Associate Director for Communication

John P. Anderton, PhD, MPA

John P. Anderton, PhD, MPA, is the Acting Associate Director for Communications Science for the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. The communications office provides communications planning, supports traditional and social media outreach, and conducts preparedness campaign messaging. Anderton has led communications offices focusing on public health surveillance, epidemiology, informatics, childhood immunization, and several infectious disease areas, in his over 26 years with CDC. He is also the host of the popular TEDMED series at CDC. Anderton teaches health communications strategy, theories of social influence and persuasion, and innovative communications technologies as Adjunct Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health, in the Rollins School of Public Health, at Emory University. Earlier in his career, Anderton was a Program Director with the American Diabetes Association and was an administrative assistant, then science educator at a planetarium in Wichita, Kansas. Anderton’s PhD is in Health Promotion and Behavior from the University of Georgia and his Master’s Degree is in Public and Urban Administration from Georgia State University.