Team
We bring healthcare and science to life
Meet Our Core Team
Everyone on our team has a background in content marketing and/or journalism, coupled with years of healthcare and science writing experience. You’ll work directly with our leaders at every step in your project, backed by a coast-to-coast team of award-winning writers and designers.
Justin Matlick
I started my career at the Wall Street Journal and spent a decade as a journalist. Then my life hit a crossroads when my infant daughter spent a long stint in the ICU. I came face-to-face with the challenge of understanding complex conditions and treatments, and with other parents who needed clear information. It inspired me to create Message Lab. Today, I love guiding our agency through new opportunities and growing alongside our team. And I constantly step back to remember the people who need our content — the new patients, the worried families, the people with chronic disease. It inspires me to keep getting better at everything I do.
Outside of work, you’ll find me skiing, hiking and backpacking with my wife and daughters in mountain ranges across the country.
Megan Herndon
After watching my dad fight multiple cancer battles when I was a teenager, I knew I wanted to help advance research. But I was also dead set on being a writer. In college, I learned I could do both through a writing internship at Fred Hutch.
I started my career as a journalism fellow in Indonesia, where I learned how to chase down compelling stories. Then I honed my strategy skills at a digital agency.
I joined Message Lab in 2018. Now I have the privilege of helping clients build strategies and create engaging stories around the next generation of breakthroughs — and the people they impact.
In 2021, I earned my Master of Communication in Digital Media degree, focused on storytelling and content strategy, from the University of Washington. Outside of work, you’ll find me hiking, snowboarding and outrigger canoe paddling.
Erin Roberts
I’ve spent a decade helping clients in complex industries develop clear, compelling content for every channel. With a degree in public relations, I have a knack for always keeping one eye on the big-picture goals while diving head-first into details. I’ve had clients across the healthcare space, including pharmaceutical companies, hospital networks and CROs. So I naturally thrive on challenges, research and my trusty Nespresso machine.
At Message Lab, it’s a joy to get to work with renowned medical professionals to create content that matches their brilliant expertise.
Outside of work, I’m perpetually planning my next adventure — whether it’s a backpacking trip on the Appalachian trail or a motorbike tour of northern Thailand.
Allie Rock
My philanthropy career started when I merged my interest in social change with my background in communications.
I started my career on the fundraising communications teams at the University of Washington School of Medicine and College of Built Environments. Then I joined Seattle Children’s, where I led stewardship communications and worked closely with fundraisers, doctors, families and donors.
Now I’ve got the best job in the world: Writing, stewarding and communicating for nonprofits, to celebrate donors and deepen their relationship with the organizations they care about.
My goal is to communicate to donors exactly how their gifts contribute to your progress and why that progress matters.
Jennifer Fisch
My adventures in content began as a reporter for a small community newspaper in central New Jersey. After earning a master’s degree in communications from the University of Washington, I pivoted to help organizations like Virginia Mason Medical Center and Seattle Children’s tell their stories and build their brands. My goal is to always hit the sweet spot between a client’s business needs and their audience’s interests.
Outside of work, I recently produced and directed a short film exploring how COVID-19 interrupted rituals around death and grieving, and I’m in the early stages of several other film projects.
Mike Mathieu
My writing career started in what might seem like an unlikely place: I spent more than a decade in live theater, touring the continent with a two-person comedy show and helping run a nonprofit performance space. I also edited books and, eventually, shifted gears and led creative campaigns at Weber Shandwick for clients including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At Message Lab, I enjoy the challenge of tailoring content to different audiences, from in-depth articles for providers to web pages for patients and families. Outside of work, I’m a part-time podcaster and happy dad.
Jessica Levco
I’ve spent the majority of my career as a healthcare journalist, marketer and social media specialist. I have worked closely with clients ranging from community hospitals to the Mayo Clinic. What I like best about healthcare writing is telling patient stories. I also like interviewing doctors because I wind up hearing all kinds of tips on how to live a healthy, long life. At this point, I’ve convinced everyone I know to start taking Vitamin D!
When I’m away from my desk, I’m on the tennis court. Or wandering around the neighborhood, daydreaming about my next foodie vacation – I spent a few years as a part-time food tour guide in Chicago and am always excited for new cuisine!
Colleen Cronin
I’ve felt passionate about health and education for as long as I can remember. That has led me
to work for over 20 years as a teacher, writer, editor and content strategist.
I’ve written and edited educational articles, workbooks, newsletters, video scripts, blog posts,
app content, marketing content, web pages, whitepapers and interactive conversations. I’ve
crafted messaging for big audiences and small ones, experts who live and work in medicine,
and families struggling to understand a new challenge.
I have a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MA in Teaching English as
a Second Language from the New School. My study of language, culture and pedagogy helps
me make complicated healthcare topics a little easier for diverse audiences to understand – and
act on.
When I’m not working, I love to chat with strangers (in English or Spanish), try new foods, find
quiet places on foot or on a paddleboard, and swing on the monkey bars with my kids.
Angel Latterell
I started out doing project management as a complex litigation attorney. I didn’t even know the project management profession existed. However, when I realized that being a full-time lawyer for the rest of my life was not a good idea (!), I was pleased to know that I had other skills — and thus started my journey into the realm of standard work and process improvement. I now teach project management at the University of Washington, enjoy creating effective systems to manage work for creative teams, and run my own estate planning law practice where it is my joy to keep families out of court and conflict. In my spare time I teach mindfulness and meditation, hike with my rescue chihuahua, and travel wherever and whenever possible to experience all the scents, colors and flavors the world can offer.