Diana Morales, M.P.H.
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Diana Morales joined Mental Health America in May 2006 as vice president of public education. Ms. Morales brings more than 13 years experience in developing and managing health promotion programs.
She is responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of the organization’s national and local (through our network of 320 affiliates) efforts to educate the general public and mental health consumers about mental wellness and mental health prevention, early identification, treatment and recovery.
Key educational programs that Ms. Morales oversees include the Campaign for America’s Mental Health, the foundation of Mental Health America's public awareness and outreach activities involving community outreach and education grants to 60 affiliates; Dialogue for Recovery, a recovery-focused psychoeducation program for people with severe mental illnesses; Children’s Mental Health Matters, which most recently has focused on educating parents about ways to discuss difficult topics with their children such as bullying and prejudice and sexual orientation as well as ways to support their children through school-related and other stress; Operation Healthy Reunions, a key initiative to foster “healthy reunions” among military service members returning from combat and their families; and mpower: musicians for mental health, designed to engage youth in mental health and anti-stigma issues and promote mental wellness on college campuses.
Prior to joining Mental Health America, Ms. Morales was senior vice president in the healthcare practice of Manning Selvage and Lee, New York, a leading global public relations firm. While at the agency, she directed a partnership between Mental Health America and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for the Bipolar Disorder: Do You Know It? public awareness campaign featuring print, broadcast and electronic public service announcements (PSAs) to promote help-seeking behaviors among people with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed bipolar disorder.
On behalf of GSK, Ms. Morales also worked with leading psychiatry research experts to disseminate findings from a major epidemiological study of bipolar disorder prevalence and impact as well as phase III results and FDA approval of lamotrigine for bipolar depression.
As senior director for global arthritis outreach and ally development at Pharmacia Corporation, she directed efforts to educate the public about ways to reduce the burden of the illness and treatment side effects. She also served as vice president in the healthcare practice of Edelman Chicago, the leading independent public relations firm worldwide, where she directed the agency’s women’s health and cardiovascular disease efforts.
Prior to Edelman, Ms. Morales spent seven years in the social marketing practice of Porter Novelli, Washington, DC, where, among other things, she conducted numerous award-winning public and professional education programs, including the first-ever national education campaign on panic disorder for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH); the National Recruitment and Public Awareness Campaign for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the largest ever federally-funded health prevention study; and the National Cancer Institute’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National Minority Cancer Awareness Week and promotion of its high-priority clinical trials.
Ms. Morales earned a master’s in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism with a minor in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Page last updated: 11/10/2006