In a healthcare landscape that often struggles to truly hear the patient’s voice, Dee Armstrong, Senior Director of Project Management & Operations at ECHO Project Management Group, Inc., is spearheading a revolution—one grounded in empathy, persistence, and a personal promise to make a difference. Her journey from witnessing familial suffering to building a powerful research platform is not just professional—it’s deeply personal.
Dee’s career and founding of ECHO were shaped by the emotional experiences of caring for her grandmother, who battled Alzheimer’s, and her uncle, who lived with severe schizophrenia. The lack of personalized care and support they received exposed the critical gaps in the healthcare system. Determined to change this, Dee made a vow in their memory—to ensure no one navigating rare or mental health conditions feels invisible again. That promise gave birth to ECHO Project Management Group, a patient-focused organization devoted to making unheard voices the driving force behind medical progress.
With a strong foundation built on integrity, hard work, and compassion, values she credits to her entrepreneurial parents, Dee has combined her leadership and project management expertise to create a company unlike any other in its field. ECHO’s mission is to humanize healthcare data by connecting providers and researchers with real people facing uncommon medical challenges.
Under Dee’s leadership, ECHO utilizes innovative methods to gather patient insights—ranging from in-home ethnographies and nationwide telephone interviews to in-depth face-to-face conversations and online forums. Each interaction is designed to capture not just the clinical aspects, but the lived experiences of patients. These stories help shape more responsive treatments, better healthcare products, and ultimately, a more empathetic industry.
ECHO specializes in hard-to-reach audiences, particularly in mental health, cancer, and rare diseases, and builds lasting relationships with patients, caregivers, foundations, and support networks. “We aren’t your traditional medical research company,” says Dee. “We go the extra mile every time—because we care.”
Beyond operations, Dee plays a pivotal role in motivating her all-women team. Weekly check-ins are as much about emotional support as they are about workflow, creating a workplace where passion meets purpose. “We’re not just coworkers—we’re each other’s biggest supporters,” she emphasizes.
As a woman-owned and operated business, ECHO also reflects Dee’s belief in the power of female leadership in healthcare innovation. “Women are now being heard—and in a big way. We can do anything we set our minds to do,” she states.
Today, Dee Armstrong is being recognized for her unwavering dedication, her visionary leadership, and her role in transforming patient engagement across the healthcare continuum. Through ECHO, she is proving that real change happens not in numbers, but in stories—and that every voice has the power to shape the future of care.
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