Kelli L. Carrington, M.A.

Director
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
carringk@mail.nih.gov
301-402-1366

Ms. Carrington is director of the Office of Communications and Public Liaison at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and principal advisor to the NIMHD director and senior staff on all communication matters concerning minority health and health disparities. As communications director, she also oversees and directs the Institute’s online communications, media relations, public affairs, and outreach programs in support of the Institute’s mission.

Prior to joining NIMHD, Ms. Carrington was acting communications director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center (CC), where she prepared the CC annual reports for 2013 and 2014, co-launched the CC’s involvement in ResearchMatch, and oversaw management of several media relations efforts, such as onsite filming for the PBS program Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.

Earlier in her career, she served as coordinator for the Director’s Council of Public Representatives, an advisory committee to the NIH Director, which published a paper in the American Journal of Public Health encouraging community-engaged research. She also served as outreach coordinator for the National Institute on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases’ Health Partnership Program, the Institute’s first intramural community-based clinical research program in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Carrington earned her B.S. in health education from the University of the District of Columbia and her M.A. in health promotion and education from Trinity College (now Trinity University). Projects under her leadership have garnered several awards, including NIMHD Director’s Awards, an NIH Director’s Award, a CINE Golden Eagle Award for a CBS Cares prostate exam campaign, and a Breakthroughs in Arthritis Research Award from the Arthritis Foundation’s Washington, D.C., chapter.

Selected Publications

• Massett, H. A., Dilts, D. M., Bailey, R., Berktold, J., Ledsky, R., Atkinson, N. L., ... Carrington, K. L., & Johnson, L. E. (2017). Raising public awareness of clinical trials: development of messages for a national health communication campaign. Journal of Health Communication, 22(5): 373-385.
• Grady, C., Hampson, L. A., Wallen, G. R., Rivera-Goba, M. V., Carrington, K. L., & Mittleman, B. B. (2006). Exploring the ethics of clinical research in an urban community. American Journal of Public Health, 96(11), 1996-2001.

Page updated February 24, 2023