Karen Harris Brewer is a Senior Research Scientist in NORC's Public Health department. Since 2006, she has been a key leader on a contract to aid in development and implementation of Healthy People 2020, a comprehensive set of national health promotion and disease prevention objectives. Harris Brewer oversees NORC's research, writing, editorial, and other assistance to a federal advisory committee that reports to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a leader on several other efforts related to disease prevention and health promotion.
With 17 years of applied experience at all levels of the public health system--federal, state, and local--Harris Brewer's expertise includes community health promotion, chronic disease prevention, and social determinants of health. Current projects include a cross-cutting evaluation of federal programs aimed at healthy weight and obesity; a toolkit to aid rural communities in planning obesity prevention efforts; and a federal initiative to recognize innovative, community-based projects to address physical activity, healthy eating, and healthy weight.
Prior to joining NORC, Harris Brewer was technical director of the research department at Mathews Media Group, Inc., a health communications firm in Rockville, MD. There, she coordinated, conducted, and analyzed the results of a wide variety of audience research projects; she developed materials for both professional and lay audiences, including a monograph designed to help health professionals utilize behavior change theory for health promotion program planning and practice. Earlier, Harris Brewer worked for the University of California, San Francisco's Institute for Health and Aging, where she coordinated a statewide coalition of cardiovascular disease prevention advocates, leading efforts to educate stakeholders throughout the state about the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, including environmental and policy supports for healthy eating and physical activity. She has written policy briefs and articles on issues such as the sale of fast foods in schools, food security as a relevant issue in preventing cardiovascular disease, and strategies to improve child nutrition and development. Harris Brewer began her career as a family case manager for homeless families and people living with HIV/AIDS at a community-based organization in the South Bronx.