Advocacy & Education Director
As Advocacy & Education Director at Vaccinate Your Family, Serese is responsible for cultivating, empowering, mobilizing, and supporting a diverse network of patient advocates who’ve been personally impacted by vaccine-preventable diseases, and overseeing the development of educational programming. Through engagement with advocates, key stakeholders, and strategic partners, Serese works to raise awareness about the seriousness of vaccine-preventable diseases across the lifespan and increase vaccine confidence. She oversees the development of educational programs aimed at increasing public awareness at local, state, and national levels, develops curricula, and provides opportunities for post-secondary learning. Serese also serves as the Vaccinate Your Family staff influenza (flu) subject matter expert and represents the organization on the Executive Committee for the Coalition to Stop Flu and the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit.
Her passion for advocacy emanates from her personal experience of losing her healthy five-year-old son, Joseph, to influenza during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Since then, 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.
Serese comes to the role with years of experience in science, public health, and advocacy. Most recently, she 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 and development, public relations, communications and marketing, educational programs and campaigns, strategic partnerships, advocacy and membership, and fundraising. In her capacity, she also served on the Executive Committee of the Coalition to Stop Flu and the American Thoracic Society’s Public Advisory Roundtable, as well as other stakeholder positions.
Prior to joining the public health world, Serese spent over 16 years as a senior environmental scientist at a global consulting firm managing complex, multi-pathway quantitative and qualitative human health and ecological risk assessments for hazardous waste sites across the U.S. She 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.