As the Communications Coordinator for the Health Districts at the Virginia Department of Health, I served as the lead curator of The Comms Hub. This platform was engineered as a mission-critical digital ecosystem designed to unify messaging across 35 local health districts, internal offices, and community partners. By centralizing high-quality creative assets and strategic toolkits, I ensured that local health leaders could deliver consistent, high-impact communications to their communities.
Strategic Contributions
Rather than treating the platform as a static repository, I managed The Comms Hub as a living resource that evolved alongside emerging public health challenges:
- Content Governance & Auditing: Conducted rigorous monthly audits of all hosted materials to ensure clinical accuracy, relevancy, and adherence to evolving state health guidelines.
- Creative Direction & Asset Development: Designed custom graphics, infographics, and visual elements for social media toolkits using Photoshop and Canva, maintaining brand integrity across diverse health campaigns.
- Integrated Strategic Planning: Managed the statewide communications calendar to synchronize local outreach efforts with broader department goals, preventing audience fatigue and message overlap.
- Engagement Strategy: Developed and distributed The Hub Report, a weekly companion newsletter that served as a “roadmap” for the platform, briefing nearly 300 health leaders on new assets and strategic updates.
- Curated Resource Development: Proactively researched and developed new toolkits, fact sheets, and training modules to address gaps in community outreach.
Technical & Strategic Skillset
To maintain this ecosystem, I utilized a diverse toolkit that bridged the gap between creative design and technical administration:
- Strategic & Editorial: Strategic Thinking, Copywriting, Copyediting, and Audience-Focused Research.
- Creative & Visual Design: Adobe Photoshop, Canva, and Visual Storytelling.
- Platform Administration: Google Sites, Google Calendar, and GovDelivery (Granicus) Integration.
Impact
Through The Comms Hub, I successfully reduced the administrative burden on local health districts by providing “ready-to-post” creative assets, ensuring that even districts with limited resources could maintain a professional and authoritative digital presence. This centralized approach fostered unprecedented coordination across the Commonwealth, particularly during high-stakes public health events.
See some images from my work on The Comms Hub below.
Image 1: The Landing Page / Navigation
The Unified Resource Gateway: I designed the interface of The Comms Hub to be intuitive and accessible, ensuring that busy health professionals could quickly locate mission-critical assets, from social media toolkits to clinical fact sheets, in three clicks or less.
Image 2: Asset Repository
Ready-to-Deploy Creative Assets: I curated and designed these toolkits to reduce the administrative burden on local districts. Each module includes pre-vetted graphics, translated materials, and suggested copy, allowing districts with limited staff to maintain a professional and authoritative digital presence.
Image 3: Toolkits and Trainings
Comprehensive Resource Library: I curated this repository to provide a “one-stop shop” for health districts, featuring ready-to-use toolkits, standardized training modules, and clinical resources. By centralizing these materials, I ensured that staff across the Commonwealth had immediate access to the professional development and outreach tools necessary for effective public health delivery.
Melissa Gilbert 