Estelle Willie serves as the Director of Health Policy at The Rockefeller Foundation, where she oversees investment portfolios, program partnerships, and engagement strategies for the Foundation’s $100 million Climate-Health program.
Estelle brings over a decade of experience in diplomacy, public policy, communications, strategic partnerships, and stakeholder engagement. Her expertise sits at the intersection of global health and international affairs, with a specific focus on shaping and financing health programs and building private-public partnerships to advance health outcomes.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Estelle served as Vice President of Social Impact at Weber Shandwick. She started her career as a Health Fellow for U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA). Estelle earned a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Apr 26 2022 Grantee Impact Story Using Google Search Insights to Increase Vaccine Confidence and Demand In the first year of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, the United States struggled to reach the most vulnerable communities, with Black, brown, indigenous, and immigrant communities less likely to get a vaccine but more likely to get seriously ill and die of Covid-19. Community-based organizations, who have served on the frontlines throughout the pandemic, have […]
Mar 29 2022 Perspective Data Helps Us Paint a New Portrait of America—and Ways to Communicate One unfortunate axiom in communications work is: if it bleeds, it leads. Another might be: a divider is a headliner. We have seen this at play throughout the news coverage and social media conversations of the Covid-19 pandemic. Countless examples of unity, community, and mutual understanding in the face of tragedy have been overshadowed by […]
Dec 16 2021 Perspective Building a Community of Covid Communicators Our Community of Practice is giving public health communicators a place to learn, share and cope with the Pandemic Covid-19 reminded the world just how crucial effective communication is in a crisis. Public health communicators have been on the front lines of the pandemic for nearly two years, wrestling with new issues and needs nearly […]
Jul 27 2021 Perspective Misinformation Is the Biggest Threat to Ending This Pandemic Myths about Covid-19 vaccines abound: “The Covid-19 vaccines will make you infertile” “Covid-19 vaccines don’t work” “The government put a microchip in the Covid-19 vaccines” “The Covid-19 vaccines create variants” Each of those statements is false, but they are spreading widely, and studies show this type of misinformation can reduce someone’s desire to take the […]