Where science meets heart: Heal Studios empowers patients, HCPs, and lifescience innovators

Where science meets heart: Heal Studios empowers patients, HCPs, and lifescience innovators

By Maria Fontanazza

It perhaps has never been truer that when we consume media, whether through traditional TV or streaming platforms, one of our key desires is to seek connection. Sure, we want to be entertained, but we also want to feel. Med Ad News sat down with Anthony Hemsey, founder and CEO of Heal Studios, to talk about how his media company, recently launched with his cousin and Head of Production Lauren Veteri, seeks to use documentary-style storytelling to build awareness around disease states through the eyes of patients, healthcare professionals, and innovators in the lifescience arena.

“We are not encumbered by the typical constraints of networks or other distribution partners,” says Hemsey. “Heal [Studios] can be a safe haven for all relevant health concepts and a place to celebrate the astounding innovation happening all around us.” He adds that the studio’s creations are not puff pieces; the intention is to highlight the patient journey and/or the people (i.e., HCPs, scientists, chemists) behind the good being done in the lifesciences industry.

(Right to left) Anthony Hemsey and Lauren Veteri launched Heal Studios.

Med Ad News:  What is the goal of Heal Studios?

Anthony Hemsey: Having worked in healthcare advertising for so long, I have gotten a first-hand look at patient struggle and understand where science meets heart. Our mission for Heal Studios is to shine a spotlight on patients, professionals and other innovators in the medical, and health and wellness fields, while providing a worldwide platform to raise awareness around a wide variety of stories. 

Med Ad News: Discuss the importance of talking about the positive stories in pharma. What/who will you be highlighting during the storytelling journey?

Hemsey: Every story is different and no format will be alike. Some will be full documentaries or episodic in nature, while other pieces will be short-form and more digestible. The common thread, at Heal Studios, will be the patients and families who are most affected by the myriad of conditions/diseases and the stories of the healthcare workers, innovative companies, and wellness professionals that are committed to treating or eradicating these conditions. 

Med Ad News: Are there particular disease states/patient challenges that you want to highlight through these documentaries?

Hemsey: There’s a growing appetite among modern audiences to understand medical stories and medical mysteries in all disease states. Because of that, we will remain category agnostic, as we believe there are stories in everything from the most rare disease to those conditions ubiquitous around the globe. 

Med Ad News: When can we expect to see the first documentary?

Hemsey: We are in development on two projects for networks/streamers and several more pieces that will run for industry purposes only. We are currently producing and casting a docuseries called “In the Hospital” spotlighting the stories, patients, medical professionals, and innovations that are happening in hospitals all around the world. Each episode focuses on one floor of a hospital to tell their story, meeting the people and the challenges they face every day.  It’s a real-world account from the front lines of disease, the patients, and the ones that are in the fight.

Another project in its infancy is a docuseries called Shine, a 10-episode series focused on patients with depression, the barriers to treatment, and the cutting-edge treatments that are bringing hope and change. Shine aims to shatter the stigma around depression and open up dialogue on a disease that affects so many.

Maria Fontanazza is director of content, PharmaLive and Med Ad News.