Government & Public Affairs Roundtable

Bret is an award-winning communications professional with more than 15 years of experience and a diverse healthcare background across academic medicine, health care accreditation and life science organizations. He serves as Takeda’s Head of Global Issues Communications, and partners with company leadership and stakeholders across all parts of the organization to provide counsel and collaborate on reputationally impactful communications plans, strategies and implementations. Bret also oversees the company’s strategic public affairs communications, and overarching global issues communications management processes, strategies and resources.

Prior to joining Takeda, Bret led corporate communications at CytomX Therapeutics, where he built and managed the biotech’s external and internal communications function. He also brings experience from his time at AbbVie, where he worked in corporate communications and in roles overseeing communications for the company’s leading oncology therapy and women’s health business. Earlier in his career, Mr. Coons also notably managed communications at Northwestern Medicine for a third of the academic health system’s therapeutic areas and its crisis management team, and at The Joint Commission on external communications that included responding to local and national media inquiries regarding patient care safety issues.