Marcos Irigaray is a strategic healthcare executive with over 25 years of experience leading transformation across brand, marketing, analytics, and operations in large, complex academic health systems. Over the years, he has served as Chief of Strategy, Marketing, and Communications at VCU Health System, leading enterprise-wide brand strategy, omnichannel marketing, executive and internal communications, CRM implementation, and enterprise analytics, while also engaging at the governance level with board retreats and strategic planning.

Marcos’ leadership has driven measurable impact, including a $19 million increase in attributable patient revenue through CRM-enabled digital engagement strategies and double-digit growth in brand preference, awareness, and advertising recall. He led enterprise-wide communication strategies for new hospital M&A integrations and major transitions, including Ensemble revenue cycle management (RCM) outsourcing, Epic EHR implementation, and Workday ERP rollout. He also brings distinctive operational experience, having led inpatient and outpatient service departments and served for over two decades as an academic medical center administrator-on-call.

Following a 2023 strategic consolidation of communications and marketing at VCU Health and its parent university, VCU, Marcos transitioned from his longstanding executive role into consulting and advising health systems on strategy, brand, marketing, internal communications, and analytics. In addition, he is an adjunct faculty member at VCU, teaching graduate-level healthcare marketing, and contributes his expertise to Unlock Health as a member of the Chief Marketing Officers Advisory Committee.

Education
1987-1989 Duke University – Master of Health Administration
1981-1984 University of the South – Bachelor of Science, Biology

Publications
Articles
Irigaray, Marcos, “Unified Marketing Governance: Lessons from Leading Health Systems”, November 18, 2024, Strategic Health Care Marketing

Irigaray, Marcos, “Would Your Employees Recommend Your Organization as a Great Place to Work?” December 12, 2023, Strategic Health Care Marketing

Irigaray, Marcos F., MacCracken, Linda, “Talking to My Generation – VCU Medical Center’s marketing campaign connects with a generational focus” Marketing Health Services, American Marketing Association Winter 2011

Paper
Kulkarni, Mahmooda S., Calloway, Karen, Irigaray, Marcos F., and Kaufman, David G.: Species Differences in the Formation of Benzo(a)pyrene-DNA Adducts in Rodent and Human Endometrium. Cancer Research, 46: 2888-2891, June 1986

Abstracts
Lyn-Cook, Beverly, Rinehardt, Clifford A., Irigaray, Marcos F., Barett, Linda, L., Siegal, Gene P., Kaufman, David G., “Invasive Properties of Human Endometrial Cells Transfected with HVV-fos” 78th Annual Meeting for the American Association for Cancer Research, Atlanta, Georgia, 1987.

Kulkarni, Mahmooda S., Irigaray, Marcos F., Kaufman, David G., “DNA Damage and Repair in Human Endometrial Stromal Cells Induced by UV, Benzo-A-Pyrene-Diol-Epoxide (BPDE-I), and N-Methyl-N-Nitroso-N-Nitroguandine (MNNG)” 78th Meeting for the American Association for Cancer Research. Atlanta, Georgia, 1987.

Rinehardt, Clifford A., Irigaray, Marcos F., Lyn-Cook, Beverly, Kaufman, David G., “An In Vitro Model System for the Organogenesis of Human Endometrial Secretory Glands” Annual Meeting for the American Society of Cell Biology. 1987.