All Current Members

Kelli Carrington, M.A., Executive Secretary, COPR, and Officer of Public Liaison

Ms. Carrington is the Executive Secretary for the NIH Director's Council of Public Representatives (COPR), for which she coordinates and facilitates work to foster and promote public engagement in the biomedical and behavioral research enterprise. Ms. Carrington also serves as the Officer of Public Liaison (OPL) in the NIH Office of Communications and Public Liaison, where she facilitates trans-NIH interactions and activities surrounding public engagement and outreach in medical research with the OPLs of the 27 Institutes and Centers at NIH.

She has worked in the area of health education and promotion for more than 10 years, with principal focus areas on (1) community-based research in arthritis, health behaviors, and research ethics and (2) health communications with underserved communities, producing easy-to-read English, Spanish, and Chinese publications focused on arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions.

Ms. Carrington has been with NIH for the past 13 years. From 1999 to 2006, she served as the Outreach Coordinator for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Health Partnership Program (HPP), a novel intramural research program. In this capacity, Ms. Carrington helped establish relationships with constituents in the Washington, DC, area to launch a new clinical research program for health disparities in arthritis and other rheumatic diseases.

Her work has been presented at national meetings of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals, American Public Health Association, Society of Public Health Educators, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Women's Health Summit, and the National Cancer Institute. She also coauthored the paper "Exploring the ethics of clinical research in an urban community" in the American Journal of Public Health, November 2006.

Ms. Carrington was selected into the NIH Management Intern Program in 1997. She has received awards for her work in health education and health disparities research, including the NIH Director's Award for Leadership; DHHS Commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Award; NIH Merit Award for Leadership; United Planning Organization Healthy Start Community Recognition Award; Breakthroughs in Arthritis Award by the Arthritis Foundation, Metropolitan Washington, DC, Chapter; and NIH Plain Language Award.

Ms. Carrington is a native of Washington, DC. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of the District of Columbia and a master's degree from Trinity College. Ms. Carrington has also received a professional certificate in Public Participation from the International Association of Public Participation.