About

BurkeGarcia-Amelia_original

Dr. Amelia Burke-Garcia is a health communication scientist and strategist with more than 20 years of experience designing and evaluating innovative and impactful health interventions. She currently works at NORC at the University of Chicago, where she leads the organization’s Center for Health Communication Science. In this role, she designs and implements strategies that leverage the power of communication to influence behavior. 

Over the course of her career, Dr. Burke-Garcia has spearheaded some of the most innovative communication programs and studies on a variety of health topics. Most recently, she led the award-winning national mental health communication campaign, How Right Now/Que Hacer Ahora (HRN/QHA). Made possible with support from the CDC Foundation, and conducted in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HRN/QHA aims to increase coping and resilience and reduce adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes. Evaluation findings revealed that HRN/QHA was most effective for those most in-need – that is, those who reported the greatest levels of stress and discord in the family.  

Other prior work has included acting as director for CDC’s National Influenza Vaccination Campaign and directing digital strategy for CDC’s entire immunization portfolio. She also has worked with MeetUp groups and the Waze mobile application to move people to action around flu vaccination and HIV testing, respectively.

She also has been examining the role of influencers in health communication and research for nearly two decades. She has co-led an NIH-funded study examining the effects of mommy bloggers on reader awareness of environmental risk factors for breast cancer and their intention to take steps to reduce their risk. She also completed an exploratory study examining the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of online influencers who are also non-vaccinators and co-led several grants focused on exploring vaccine hesitancy amongst communities of color. Most recently, she has been exploring what she calls, “Health Communication AI” or the use of generative AI to revolutionize how we communicate about health. 

She is the author of the S.O.C.I.A.L. framework for planning and evaluating digital campaigns, the author of NORC’s model of health communication campaign evaluation, and the author of the book, Influencing Health: A Comprehensive Guide to Working with Online Influencers, which was published by Routledge in 2019. Her latest award-winning book, Communicating Through a Pandemic: A Chronicle of Experiences, Lessons Learned, and a Vision for the Future, is also now available. She has also been published in numerous other books and journals.

She is currently Chair of the Board of Directors for Vaccinate Your Family and a founding member of the Society for Health Communication. She is also a member of the Council for Quality Health Communication, the Board of Directors for ShiftCon, the largest health and wellness influencer network in the U.S., part of the Scientific Committee for BigSurv, the leading international conference on Big Data and Survey Research, and a member of the editorial board for the peer-reviewed journal, Social Marketing Quarterly. Previously, she was an advisor to Preppr.ai and a member of the Board of Directors for the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice. 

She has been named as Diverse Health Hub’s Woman of the Week and to VeryWellHealth’s list of 10 Modern Female Innovators Shaking Up Health Care. She has received a 2022 Recognition Award from the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice and a 2014 Social Media Icon Award from PRNews Group. Most recently, she has been featured by the U.S. Surgeon General for her work.

She 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.

Amelia currently belongs to the following boards/organizations: