Pertussis (whooping cough) cases are on the rise, and infants remain the most vulnerable population. Tdap vaccination during pregnancy is one of the most effective tools we have to protect newborns before they are old enough to be vaccinated themselves. In this webinar, you will hear from two expert groups working at the forefront of vaccine communication and evidence translation.
The Vaccine Integrity Project will present their evidence review of the current data on Tdap safety and efficacy in pregnancy, and The Evidence Collective will share the most common questions they hear from communities both on- and offline and discuss practical strategies for addressing them effectively.
May 13 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT
Tara Haelle
AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases and Medical Studies
Tara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.
Emily Senerth, M.S., MPH
Consultant researcher, Evidence Foundation
Emily Senerth, M.S., MPH, is a Consultant Researcher for Evidence Foundation, a registered nonprofit organization based in Cleveland, Ohio whose mission is to support evidence-based health care through training, mentorship, education, and collaboration. Emily managed the development of a rapid systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness and safety of Tdap vaccination during pregnancy commissioned by the Vaccine Integrity Project.
She has also led methodological reviews to investigate systematic review approaches and decision-making frameworks in environmental and occupational health, systematic reviews on the health effects of noise annoyance and the impact of socioeconomic status on faltering weight, and technical reviews to support the development of guideline recommendations on left atrial appendage occlusion, management of chronic venous disease, diagnosis and treatment of pediatric urinary tract infection, and lung cancer screening.
Rochelle Walensky, M.D., MPH
Professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School
Medical affairs adviser, Vaccine Integrity Project
Dr. Rochelle Walensky is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the medical affairs adviser for the Vaccine Integrity Project.
Dr. Walensky served as the 19th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021-23), Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (2012-2021), and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital (2017-2021). Dr. Walensky is a board-certified infectious disease clinician whose research and over 300 peer-reviewed publications has focused on infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS policy, including cost-effective strategies for HIV screening, treatment, and prevention, both in the U.S. and around the globe.
Dr. Walensky is a member of the American Academy of Physicians, National Academy of Medicine, and Council on Foreign Relations. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees at the Doris Duke Foundation and The Carter Center. She is also a founding member and Medical Affairs Advisor at the Vaccine Integrity Project, which is dedicated to providing trusted, science-based information for informed vaccine choices.
Dr. Walensky received her BA (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1991) from Washington University in St. Louis; her MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (1995) and her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health (Clinical Effectiveness, 2001). She completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital (1995-1998) and her Infectious Disease fellowship at the Massachusetts General/Brigham and Women’s Hospital combined program (1998-2001).