LONDON--Waggener Edstrom has made two senior hires in its London office, adding Girish Balachandran and Anna Gray to head client development and healthcare, respectively.

Balachandran comes aboard as EMEA client development director, after spending six years with Ketchum Pleon . He succeeds Bryan Taylor, who left Wag-Ed earlier this year to return to his native Canada.

Gray, meanwhile, has been named VP for Wag-Ed’s healthcare practice, charged with growing business in the UK and internationally. She joins after leading the global Bayer cardiovascular business at Cohn & Wolfe London. Previously, Gray worked stints at Burson-Marsteller, Galliard and Roche.

Gray reports to new Wag-Ed UK GM Cairbre Sugrue.

“Healthcare is a priority for the agency, which is being backed up with significant investment by the company,” said Sugrue. “Along with the recent acquisition of Patzer PR in Germany, our goal is to build out our proposition in Europe and Anna has a wealth of experience from a variety of different healthcare sectors, which will really support our ambitious goals.”