National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media (NCHCMM) 2025

From July 28–30, public health experts from around the country will convene in Atlanta, GA for the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media (NCHCMM) conference. This year’s event—themed, “Embracing the Future of Health Communication in a Rapidly Changing World”—will share creative strategies and solutions to strengthen trust in public health and improve health outcomes. From showcasing evolving tools and technologies to improve efficiency and reach to sharing case studies with successful outcomes, industry leaders will benefit from evidenced-based insights.

RTI experts will present during the event at both panel and poster sessions on topics including evidence-based strategies for increasing engagement and awareness, fraud prevention in key demographic audiences, and community engagement in public health campaigns. Learn more about the RTI presentations below, and see how you can use evidence-based solutions to address public health communication challenges.

Sessions

Panel Session | The Evidence Effect: Smarter Strategies for Greater Impact
Tuesday, July 29 | 4:00–5:30 PM
Panel Moderator: Sarah Ray
Organizer: Sidney Holt

Effective health communication is not an accident; it comes from knowing your audience. Successful campaigns require identifying audiences’ needs; understanding their communication preferences; and creating engaging, informative, and tailored content for them. Through evidence-based strategies we can maximize the impact of communication campaigns and products for the intended audience. In this session, we explore lessons learned from three distinct health communication initiatives around vaping, research engagement, and newborn screening. Whether you're crafting messages for educators, community members, or expectant and new parents, this session offers practical takeaways and inspiration for making every campaign dollar count. Learn more about the session.

RTI Session Presentation: CDC’s Empower Vape-Free Youth Campaign: Improving Reach and Engagement with Educators Through Focused Outreach
Presenting Author: David Contois
Authors: Sarah Ray, Nivedita Bhushan
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC’s) Empower Vape-Free Youth campaign encourages middle and high school educators to engage in impactful conversations with their students about the risks associated with e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction. To help them initiate productive discussions about vaping with their students, it is essential that messaging and resources are concise, relevant, and drive real engagement. We found four approaches that are critical to achieve campaign success. Learn more.

RTI Session Presentation: Co-Creating Web-Based Games to Promote Engagement with the All of Us Research Program
Presenting Author: Allyson Corbo
Authors: Jennifer Uhrig, Jill Brown, Julie Gras-Najjar, Chelsea Gieck, Katie Baker, Alyssa Jordan, Daniel Moretti, Christel Gianci, Megan Lewis
The National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program is a national effort to drive innovations in biomedical research and precision medicine to improve health and health care for everyone. To address barriers to research participation in programs like All of Us, researchers need to engage community members in the research process. We aimed to co-create and test an interactive digital experience designed to help community members learn about All of Us. Learn more.

RTI Session Presentation: Leveraging Social and Digital Strategies to Achieve Meaningful Outcomes: Results from a Newborn Screening Awareness Campaign
Presenting Author: Lauren Reynolds
Authors: Doug Rupert, Christel Gianci, Jason Arrol, Ivonne Headley, Molly Lynch
Newborn screening is a state-based public health program that screens babies for serious but treatable conditions after birth. To raise awareness of NBS, we implemented a promotion campaign designed to drive traffic to the Newborn Screening Information Center (NBSIC) website. We raised awareness of newborn screening and the website using an evidence-based and cost-effective approach by (1) knowing audience media habits, (2) testing messages for relevance before launch, and (3) monitoring and adapting ads based on performance. Learn more.

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Panel Session | Rethinking Risk Messaging
Tuesday, July 29 | 8:30–10:00 AM
Moderator: Chris Van Deusen

RTI Session Presentation: Fraud Fighters: Designing a Targeted Mass Fraud Intervention Campaign to Prevent Repeat Victimization Among Older Adults
Presenting Author: Shari Lambert
Author: Lynn Langton
Mass marketing fraud affects millions annually, with older adults at increased risk due to cognitive changes, wealth, and loneliness. Scammers repeatedly target elderly victims, leading to financial loss and severe mental health effects like depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, which can cause isolation and reduced well-being. The Mass Marketing Elder Fraud Intervention Study, led by RTI International and the University of Minnesota with U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) support, aimed to bridge gaps in fraud intervention research and enhance prevention efforts. As one of the largest fraud prevention studies to date, the study found scalable solutions for agencies like USPIS to educate and support fraud victims, demonstrating that mailed interventions effectively raise awareness and reduce repeat victimization among older adults. Learn more.

Poster Presentations

Monday, July 28; 2:30–3:30 PM | Tuesday, July 29; 10:00–11:00 AM

Poster Presentation | Engaging Communities to Close Translation Gaps: Advancing the NIH HEAL Harm Reduction Research Network’s Community-focused Companion (CfC) Model
Presenting Author: Elizabeth Troutman Adams
Authors: Mia-Cara Christopher, Jessica Duncan Cance, Jon Zibbell, Ally Elspas

Poster Presentation | From Co-Creation to Credit: Design, Development, and Delivery of Two All of Us Research Program-Focused Continuing Education Courses
Presenting Author: Linda Squiers
Authors: Alexa Ortiz, Jill Brown, Toufeeq Syed, Amber Warhurst, Megan Lewis, Jennifer Uhrig

*Bolded names indicate RTI expert

Learn more

Learn more about evidence-based public health communication research, design, delivery, and evaluation.

Learn more about the projects and topics covered during the conference:

• Digital Engagement Experiences for the All of Us Research Program
• Newborn Screening
• The NIH HEAL Initiative
• CDC’s Empower Vape Free Youth Campaign

Want to see more examples of successful solutions for real-world challenges? Check out RTI’s Communication Solutions Portfolio.