Heather Lanthorn

Heather Lanthorn

Assistant Director, Research and Programs

Heather Lanthorn is Assistant Director, Research and Programs at the Duke Global Health Innovation Center and Innovations in Healthcare, focusing on accelerating equitable access to proven health innovations in low- and middle-income countries and strengthening evidence-based networks for trusted health communication in the United States. She brings over 15 years of expertise in behavioral science, implementation research, and evidence-informed program design to support effective and sustainable health interventions globally.

Prior to Duke, Heather served as Program Director of the Mercury Project at the Social Science Research Council, where she led a $25M initiative to build vaccine demand and trust through rigorous social and behavioral research. Her career spans leadership roles at IDinsight, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), and Innovations for Poverty Action, where she consistently bridged research and practice to improve health and economic outcomes. She has extensive experience conducting mixed-methods research and evaluations across Ghana, India, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda.

Heather holds a Doctor of Science (ScD) in Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Health Systems), a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan (Health Behavior and Health Education), and a BA from Wake Forest University (Anthropology). She currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Clarity Foundation and Council on Quality Health Communication and is on the board of Feedback Labs.