# Health Literacy Media (HLM)

> Health Literacy Media is a St. Louis nonprofit communication company that turns difficult health, science, and clinical-research information into material people can understand and use. Its interdisciplinary team combines plain-language writing, design, digital media, training, and direct audience testing for pharmaceutical companies, health systems, government agencies, researchers, nonprofits, and community groups; its signature programs focus on clinical-trial communication and kidney-transplant education.

- **Founded:** 2009
- **Headquarters:** St. Louis, United States
- **Founders:** Missouri Foundation for Health (Founding funder), Missouri Health Literacy Coordinating Council (Founding coalition)
- **Products:** Clearly Communicating Clinical Trials (C3T), Explore Transplant & Living Donation, Audience testing, Digital media and content design, Health education and training
- **Notable:** Won the 2026 Grand ClearMark for a pediatric diabetes clinical-trial results summary developed with Novartis, plus the Lay Summaries and French category awards., Explore Transplant and Explore Living Donation report educating more than 4,000 providers and improving education for more than 28,000 kidney patients., Trained more than 16,000 health-related professionals by 2017, according to a peer-reviewed account of the organization.

## Products & services

- **Clearly Communicating Clinical Trials (C3T)** — Health-literacy strategy, recruitment materials, consent documents, study updates, plain-language results summaries, evaluation, and multiformat communication across the clinical-trial lifecycle.
- **Explore Transplant & Living Donation** — Evidence-based patient education, provider training, animated coaching, print and digital materials, and decision support about kidney transplant and living donation.
- **Audience testing** — Participant recruitment, IRB support, surveys, interviews, focus groups, usability findings, and revision recommendations for health and science materials.
- **Digital media and content design** — Plain-language websites, documents, infographics, animated videos, social campaigns, and templates designed for access, understanding, decision-making, and action.
- **Health education and training** — In-person, hybrid, and virtual training and e-learning, including needs assessment, interactive content development, learner evaluation, and work with continuing-education providers.

## Achievements

- Won the 2026 Grand ClearMark for a pediatric diabetes clinical-trial results summary developed with Novartis, plus the Lay Summaries and French category awards.
- Explore Transplant and Explore Living Donation report educating more than 4,000 providers and improving education for more than 28,000 kidney patients.
- Trained more than 16,000 health-related professionals by 2017, according to a peer-reviewed account of the organization.
- Its 2011 health-literacy documentary won a 2012 Silver Telly and received a Mid-America Emmy nomination.
- Built an early online library with more than 10,000 health-literacy resources.
- President and CEO Catina O'Leary coauthored 2025 research on health literacy and diversity in the NIH All of Us Research Program.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — HLM and Novartis won the Grand ClearMark for a plain-language diabetes trial summary for teens and young adults, alongside category awards for the English and Belgian French versions.
- **2026-03** — HLM announced a three-year HRSA-funded national, multilingual education effort to increase awareness of reimbursement for eligible living-organ-donation expenses.
- **2025-10** — Published a practical 12-tip health-literacy checklist covering plain language, design, and co-creation.
- **2025-07** — Marked nearly seven years of work with the Melanoma Research Foundation on clinical-trial and health-education materials.
- **2025-04** — A peer-reviewed paper led by HLM staff on health literacy and diversity in the NIH All of Us Research Program appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

## Links

- Website: https://www.healthliteracy.media
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/healthliteracymedia
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/healthlitmedia
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthlitmedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthliteracymedia

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/health-literacy-media-hlm
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-20