SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Byrnes, who most recently ran Weber Shandwick’s Boston office, has joined Highwire to lead the agency’s healthcare work.

In the newly created managing director role, Byrnes will be responsible for accelerating and overseeing Highwire’s healthcare offering.

He is tasked with scaling Highwire’s portfolio and exploring strategic additions, while also fostering talent and serving as a senior counselor to clients and teams. Highwire’s current roster of healthcare clients include Zocdoc, Definitive Healthcare, Healthy.io and iRhythm.

Byrnes joins Highwire after nearly four years at Weber Shandwick, where he served most recently as Boston general manager and a corporate healthcare senior VP before that. Prior to his time there, he was a vice president at Matter Communications where he partnered with B2B technology, healthcare and consumer brands.

“We’re reaching an inflection point in healthcare, one that requires new ways of thinking when it comes to communicating to stakeholders,” said Highwire principal and co-founder Emily Borders. “Michael’s experience at the intersection of health and innovation makes him an invaluable partner to our practice as both our clients and our employees lean into this new era of healthcare storytelling.”