The Marketing Lesson Hidden Inside a Life-Saving Surgical Mission

Table of Contents

• From Dental Transformation to a New Mission in Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Learning the Cardiothoracic Surgeon Community
• Turning Experience Into Storytelling Strategy
• Why Human Connection Still Matters in an AI-Heavy Era
• The Patient Encounter That Made the Mission Personal
• When Surgeons Reconnect With Former Patients
• A Fast-Moving Transformation Agenda
• Reaching Surgeons Who Have Almost No Time
• Real Stories Over Marketing Metrics
• Inside a CMO's Day: Data, Signals and Timing
• Rebranding and Website Modernization Underway
• What AI Will — and Won't — Change for CMOs
• The Role of Human Experience in an AI-Driven World
• A Year of Transformation Ahead

The Gist

• Human experience sharpens marketing strategy. Stephanie Moritz says firsthand exposure to cardiothoracic surgeons’ work changed how she thinks about storytelling, member engagement and authentic communications.
• Surgeon-first messaging cuts through the noise. At STS, Moritz is shifting marketing away from organization-centric promotion and toward snackable, problem-solving content shaped by surgeons’ needs and peer influence.
• Transformation at STS is already underway. Moritz is helping lead a rebrand, website modernization, expanded video strategy and richer member storytelling while balancing AI experimentation with human judgment.

From Dental Transformation to a New Mission in Cardiothoracic Surgery

When CMSWire last spoke with Stephanie Moritz in person, it was on stage at the Digital Experience Summit in Chicago in the fall of 2019. At the time, she was serving as chief marketing officer at the American Dental Association, leading a sweeping effort to modernize member engagement and rethink how the organization connected with its professional community.

Nearly seven years later, Moritz is tackling a new transformation challenge — this time as head of marketing and communications at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).

The move continues a career pattern that has defined much of her leadership approach: entering organizations during periods of change and helping them rethink how they engage members and communicate their mission.

At the American Dental Association, Moritz was brought in specifically to overhaul member engagement and redesign the broader ecosystem around innovation and design thinking. Once that work reached maturity, she began looking for the next opportunity where she could apply those transformation skills.

"I was brought in to really completely transform member engagement, the ecosystem, as well as customer innovation, design thinking," Moritz said. "Once it's set and folks are empowered, it's like, all right, you're in great shape. What's next for me?"

That next chapter arrived when the Society of Thoracic Surgeons approached her about helping guide its own modernization efforts. Moritz joined the organization roughly six months ago and quickly stepped into a period of rapid learning and activity.

The role also allowed her to deepen a professional focus she has developed in recent years: working with healthcare associations and professional societies that directly influence patient outcomes.

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A Marketing Career Bridging Consumer Brands and Healthcare

One of the defining characteristics of Moritz's leadership style is a background that blends consumer marketing experience with nonprofit and healthcare leadership.

Earlier in her career, she worked with major consumer brands including Disney, Jim Beam and Hershey. Those experiences shaped her approach to storytelling, customer experience and brand engagement.

Later roles shifted her focus toward nonprofit and healthcare organizations, where the marketing challenge centers less on selling products and more on building communities, advancing professions and supporting patient care.

Moritz describes that combination as a "unique toolbox" that allows her to import best practices from consumer marketing while adapting them to professional and healthcare settings.

"Everything from starting at Disney, working at Jim Beam and Hershey — I have that consumer side," she said.

She believes the current moment is particularly dynamic for medical and dental organizations as innovation accelerates across clinical practice, research and professional collaboration.

"It's such a great time to be in that medical dental integration because you're seeing a lot of the innovations and the shifts," Moritz said.

Learning the Cardiothoracic Surgeon Community

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons represents cardiothoracic surgeons — specialists responsible for complex procedures involving the heart, lungs and other critical organs in the chest.

For Moritz, stepping into the role meant quickly immersing herself in a highly specialized medical community and learning how its members collaborate, innovate and deliver life-saving care.

That learning accelerated dramatically when she joined a surgical mission in Jamaica, where cardiothoracic surgical teams from across the United States gathered to perform procedures for children in need.

During the mission, dozens of clinicians and medical staff worked together to perform surgeries that ultimately saved the lives of 13 children.

The experience offered Moritz something few marketing leaders in professional organizations get to witness firsthand: the real-world impact of the professionals their organizations represent.

"It was such a unique experiential opportunity to see them in action and to see how they work with their teams," she said. "They need to work together as one unit in order to save lives."

