Yewande O. Addie

Yewande Addie is a narrative change researcher within RTI's Transformative Research Unit for Equity. As a health communications scholar, her research interests revolve around identity and culture in health equity messaging, narrative storytelling interventions, and mediated representations of Africa and the Black diaspora. Dr. Addie brings her diverse background in communications and journalism, public health, and history to projects focused on improving health equity. Recent projects include tailoring diabetes self-care webpages for Black women for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and providing dissemination support for the Durham Community Safety Documentary HEART: Serving Our Neighbors In Crisis.

Before joining RTI in 2023, Dr. Addie was an ORISE health communication fellow with the CDC. She has also served as a research associate for the Center for Public Interest Communications, a principal co-investigator and project manager at the University of Florida’s Center for African Studies, an Obama Presidential Appointed Press Assistant for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and an English Teaching Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Panama. She is also a two-time U.S. Fulbright grantee to Nigeria