Charlene Caburnay is the School of Public Health’s inaugural director of master’s programs. Further, she is part of the team leading the school in its curriculum redesign process.

For over two decades, she was at the forefront of designing, developing, and evaluating health communication programs at the Health Communication Research Laboratory, directly addressing critical public health issues such as cancer, diabetes, COVID-19, childhood immunization and chronic diseases. She created communications aimed at a variety of audiences, including smokers, families at inner-city public health centers, and readers of Black newspapers, underscoring the importance of tailored health communication in improving public health outcomes. 

Caburnay’s broad research interests encompass technology-based communication programs, health media interventions, health communication, childhood immunization and community-level chronic disease interventions. Her research has aimed to enrich the information environment in communities burdened by disease and poverty. By expediting the dissemination of evidence-based, communication-based interventions to disadvantaged minority populations, her work has contributed significantly to health equity and the overall improvement of public health. 

Areas of focus:

• Technology-based communication programs 
• Health media analysis and interventions 
• Health and cancer communications 
• Community-level chronic disease interventions