Why Field Experience Changes the Marketing Lens

For Moritz, observing the work of cardiothoracic surgeons in the operating environment changed how she thinks about marketing, storytelling and organizational communication.

Reports, interviews and research can provide context, but they rarely replicate the understanding that comes from witnessing the work itself.

She describes the experience as one of the most important learning moments of her early tenure at STS.

"You can read about it. You can hear about it. You can look it up," Moritz said. "But until you actually experience how they prep, how they talk with patients, how they review cases and make decisions, you don't fully understand the weight of what they do."

Beyond observing surgeons themselves, Moritz spent time learning about the broader surgical ecosystem — including perfusionists, physician assistants and other clinical specialists who play essential roles in cardiothoracic procedures.

The experience reinforced the complexity of the work and the importance of collaboration inside surgical teams.

For marketing leaders, she believes this type of immersion can dramatically strengthen storytelling and communications strategy.

"It taught me more than anything else could have," Moritz said. "It's going to help me do a better job for the organization."

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Turning Experience Into Storytelling Strategy

How the Jamaica Mission Translated Into Marketing Insight

Editor's note: Moritz’s field experience offered more than inspiration. It gave her team a clearer view of the people, pressures and stories shaping STS’s communications strategy.

What Moritz Observed	Why It Mattered	How It Can Shape STS Marketing
Surgical teams working as one unit	Reinforced the importance of trust, precision and teamwork in cardiothoracic care	Stronger storytelling around collaboration, team dynamics and member excellence
Direct interaction with patients and families	Humanized the mission and clarified the emotional stakes behind the work	More patient-centered narratives that show the real-world impact of surgeons
Roles of perfusionists, physician assistants and other specialists	Expanded her understanding of the broader surgical ecosystem	Richer content that reflects the full clinical environment surrounding members
Surgeons making high-stakes decisions in real time	Showed the weight and complexity of the profession beyond talking points	More credible messaging grounded in the real demands of cardiothoracic practice
Mission imagery, video and firsthand observations	Created authentic assets for future storytelling	Surgeon spotlights, brand storytelling and more compelling visual communications

Moritz approached the trip not as a marketing exercise but as a learning opportunity.

She describes herself during the mission as "a student," focused on absorbing the dynamics of surgical teams, understanding why clinicians choose this demanding specialty and observing how they collaborate under pressure.

At the same time, she documented moments that could eventually become powerful storytelling assets for the organization — including photos, videos and observations that reveal the human side of the profession.

Those experiences will influence how STS tells the stories of its members going forward, particularly as marketing trends continue to emphasize authentic, experience-driven narratives.

"Now it's about asking, how does this change our storytelling? How can we show up differently?" Moritz said.

For Moritz, experiences like this provide insight that traditional research methods cannot replicate.

"A focus group can't do this," she said. "Design thinking can't do this. This takes it to another level."

Ultimately, she believes the lessons from the mission will shape how the organization brings the identity and purpose of cardiothoracic surgery to life.

"It's going to help us bring the heart of this specialty to life in such an impactful way," Moritz said.

Why Human Connection Still Matters in an AI-Heavy Era

Moritz's experience in Jamaica also sharpened her view of what marketing leadership should look like at a time when AI, automation and data-driven decision-making dominate so many industry conversations.

She does not dismiss the value of those tools. But she argues that the rise of AI makes distinctly human capabilities more important, not less — especially for marketers trying to build trust, belonging and emotional resonance.

Moritz says this is a moment for people to "lean into our humanness," emphasizing empathy, communication and a deeper understanding of what members and audiences actually need.

In her view, marketers will continue to gain access to better data and more sophisticated technology, but that alone will not create meaningful relationships. Particularly in a membership organization, where people actively choose whether to belong, the emotional connection has to go further than efficient campaigns or functional messaging.

That is part of why the trip mattered so much. It did not just give her content ideas. It reinforced the kind of perspective she believes modern marketing teams need if they want to communicate with authenticity rather than simply optimize around metrics.

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Why Marketing Teams Need to Be Closer to the Work

Moritz says organizations should stop treating marketing and communications as support functions kept at arm's length from the real action.

Instead, she believes those teams should be brought deeper into the organization's operating world, whether that means field visits, direct observation or more immersive exposure to members and stakeholders.

