Deputy Associate Director of Communication Team: Policy, Planning, and Communication

John P. Anderton, PhD, MPA

Dr. John Anderton, PhD, MPA is the Deputy Associate Director of the Communication Team: Policy, Planning, and Communication (OPPC) in the Office of Readiness and Response (ORR). The Communication Team provides planning, traditional and social media support, and national preparedness campaigns and messaging.

In prior roles at CDC, Mr. Anderton has planned and launched national health campaigns promoting childhood immunization, stomach ulcer treatment, HIV testing, and electronic medical records. He has led communication offices focusing on public health surveillance, epidemiology, informatics, and several infectious disease areas in his over 28 years at CDC.

Mr. Anderton is also the host of the popular TEDMED series at CDC. He specializes in health communication strategy, in theories of social influence and persuasion, and in use of innovative communication technologies. He also teaches communication strategy, techniques and theory as Adjunct Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health, in the Rollins School of Public Health, at Emory University.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Anderton was a program director with the American Diabetes Association and was an administrative assistant and science educator at a planetarium in Wichita, Kansas.

Mr. 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.