Deputy Chief Executive Officer
As the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO), Serese Marotta brings over 25 years of experience in science, public health, immunization, non-profit leadership, and patient advocacy. Serese is responsible for directly supporting the Chief Executive Officer in leading the organization by overseeing day-to-day operations, implementing strategic plans and policies, managing key departments, overseeing key programs, partnerships, and activities, and serving as a point of contact for stakeholders.
During her time at Vaccinate Your Family, Serese has been instrumental in developing, leading, and promoting key community-based programs aimed at increasing vaccine confidence and equitable access. The SQUAD™ program (which stands for SQuaring Up Against Disease) provides a scalable and sustainable platform for advocates who want to get involved in supporting vaccines and science. As part of this program, advocates are trained, mobilized, and empowered to share their stories, educate their peers, and help reignite a culture of immunization at national, regional, and local levels. The Vaccination Community Navigator program for Promotores/Community Health Workers is designed to build their capacity to engage communities in vaccine conversations and navigate people of all ages to vaccination services. Serese also spearheaded the development of Vaccinate Your Family University, which provides opportunities for post-secondary learning for patient advocates, community health workers, partners, and healthcare providers.
Serese’s passion for public health began early in her career as a scientist focused on human health and ecological risk assessments. Her journey as a patient advocate began after her personal experience of losing her healthy five-year-old son, Joseph, to influenza during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Since that time, she has made it her mission to help support other individuals and families that have been personally impacted by vaccine-preventable diseases and increase public awareness about the life-saving value of vaccines.
Previously, Serese served as the Chief Operating Officer for Families Fighting Flu, a national non-profit organization focused solely on influenza. In her role there, she managed the day-to-day operations of the organization, including strategic planning, public relations, communications and marketing, educational programming, strategic partnerships, and fundraising. She successfully elevated the organization’s visibility and reach through service on strategic coalitions (e.g., American Thoracic Society Public Advisory Roundtable, Adult Vaccine Access Coalition), earned media opportunities (e.g., NBC Nightly News, NPR, USA Today, Huffington Post), and new partnerships at local, regional, and national levels. Serese served as a national and international flu expert on behalf of the organization, developed evidence-based resources for priority populations, and increased operating revenue to $1M over five years.
Due to her personal experience with flu and her strong scientific background, Serese is a subject matter expert on influenza. She currently serves as the President for the Coalition to Stop Flu and serves as a valuable resource to key partners in the flu ecosystem. Serese has also served as a consumer reviewer for the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program, where she collaborates with prominent researchers and scientists to help determine research funding for Congressional appropriations. In her role at VYF, Serese helps ensure scientific integrity is maintained across key departments.
Serese began her work in the public health field as a senior environmental scientist at a global consulting firm managing complex, multi-pathway qualitative and quantitative human health and ecological risk assessments for hazardous waste sites across the U.S. She managed multifaceted environmental projects involving vapor intrusion issues, hazard identification, development and evaluation of toxicity values, risk-based cleanup goals, fish consumption advisories, flora and fauna community surveys, threatened and endangered species biology, wetland assessments, biological monitoring, field studies, and habitat characterization. As part of this work, Serese collaborated with federal and state agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate potential carcinogenic risks and non-carcinogenic hazards and determine necessary remediation efforts required to help protect human health and ecological resources from organic and inorganic chemicals in various environmental media (e.g., groundwater, soil, sediment, surface water).
Serese graduated magna cum laude from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry with a Bachelor of Science in environmental and forest biology.