The CDC Leaders

"I see health marketing as creating, communicating, and delivering science-based health information to and from customers and partners in ways that benefit the customers′ and the public′s health."

—Jay M. Bernhardt, PhD, MPH

 

Jay M. Bernhardt, PhD, MPH

Director, National Center for Health Marketing

Dr. Jay Bernhardt is the Director of the National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM), Coordinating Center for Health Information & Service (CCHIS), at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHM′s mission is to protect and promote the public′s health through collaborative and innovative health marketing programs, products, and services that are customer-centered, science-based, and high-impact. NCHM has a staff of more than 500 in four divisions and numerous offices embedded throughout the agency. Some of NCHM′s signature programs include leadership and management for the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Guide to Community Preventive Services, “CDC-INFO” toll free hotline, CDC′s website (CDC.gov) and new media activities, the Joint Information Center (JIC) of the CDC Emergency Operations Center, and CDC′s consolidated graphic design and writer/editor staffs, and coordinating CDC′s external partnerships and strategic alliances.

Before joining the CDC in August 2005, Dr. Bernhardt was an assistant professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and the Founding Director of the Emory Center for Public Health Communication. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor of Health Promotion and Behavior. Dr. Bernhardt′s research and instruction have focused on health communication, social marketing, and new media, with an emphasis on information technology, e-health, and strategic communication. He has published dozens of articles in respected scholarly journals including the American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Health Communication, and the British Medical Journal.

Dr. Bernhardt has been actively involved with public health leadership at the national, state, and local levels, and recently served as vice chairperson of the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Health Education Research, Journal of Health Communication, and Social Marketing Quarterly. Dr. Bernhardt is a member of five honor societies, including Delta Omega and the Cap and Skull Society of Rutgers College and his many awards include the Jay S. Drotman Memorial Award from the American Public Health Association and the Thomas F. Sellers, Jr., M.D. Award from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Dr. Bernhardt received his BA from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, with a major in sociology and a minor in computer science. He received his master of public health degree from the University of Medicine and dentistry of New Jersey and his Doctorate from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Dunwoody, Georgia with his wife Sheryl Bernhardt, a pediatric occupational therapist, and their children Lila and Nathan.