By Vanessa Orr
Since 1988, KIDZ Medical Services—a private, physician owned multispecialty group specializing in neonatal, pediatric, and women’s healthcare—has cared for families across South Florida. Despite longstanding partnerships with 19 hospitals across five counties, many patients were not aware that KIDZ Medical was a distinct organization, prompting leadership to strengthen its brand presence.
KIDZ’s President & CEO, Wayne Brackin, engaged marketing and brand consultant and longtime South Florida resident Amanda Gonzalez nearly three years ago to chart a new strategic direction for the brand. After a deep discovery process, Gonzalez delivered a comprehensive plan and has since become an integral part of KIDZ’s ongoing growth and visibility efforts.
“I’d remained in touch with Wayne Brackin over the years from my time at Baptist Health, and always admired his leadership and mentorship style,” Gonzalez said. “I also knew of KIDZ’s cofounders, Dr. Jorge Perez and Dr. Albert Tano, because their clinical and personal reputations preceded them. Needless to say, I was intrigued by the opportunity to support the organization’s next stage.”
Brackin was clear on what KIDZ was looking for in a marketing leader. “I knew of her knowledge of the South Florida market, and I’d seen her lead the marketing efforts for several major facility launches, so I knew that experience would be invaluable as KIDZ prepared for its next phase of growth,” Brackin said.
That marked the start of their collective work. “We refined the brand standards and messaging while also building the infrastructure to elevate the organization’s reputation. We wanted to make sure families—and especially moms—could clearly see the depth of care, expertise, and collaboration behind the KIDZ name,” Gonzalez added.
She has since served as KIDZ’s fractional chief marketing leader while also consulting for other healthcare systems and organizations in Florida and the Midwest. Unlike a full time chief marketing officer, her consulting model provides executive level strategy through a flexible structure tailored to what each organization can sustain.
“I’m able to provide executive level guidance in a way that’s both forward thinking and adaptable,” she said. “It gives organizations the flexibility to move quickly and use their resources wisely, while ensuring they have the right level of strategic leadership at the right moment in their growth.”
Gonzalez adds that marketing leaders must keep pace with constant technology shifts—from AI and automation to personalization tools, performance tracking platforms, and patient acquisition systems. They also have to navigate fast changing market dynamics, including evolving consumer behavior, payer pressures, and competitive moves.
“What worked last year may not work today,” she said. “Marketing strategists have to be comfortable reinventing the toolkit so it’s effective for the moment, and for each unique client.”
A major focus at KIDZ has been strengthening digital and social visibility and online reputation. Where patients once relied mainly on physician referrals, today they often start with digital touchpoints—online business profiles and reviews, search results, and social media. A healthcare organization’s website isn’t the first digital impression point anymore.
To date, KIDZ Medical’s reputation and visibility have grown substantially by highlighting the expertise, training, and evidence-based practices that define its services and patient experience. Families, partners, and the broader community now have a clearer view of the professionalism and outcomes behind the organization’s work. These efforts have also driven excellent online patient ratings and a world class-level Net Promoter Score, reflecting the high trust and satisfaction patients and partners have in KIDZ Medical’s care.
These visibility improvements have also supported KIDZ’s business growth, contributing to increased patient volume across its locations, strengthening collaboration and referral pathways with hospital partners, and bolstering recruitment efforts.
For Gonzalez, seeing that trust deepen—especially among parents, partners, and team members—has been one of the most rewarding parts of the work. “The goal is ultimately not to be an outsider; I touch their business every day, and they embrace me as part of their team,” Gonzalez said, noting that she also feels fortunate to have spent her entire career in healthcare.
From her first job as a diagnostic and surgical scheduling coordinator in pediatric neurosurgery at what was then known as Miami Children’s Hospital, to working as a patient advocate at Baptist Hospital of Miami, Gonzalez later joined Baptist Health’s outpatient services division as a marketing/PR specialist in 2005 during a period of rapid expansion.
“That was very early in the walk in/retail health era, and that role truly catapulted my career,” she said. “It was fast moving with dynamic leadership, and I learned a lot in a short time, which propelled me into corporate marketing leadership.”
After 11 years at Baptist Health, Gonzalez transitioned into academic medicine, joining the marketing communications team at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and later leading those efforts at UHealth—the University of Miami Health System, where she spent nearly seven years spearheading high profile brand and service line campaigns and major expansion initiatives. In the summer of 2020, during the COVID pandemic, she launched her consulting practice. Gonzalez soon landed a large Pittsburgh-based health system as her first client, a partnership that continues today.
In addition to her physician group consulting work at KIDZ, Gonzalez’s client portfolio includes academic, community, and rural health systems, as well as outpatient care operators and a healthcare professional membership organization, which she feels broadens her perspective.
“No offense to marketers who market widgets, but I feel like there’s an extra special level of meaning when people’s lives are affected by what you do,” she said. “Working alongside an organization like KIDZ, and the people who pour their expertise into caring for women and children, remains my favorite part of this relationship.”
