Wendy Mettgeris president of Mettger Communications, a consulting firm specializing in plain language and health literacy projects and a co-founder of the Health Literacy Institute in Portland, Maine. She is also a founding member of the Clear Language Group.
With over 30 years of experience and a master’s degree in health communication, Wendy serves as a plain language and health literacy expert to government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, non-profit groups such as the March of Dimes, and large corporations such as Pfizer, Inc. Her projects include:
- Creating easy-to-read and easy-to-understand materials and websites
- Field testing materials with diverse target audiences, with a specialty in one-on-one interviews with adult learners
- Conducting workshops and trainings for health professionals on how to develop easy-to-read materials
- Helping organizations and researchers conceptualize and implement communication interventions to reach individuals with marginal literacy skills
Wendy played a critical role in the development of the National Cancer Institute’s plain language informed consent template; co-authored one of the earliest guidebooks on creating easy-to-read materials, entitled “Clear and Simple”; and co-chaired the National Work Group on Cancer and Literacy, the first ever federally sponsored collaboration between health and literacy organizations. She has been awarded multiple NIH Plain Language awards and two Pfizer Health Literacy Visiting Lecturer Grants.