Her reasoning is straightforward: when marketers understand a community only through talking points, their work risks staying surface level. When they see that world up close, they can produce communications that feel more grounded, more emotionally accurate and more useful.

Moritz says bringing marketing into the fold can help organizations create stronger communications and ultimately accelerate growth by strengthening belonging and relevance.

The Patient Encounter That Made the Mission Personal

Among the many moments that stayed with her, one involved a young patient she met before surgery.

Moritz recalls speaking with a boy who loved Liverpool soccer. The interaction gave her a human connection to the mission before she ever watched a procedure unfold. She could see that he was both nervous and hopeful, aware that the surgery ahead of him could change his life.

Seeing him before the operation and then again afterward transformed the experience for her. It was no longer only about the technical brilliance of the surgeons or the clinical complexity of the work. It was about a child whose future looked different because a team of specialists had intervened.

That sequence — meeting the patient, watching the process and then seeing the outcome — crystallized the purpose behind the work in a way no abstract brand exercise could.

It also reinforced the stakes. Moritz reflected on what it meant that this child was selected for the mission and what the alternative might have been had he not been.

A 20-Year Mission Anniversary Brought the Impact Into Focus

The trip carried another emotional layer. The Jamaica mission was marking its 20th anniversary, and organizers brought back patients who had undergone surgery through the program over the past two decades.

For Moritz, seeing those former child patients return as healthy young adults was one of the most profound moments of the experience.

She described seeing photos of them as children and then meeting them in the present day, hearing about their lives and what they had gone on to do. That long arc of impact brought unusual clarity to the organization's purpose and the surgeons' work.

Moritz said that moment helped reveal "the why, the heart" of the brand in a way that stayed with her long after the trip ended.

When Surgeons Reconnect With Former Patients

The anniversary celebration also created reunions between surgeons and patients they had operated on years earlier.

Moritz says both Dr. Jeff Jacobs, who oversees the charity, and STS President Dr. Vinay Bhadhwar reconnected with former patients during the trip. Those moments, captured in photos and video, showed the relationship between clinician and patient extending far beyond the operating room.

For Moritz, the scenes were powerful not only because they reflected the human side of surgical care, but because they gave STS a vivid way to show members the lasting significance of their work.

How STS Plans to Turn Those Moments Into Storytelling

Moritz says the organization fully intends to use those stories and images as part of its broader transformation effort.

One priority is to do more to celebrate surgeons and members, not just through lists of member benefits, but through richer storytelling that helps people see themselves in the organization and feel the value of belonging to it.

That includes a new surgeon spotlight series that will feature humanitarian work as well as the day-to-day realities of clinical practice, innovation and patient impact. Moritz sees this kind of storytelling as central to how membership organizations should communicate: not just by describing services, but by recognizing the people who make the community meaningful.

The imagery and firsthand reporting from Jamaica also arrive at a useful time. STS is in the middle of a rebrand and website modernization effort, giving Moritz and her team an opportunity to rethink how the organization visually and editorially presents its members, their stories and the tools they rely on.

A Fast-Moving Transformation Agenda

Moritz describes her first months at STS as intense from the start.

She arrived just ahead of the organization's annual meeting in January and had to balance listening and learning with the need to move quickly. A new president was preparing to take office in early February, the annual event required immediate attention, and the broader communications and marketing strategy was already in motion.

That left little room for a slow ramp-up.

Moritz says the work this year spans strategy, communications principles, performance metrics, social storytelling and broader ecosystem modernization. By year's end, she expects STS to have a different website, a modernized brand and a more human, current approach to marketing and communications.

She also says the organization has already increased its video output and is putting more emphasis on sharing real-time updates with members, an area strongly supported by Bhadwar.

In other words, the work of modernization is not theoretical. It is already underway.

Reaching Surgeons Who Have Almost No Time

One of the realities Moritz faces as a marketing leader is that her core audience may be among the busiest professionals in any industry.

Cardiothoracic surgeons spend their days preparing for and performing life-altering procedures. That means they are not casually browsing newsletters or marketing emails during the workday the way other audiences might.

For Moritz, reaching that audience requires shifting the entire mindset of marketing communications — from promoting organizational initiatives to focusing almost entirely on the surgeon's perspective.

She says one of the most important changes is moving away from organization-centric messaging.

"Part of it's shifting from about us to them," Moritz said.

That means understanding what surgeons care about at specific moments in their professional lives and tailoring communications accordingly. Instead of pushing one-off announcements or promotions, her team focuses on identifying the problems surgeons are trying to solve and presenting relevant information quickly and clearly.

