Amelia Burke-Garcia Joins NORC at the University of Chicago as Public Health Department's Director of Digital Strategy and Outreach

CHICAGO, June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Amelia Burke-Garcia, an accomplished communications professional and innovator across digital platforms, has been named director of digital strategy and outreach in the Public Health Department at NORC at the University of Chicago.

With expertise in developing and evaluating digital health communications campaigns, Burke-Garcia will create and implement strategies to strengthen NORC's use of digital media to influence behavior. In addition, she will develop NORC's capabilities in new data collection methodologies and solutions to enhance its client offerings. Burke-Garcia's efforts will complement current health communications and social media analysis.

"Amelia Burke-Garcia will strengthen the Public Health portfolio of work in health promotion, behavior change and program evaluation," said Caitlin Oppenheimer, senior vice president of Public Health. "We look forward to collaborating with her to identify opportunities to leverage our digital communications and enhance our current project work."  

Before joining NORC, Burke-Garcia was the senior director of digital media at Westat and also served as director of Westat's Center for Digital Strategy and Research. In this capacity, she managed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities communications work, focusing on strategy and developing an online influencer program. She also served as research director for a social media and breast cancer grant funded by the National Institutes of Health, as well as campaign director for CDC's National Influenza Vaccination Campaign.

"I'm thrilled to be using my skills in strategic digital health communications and research with the Public Health team, the communications team and colleagues across NORC," said Burke-Garcia. "Together we can expand NORC's capabilities in this vital area."

Burke-Garcia is actively involved in the Society for Health Communications, where she holds two co-chair positions surrounding innovations in research and social media. She is an editorial board member of Social Marketing Quarterly and was recently named to VeryWellHealth.com's list of 10 Modern Female Innovators Shaking Up Health Care. Her book, Influencing Health: A Comprehensive Guide to Working with Online Influencers, will be published by Routledge on July 18, 2019.

About NORC at the University of Chicago
NORC at the University of Chicago is an objective, non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business and policy decisions. Since 1941, NORC has conducted groundbreaking studies, created and applied innovative methods and tools, and advanced principles of scientific integrity and collaboration. Today, government, corporate and nonprofit clients around the world partner with NORC to transform increasingly complex information into useful knowledge.

Contact: For more information, contact Eric Young for NORC at [email protected] or (703) 217-6814 (cell).

SOURCE NORC at the University of Chicago