Annaka Scheeres

Annaka serves as a Research and Evaluation Associate at Get Healthy Philly with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Her current work focuses on monitoring tobacco use trends to help inform citywide tobacco policies and programs, as well as evaluating the sweetened beverage tax. She also leads data committee meetings for the division, helping to guide constructive conversations on tobacco, gun violence and other issues. Going forward, her role will expand to focus on developing a data-driven surveillance system for gun violence in Philly.

Get Healthy Philly, also known as the Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, began in 2010 as an innovative multidisciplinary collaboration of public health, academic institutions, community-based organizations, and the private sector with the goal of tackling the underlying risk factors driving the epidemic of chronic disease in the city. It has since expanded to include injury prevention, with a focus on taking a public health approach to the high rates of gun violence in the city.