Moritz describes the goal as cutting through the noise by making communications more concise, more visual and immediately actionable.

Content, she says, must be "snackable, headline-driven" and clearly connected to the issues surgeons are dealing with that day.

Personalization also plays a growing role. By asking more questions and analyzing engagement signals, the team can better tailor messages to individual interests, ensuring that communications arrive when they are actually useful.

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Why Surgeon-to-Surgeon Influence Matters Most

Moritz says one of the most powerful dynamics inside the cardiothoracic community is the trust surgeons place in one another.

Peer validation carries far more weight than institutional messaging.

Because of that, the most effective communications often involve surgeons speaking directly to other surgeons — sharing experiences, recommendations and insights that feel authentic rather than promotional.

That philosophy is shaping several initiatives at STS, including a new on-demand learning platform that consolidates educational videos, conference sessions and other clinical resources in one place.

The platform is designed to make it easier for surgeons to access educational content and earn continuing medical education credits without having to search across multiple systems.

But the marketing approach is not simply to announce a new product.

Instead, Moritz says the most effective promotion will come through surgeons themselves explaining how the platform helps them stay current and improve their practice.

When a respected colleague recommends a resource, the impact is far greater.

"When you hear a great recommendation, you want to tell your friends or your circle," Moritz said.

Real Stories Over Marketing Metrics

Moritz also believes that authentic storytelling resonates far more than traditional marketing signals. A statistic about engagement or customer satisfaction scores may matter internally, but it is unlikely to capture the attention of a surgeon moving quickly between cases.

Stories, however — particularly stories told by peers — can cut through immediately. That includes surgeons sharing experiences from procedures, research breakthroughs or collaborations that happened through the society.

STS's annual meeting in January reinforced how powerful that content can be. The event featured a significant amount of new clinical research and scientific advancement that is actively shaping the future of cardiothoracic surgery.

Moritz sees an opportunity to extend those conversations beyond the conference itself.

Instead of limiting discussions to a single event, the organization can create ongoing channels for surgeons to discuss new findings, emerging techniques and evolving best practices throughout the year.

The result, she hopes, will be a continuous professional dialogue that keeps members engaged long after the meeting ends.

Inside a CMO's Day: Data, Signals and Timing

Despite the human-centered storytelling strategy, Moritz still spends a significant portion of her day examining data and engagement signals.

Her team is currently analyzing the organization's broader communications ecosystem — evaluating how different channels perform, what content resonates and where new opportunities might exist.

The focus is not simply on performance metrics but on identifying actionable insights that could influence future initiatives. Those insights may lead to ideas for new products, webinars, educational programs or member resources.

Moritz says the team is preparing a workshop to step back and evaluate the ecosystem as a whole, identifying areas that need to evolve and questioning legacy approaches that may no longer make sense.

Another important factor is timing. Because surgeons operate on demanding schedules, the traditional workday is not always the best moment to reach them. Moritz says data often shows that weekends — particularly Sunday mornings — are among the most effective windows for engagement.

Social media and publishing tools help the team coordinate that timing and ensure messages reach surgeons when they are most likely to see them.

Expanding Influencer and Video Strategies

Moritz is also expanding the organization's use of video and peer-driven social content. At the recent annual meeting, STS worked with roughly 20 surgeon influencers who shared their experiences across the society's channels. Instead of the organization narrating the event itself, the strategy allowed members to document and interpret the experience from their own perspective. The result was a more authentic view of the meeting and its discussions.

Moritz expects this type of peer-led storytelling to become a larger part of the society's communications strategy moving forward.

What STS Is Changing in Member Engagement

Editor's note: Moritz describes a communications strategy built less around institutional promotion and more around surgeon needs, peer credibility and faster access to useful content.

Old Approach to Avoid	New Approach Moritz Describes	Why It Matters for Busy Surgeons
Organization-first announcements	Surgeon-first messaging	Helps members quickly see relevance to their work
Standalone promotions	Problem-solving, contextual content	Connects communications to real clinical and professional needs
Dense copy and generic updates	Snackable, headline-driven, visual storytelling	Improves the chances of getting attention in limited time windows
Institution-led persuasion	Surgeon-to-surgeon influence and testimonials	Builds trust through peer validation
One-time event engagement	Year-round dialogue around research, innovation and learning	Keeps members connected beyond the annual meeting
Standard publishing cadence	Timing based on surgeon behavior signals	Improves reach by meeting members when they are actually available

Rebranding and Website Modernization Underway

Alongside these content initiatives, STS is undertaking a major brand and digital modernization effort. The organization is currently reviewing proposals from potential partners to support both a rebrand and a full website redesign.

