The Vicki Freimuth Award for Excellence in Health Communication

About the Award
The Vicki Freimuth Award for Excellence in Health Communication recognizes an exceptionalindividual whose career has been dedicated to advancing public health through the application of scientific health communication principles. The award celebrates real-world public health research and practice done by those in government, academic, or private sector settings.

Dr. Vicki Freimuth († 2024) was an internationally recognized innovator in health communication and played a key role in linking public health practice and research to communication studies. She served as Associate Director for Communications at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and led the agency’s communications during the tenures of 3 former CDC directors including David Satcher, Jeffrey Koplan, and Julie Gerberding. She is widely credited with transforming CDC into a communication focused agency.

Throughout her career, Dr. Freimuth influenced and nurtured an entire community of public health communicators. Dr. Jay Bernhardt, founder of the Society for Health Communication, President of Emerson College, and former director of the CDC National Center for Health Marketing, commented "Vicki Freimuth was a pioneering force in health communication, and it was an honor to follow in her footsteps at the CDC. Her enduring commitment to health communication continues to shape the field and inspire all who have built on her legacy. The Society for Health Communication's new award in Vicki's name is a fitting tribute to her visionary leadership and lasting impact on the field."

Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Freimuth is credited for developing the first graduate program in the United States focused on health communication. Read the tribute to Dr. Freimuth’s life and career on the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication webpage.

Beyond communication excellence, the Vicki Freimuth Award for Excellence in Health Communication acknowledges leadership, mentorship, and the lasting influence of the recipient’s work on current and future scholars and practitioners. The honoree demonstrates a sustained commitment to bridging the gap between communication science and practice, shaping and improving the health of all people. This person’s contributions leave an enduring impact on public health and the field of health communication, making them a recognized role model and inspiration in our interdisciplinary field.

The award recipient is chosen by a distinguished committee of health communication scholars and professionals. Details on the nomination process and criteria for the 2026 Freimuth Award will be posted on this site in the new year.

2025 Award Recipient: Dr. Christine Prue

Dr. Christine Prue is the Associate Director for Behavioral Science at the National Center on Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She works to apply and advance the science of health behavior and health communication to prevent and control infectious diseases that result from the interaction of people, animals, and the environment. Dr. Prue has a diverse portfolio of applied research projects supporting programs addressing food safety, vaccine safety, Lyme disease, and viruses including rabies, Zika, and Ebola. Over decades, Dr. Prue led and/or advised hundreds of outbreak responses in the US and abroad in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Indonesia.

Dr. Prue advances the integration of social and behavioral science in public health across diverse scientific and programmatic activities from understanding disease transmission to designing interventions that are effective, do-able, and acceptable to individuals and communities. She is co-author of CDC's Clear Communication Index, a research-based tool to plan and assess public communication materials. According to Claudia Parvanta, PhD, Founding Member of the Society for Health Communication, past director for CDC’s Division of Health Communication in the Office of Communication (1999-2004), and now professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, “When Christine was in the Office of Communication [at CDC], she could be counted on to perform miracles. She was foundational to CDC’s emergency response team when we first dealt with 9/11, anthrax, and a smallpox scare in close succession. In and out of emergencies, Chris has done so much capacity building in health communication – at CDC, across the US, and around the globe. Chris has been an unsung heroine her whole career, and I am thrilled that the Society for Health Communication is recognizing her contributions with this inaugural Vicki Freimuth Award for Excellence in Health Communication.”