Prof. L. Suzanne Suggs, PhD, MS, CHES

Prof. Suggs is a Full Professor of Social Marketing in both the Institute of Public Health (IPH) and the Institute Communication and Public Policy (ICP) in the Faculty of Communication, Culture, and Society at the Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano. She is also Vice-President of the Swiss School of Public Health; Visiting Reader in the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London; and Co-founder and Board Member of the European Social Marketing Association. She is a member of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Forces since its formation in March 2020 and is Co-Speaker of the Expert Group on Science Communication for the Swiss Academy of Arts and Sciences (A+).

Her research focuses on understanding health behavior and how to change behavior, mainly focused on lifestyle behaviors and vaccination, and she has vast experience working with communities and health ministries in both LMICS and HICs all over the world.

Since 2009, she has been involved in the Summer School initially as a course facilitator and later as both facilitator and member of the steering committee. She taught courses in social marketing, m-health, and behavior change communication.

In 2020, she became Chair of the SSPH+ Summer School in Public Health Policy, Economics and Management, and the first woman to serve in this role in the school’s 29-year history. That year was also the first time the summer school offered courses online, due to the COVID pandemic. However, the model has allowed for higher number of practitioners and researchers from more countries around the globe to participate, broadening its public health impact while reducing its environmental impact.

Prior to joining the faculty in Lugano (August 2007), she was Assistant Professor in the Graduate Program in Health Communication, Department of Marketing Communication at Emerson College and Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. She has also held positions in health industry and continues work with private partners and public administrations, with the commitment to making health easier and more efficient for all.

She earned a BBA in Marketing from the University of North Texas, a MS and PhD in Health Studies from Texas Woman´s University, and a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Evidence-Based Practice Centre, at McMaster University in Ontario Canada. She is a certified Health Education Specialist.