Rita V. Burke, PhD, MPH is a public health scholar and practitioner whose work bridges emergency management, health disparities, and implementation science. She currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California with a joint appointment in the Department of Pediatrics and the Spatial Sciences Institute, where she leads research and teaching focused on community resilience, disaster preparedness, and the health of children and vulnerable populations. She has over 80 peer-reviewed publications and over 50 abstracts and book chapters. She currently serves on the National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters established to advise the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the medical and public health needs of children in disasters.  She is the former co-chair of the Research Committee for the Pediatric Trauma Society, co-chair of the Disaster and Emergency Response sub-committee of the American Public Health Association, and current co-chair of the Los Angeles Children in Disasters Working Group. She serves as the Deputy Editor for the peer-reviewed journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness and co-author of Landesman’s Public Health Management of Disasters. She is the recipient of multiple awards for excellence in teaching, mentorship, and public service. She received her master’s in public health and doctorate in epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles.