Our people Suzette R. Harris

Suzette R. Harris, M.P.H., is a passionate public health advocate who serves as the media advocacy director for Voices for Healthy Kids. Suzette oversees communications strategies focused on evidence-based policies that will improve community access to healthier foods and drinks, as well as opportunities to be physically active.

Suzette has more than 20 years of experience in developing and implementing public health strategies to address chronic health conditions at the county, state and national levels. This includes building coalitions, managing federal and foundation grants, addressing social determinants of health and implementing strategic communications plans.

Suzette previously worked in a county health department assessing community health needs, developing a countywide strategic public health plan and building a multi-sectoral coalition to address priority issues. Here, she managed $13 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address obesity through policy, systems and environmental changes.

Suzette received her Master of Public Health in health behavior and health education from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her Bachelor of Arts in health and society from the University of Rochester (NY). She also has completed fellowships in community health with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and in public health program management with the CDC.

Suzette, her husband and two children live in Dallas, Texas, where she currently serves as an adjunct professor and teaches communications at Southern Methodist University.