Dr. Amelia Burke-Garcia is an award-winning digital health communicator and researcher with nearly 20 years of experience creating innovative and impactful digital interventions for health programs. She has supported flu vaccination by working with MeetUp groups across the country and partnering with the Waze mobile application to promote HIV testing. She has also been studying the role of influencers in health communication and research for over a decade.
Dr. Burke-Garcia holds a Ph.D. in communication from George Mason University, a Master’s degree from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor’s degree from McGill University. Her work includes acting as director for CDC’s National Influenza Vaccination Campaign, and prior to that, she directed digital strategy for CDC’s entire immunization portfolio.
Dr. Burke-Garcia is currently leading the development of a national communication initiative funded through the CDC Foundation, and in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that aims to increase coping and resiliency, and reduce adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes, amid, and as a result of, the COVID-19 pandemic. In this role, her work includes rapid formative research to help with developing the messaging and materials tailored to the needs of four priority audiences: people ages 65 and older and their caregivers, people living with pre-existing mental and physical health conditions, people experiencing violence, and people experiencing economic distress. She is the author of the S.O.C.I.A.L. framework for planning and evaluating digital campaigns and the author of the book, Influencing Health: A Comprehensive Guide to Working with Online Influencers, which was published by Routledge in 2019. She has been named as Diverse Health Hub’s Woman of the Week and to VeryWellHealth.com’s list of 10 Modern Female Innovators Shaking Up Health Care.