Joe Smyser | Chief Executive Officer
PGP (The Public Good Projects)

Dr. Joe Smyser is the CEO of PGP (The Public Good Projects), a public health nonprofit specialized in large-scale media monitoring programs, SBCC programs, and cross-sector initiatives. PGP is a central figure in combating vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. For the past five years, PGP has designed and managed Kaiser Permanente's flu immunization campaign serving historically vaccine hesitant communities. For the past four years, PGP has led the US' largest social listening program tracking public vaccine discourse. Project VCTR is used by approximately 800 organizations. In 2020, PGP co-founded UNICEF's Vaccine Demand Observatory, its flagship social listening initiative. In 2021, PGP assumed responsibility for designing novel programs for Rockefeller Foundation and CDC Foundation to deliver weekly misinformation alerts to networks of several hundred community based organizations. In 2023, PGP co-founded the US' first social listening program tailored for health care providers with the American Board of Internal Medicine, serving all US boards of medicine. Dr. Smyser holds a masters and doctorate in public health, and performed his postdoctoral training at the US CDC.