The Healthy NewsWorks Board of Directors is pleased to welcome Kristen A. Feemster, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.H.P., to the board of directors.
Kristen is executive director of global medical affairs for pneumococcal vaccines at Merck Research Laboratories and an adjunct associate professor of pediatrics (infectious diseases) at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Kristen was introduced to Healthy NewsWorks when she was interviewed by students for an article in their school health newspaper. Students at La Salle Academy interviewed her about how vaccines help keep communities safe. The interview also appeared in the Fall 2024 edition of By Kids, For Kids magazine.
“The second I walked into the classroom for my interview, I knew that I wanted to be a part of Healthy NewsWorks,” said Kristen.
Kristen completed her residency and fellowship training at CHOP and Penn in 2010. After several years as an academic physician at CHOP and Penn, she transitioned to a full-time public health role as medical director of the Acute Communicable Diseases and Immunizations Programs at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In June 2020, she joined Merck & Co., Inc., in Global Medical and Scientific Affairs. Her research interests have included vaccine policy, vaccine hesitancy, and the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases.
Kristen is committed to helping communities, especially through promoting public health awareness. She believes that Healthy NewsWorks’ mission has deep ties to her professional focus on strengthening vaccine acceptance and education about vaccines and other commonly misunderstood health issues.
“One of the contributors to vaccine hesitancy is the ready availability of mis- and disinformation—a trend that goes well beyond vaccines and stands to impact the adoption of many health behaviors and public health interventions,” Kristen said. “The way in which we consume and communicate information is thus critical—and that starts with building health literacy early.”
She is the author of Vaccines: What Everyone Needs to Know, has published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and invited chapters and commentaries, and has regularly provided vaccine education to a wide range of audiences.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Feemster to our board,” said Marian Uhlman, executive director of Healthy NewsWorks. “She brings to the board the unique experience as both physician and public health leader and is on the front line of public health education need that Healthy NewsWorks aims to address.”
