Debora B. Freitas López, MS, is the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. She is a global leader in social and behavior change with broad-based experience leading programs in health and non-health sectors across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Debora has more than 20 years’ experience establishing sound initiatives for specific social issues and strengthening the capacity of public and private sector and civil society actors so that they can develop local solutions for challenges they face. She has a demonstrated record of success in program design and implementation, strategic planning, partner engagement and communications.

Debora has served on various global boards and technical groups, including as the chair of the Global Alliance for Social and Behaviour Change. She also is part of FP2030’s Family Planning High Impact Practices Technical Expert Group and served two terms on the Steering Committee for the SBC Working Group of RBM Partnership to End Malaria. Additionally, she was part of the 2022 North American Cohort for WomenLift Health’s Leadership Journey, an initiative designed to support women through the challenges and opportunities of advancing to senior leadership positions in global health. Her leadership project focused on diversifying leadership through a behavior-led systems thinking approach. Debora also currently co-teaches Health Communication Programs I and II, a two-term course at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.She has an MS in Health Evaluation Services/Epidemiology from the University of Virginia.