Bethesda, Md., May 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Amanda Kwong, MPH, as its first-ever Director. Kwong brings a wealth of experience at the intersection of communications and public health, with a passion for using effective communication to inform, clarify, and build trust within the community.
Established in 2020, PHCC is focused on meeting the needs of the thousands of caring and committed professionals who are on the front lines of communicating essential public health information to their communities. With Kwong’s appointment, PHCC will expand the tools, learning opportunities, and professional community that it offers to health communicators.
Inspired by her mother’s work in crisis communications, Kwong has dedicated her career to impactful storytelling and human connection. After graduating from Syracuse University, she worked in New York City's advertising industry, eventually transitioning to the Ad Council. There, she managed over 15 campaigns, including the iconic Smokey Bear wildfire safety initiative.
While working on the Ad Council’s COVID-19 Vaccine Education campaign, its largest public service campaign in history, Kwong and partners at the COVID Collaborative played a pivotal role in addressing the public's questions about COVID-19 vaccines, focusing on supporting the Black/African American community with culturally relevant and reliable information. She holds a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Health Leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Since assuming her role as PHCC Director in March, Kwong has been actively engaging with the community, recognizing the impact PHCC has had since its inception in 2020 and the changing environment in which it operates. She is committed to continuing the delivery of timely, science-based messaging and expanding PHCC’s resources to address emerging public health threats, combat misinformation, and tackle large-scale public health challenges.
"My vision is to design each feature of PHCC with the community’s needs in mind," says Amanda. "I look forward to expanding our resources and learning opportunities to empower public health professionals in their critical roles."
This year, PHCC will revamp its materials and website to better deliver on evolving needs. The Collaborative will also launch its first training and skill development program, the PHCC Academy, this summer. By equipping practitioners with the skills they need to communicate effectively with the communities they serve, while in a supportive learning cohort, PHCC hopes to strengthen the public health communication ecosystem overall.
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About the Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC): Established in 2020, the Public Health Communications Collaborative is a learning and information hub for professionals who communicate about public health. Through relevant, timely, and practical communications tools and learning opportunities, PHCC advances a public health system where everyone has what they need to make informed decisions about their health. It is managed by the CDC Foundation, the de Beaumont Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and Trust for America’s Health. For more information, visit www.publichealthcollaborative.org.
