Meet the Changemakers: Jonah Comstock

Photo by Roy Habani.

HIMSS serves the global health information and technology communities with focused operations across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Our members include more than 80,000 individuals, 480 provider organizations, 470 non-profit partners and 650 health services organizations. The HIMSS staff is made up of changemakers who collaborate with members to reform the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology.

Jonah Comstock is Director of Content Development and Editor in Chief at HIMSS Media.

How long have you been at HIMSS?

Technically, I’ve been a part of HIMSS for five years – since the organization acquired MobiHealthNews in 2015. But I was at Mobi for three years before then, so I’ve been in this job for eight years.

How do you support our mission statement?

HIMSS’s global mission is “To reform the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology.” As Editor in Chief for the HIMSS Media information brands – Healthcare IT News, MobiHealthNews, and Healthcare Finance News – we support that mission by disseminating information to the members of that ecosystem. Our own mission is to keep healthcare IT, digital health and healthcare finance stakeholders informed and educated about the developments and trends they need to know. And we strive to make our content engaging, perhaps even entertaining, as well.

How do you know your work at HIMSS makes a difference?

The nice thing about being on the same beat for eight years as a reporter is that people know who you are. Very often at the end of an interview, someone will tell me how long they’ve been a reader or how much they’ve appreciated my work or the work of our publications. When a new digital health book comes out, I often find my name and old headlines in the end-matter, which underscores how our reporting forms an informational groundwork for scholars who are grappling with this new ecosystem.

What’s one thing you wish everyone knew about the work you do at HIMSS?

We are constantly iterating and experimenting at HIMSS Media to find the best ways to serve our growing and changing audiences. We are always open to feedback on what we do, how we do it and what needs we can address for HIMSS staff and members. I also want everyone to know how hard-working our staff is! There’s an old journalistic trope about “feeding the beast,” which refers to the pressure of putting together enough news every day for a daily paper – or in our case, a large and growing roster of newsletters. My team keeps all those beasts fed and finds time on top of that to lead webinars, do video interviews and work on enterprise pieces.