DUARTE, CA — Former Walgreens Boots Alliance comms leader Gulden Mesara is joining City of Hope as chief communications and marketing officer.

Starting Sept. 15, Mesara will lead the cancer and diabetes research and treatment center’s communications strategy and marketing efforts, furthering the organization’s mission of transforming healthcare. She will work closely with City of Hope administrative leaders and faculty to increase engagement among current and potential patients, physicians, researchers, donors, industry partners and the general public.

She replaces John Weston, who has been serving as a strategic advisor to the organization since stepping down from the CCO/CMO role in February.

Mesara brings to the role roughly two decades of experience in healthcare communications, most recently overseeing Walgreens Boots Alliance US communications and serving as Walgreens CCO. She was previously VP of global commercial and health communications at AbbVie, and held leadership roles at Abbott Labs and Pfizer.