent skill.”
Even just after she was diagnosed with cancer and commenced chemotherapy, Kristy actively guided the editorial crew by means of a merger with Net Brands.
Kristy attained levels in English and artwork History from Emory University. She is survived by her husband Nabil, and her sons Milo and Evan, together with their extended relatives.
“We are contemplating that she still has so a lot extra to do, just in a unique area,” claimed Kristy’s mom, Marilyn Lawson.
