Amelia Burke-Garcia

Dr. Amelia Burke-Garcia is a health communicator, researcher, and author whose work focuses on public health, digital media, and behavior change. Burke-Garcia has two decades of experience in health communication program planning, implementation, and evaluation. She directs NORC at the University of Chicago's Center for Health Communication Science and leads its Digital Strategy and Outreach Program Area, where she develops and implements strategies that use communication science to influence health behaviors. She holds a PhD in Communication from George Mason University and a master's degree in Communication, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown University.

Throughout her career, Burke-Garcia has led high-profile public health communication campaigns, including serving as director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Influenza Vaccination Campaign and overseeing digital strategy for the CDC's immunization portfolio. Before joining NORC, she was senior director of digital media at Westat and director of Westat's Center for Digital Strategy and Research, managing communications for the CDC's National Center of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and developing an online influencer program. Her initiatives have included designing targeted social media interventions with bloggers to promote breast cancer risk reduction, leveraging MeetUp groups and the Waze mobile application to support flu vaccination and HIV testing, and running GEICO's first brand awareness campaign with YouTube influencers.

Burke-Garcia led the "How Right Now/Que Hacer Ahora" campaign, a national mental health communication initiative supported by the CDC Foundation and conducted in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The campaign aims to increase coping and resilience and reduce adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes. In this role, she oversees research activities such as partner listening sessions, focus groups, surveys, environmental scans, and social listening to inform message development for priority audiences, including people ages 65 and older and their caregivers, individuals with pre-existing conditions, people experiencing violence, and those facing economic distress.

As an author, Burke-Garcia has written "Influencing Health: A Comprehensive Guide to Working with Social Media Influencers" and "Communicating through a Pandemic: A Chronicle of Experiences, Lessons Learned, and a Vision for the Future." In the latter, she draws on her experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and previous public health emergencies to provide insights into effective public health communication. The book received a Silver Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association. Burke-Garcia's work has been published in numerous books and journals, and her research has been widely cited in the field of health communication.

Burke-Garcia has been recognized for her contributions to health communication, including being named to VeryWellHealth.com's list of 10 Modern Female Innovators Shaking Up Health Care and featured by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. She has examined the role of influencers in health communication and research for more than a decade and leads Health Communication AI, a portfolio exploring the use of artificial intelligence in health information dissemination and support. Burke-Garcia is a founding member of the Society for Health Communication, serves as chair-elect of the board of directors for the nonprofit Vaccinate Your Family, and is an editorial board member of Social Marketing Quarterly.