Moritz says the process will begin with gathering insights from surgeons to ensure the new brand reflects how members actually see the organization.

One element she is particularly excited about is building a comprehensive messaging framework that clearly defines the society's identity and differentiators. She describes it as creating a "master messaging map" that will serve as a strategic filter for future communications.

That work will also influence the organization's visual identity and digital design. The website redesign will explore how AI-driven search behaviors are changing the way professionals find information online.

Historically, digital teams measured success through metrics such as time spent on a page. Moritz believes the future may be the opposite: helping users find exactly what they need as quickly as possible.

The goal is to ensure surgeons can arrive, retrieve critical information quickly and return to their work.

Signaling Change to Members

Even before the full redesign launches, Moritz has already begun introducing visual changes. The homepage has been refreshed with new colors and updated elements designed to signal to members that the organization is evolving.

For Moritz, those early changes are part of building momentum for the broader transformation effort underway. She describes the first year as a fast-moving balancing act between listening, learning and executing.

But that pace, she says, is exactly what makes the work rewarding. Helping organizations recognize new possibilities and then guiding them through change is something she has built her career around — and she clearly enjoys the challenge.

What AI Will — and Won't — Change for CMOs

As the conversation wrapped, the topic shifted to one of the biggest forces reshaping marketing leadership: artificial intelligence.

A recent Gartner statistic framed the discussion. According to the firm, 65% of CMOs believe AI will dramatically change the role within the next two years. Yet only 32% say the skill set required for the job will need major reinvention.

Moritz believes the data reflects something important about the nature of marketing leadership. In her view, CMOs already possess many of the capabilities required to navigate the AI transition. Curiosity, adaptability and strategic thinking are core traits of the role — and those same qualities are essential for integrating new technologies effectively. She argues that the rise of AI does not mean marketing leaders need to abandon their current expertise. Instead, it means applying existing strengths in new ways.

Moritz sees AI as a powerful tool for experimentation and efficiency, helping teams explore ideas faster, uncover insights and streamline processes. But she believes strategy remains firmly in human hands.

In other words, AI may change how work gets done, but it does not replace the need for thoughtful leadership. Marketing leaders will still be responsible for determining where technology should be used, how it fits into broader strategy and how organizations translate insights into meaningful experiences.

Why Strategy Still Comes First

Organizations should experiment and learn, but they must remain focused on the strategic goals that guide how technology is applied.

AI can accelerate workflows, reveal new insights and generate ideas quickly. But without a clear strategy and human judgment guiding those outputs, the technology risks becoming another shiny object.

For Moritz, the challenge is less about reinventing the marketing profession and more about learning how to incorporate AI into existing processes thoughtfully. As organizations navigate this shift, understanding marketing technology trends becomes essential for staying competitive.

The Role of Human Experience in an AI-Driven World

Even as AI becomes more embedded in marketing operations, Moritz believes human experiences will grow more valuable — not less.

The Jamaica mission she attended earlier in the year offers a clear example. Moments like that cannot be replicated by algorithms or automated content generation. They come from real interaction, firsthand observation and emotional connection.

As digital content becomes easier to generate, audiences will increasingly question what is authentic and what is artificial. That dynamic will place greater pressure on organizations to demonstrate genuine human engagement with the communities they serve.

Moritz believes the brands that succeed will be those that balance technological efficiency with authentic human experiences. That could mean more in-person events, deeper field engagement, or storytelling rooted in real-world observation rather than purely digital production. These approaches align with broader principles of customer experience management that prioritize meaningful connections.

The goal is to create experiences that leave lasting impressions — the kind that shape how people understand a brand long after a campaign ends.

A Year of Transformation Ahead

For Moritz, the coming year at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons will be defined by transformation.

The organization is in the middle of major initiatives that include a rebrand, a website modernization effort, expanded storytelling and new approaches to member engagement.

By the end of the year, the organization expects to look noticeably different — both visually and strategically.

But Moritz appears energized by the pace of change. Leading organizations through periods of evolution has become a defining theme of her career, and she sees the opportunity at STS as another chance to help a professional community rethink how it communicates, connects and grows.