April Brubach is currently serving as the acting director of the Office of Health Communication and Education at the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The office is responsible for conducting public education, stakeholder outreach, and regulatory communication programs designed to ensure FDA's success in implementing the Tobacco Control Act. These efforts include developing breakthrough communication strategies to reduce youth tobacco use, helping current tobacco users quit, and building stakeholder understanding of and compliance with FDA tobacco product regulations.

Ms. Brubach joined the FDA Center for Tobacco Products in 2010. A strategist and health communication professional, her portfolio includes oversight of the Center’s award-winning tobacco prevention campaigns, education initiatives, communication science and policy, FOIA, digital technology, and operations management, including acquisitions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Brubach was recruited to build and manage the HHS COVID-19 Public Education Media Campaign. Prior to this year-long detail, she served as the deputy for the FDA’s COVID-19 Joint Information Cell—coordinating FDA’s communication response to the pandemic.

Before her career at the FDA, Ms. Brubach was as a cancer research fellow and communication program manager at the NIH National Cancer Institute with a focus on tobacco control and technology, including Smokefree.gov and mobile health initiatives.

Ms. Brubach holds a master’s in communication from Johns Hopkins University, a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Maryland, and is a doctoral student in global public health leadership at the University of Indiana/Purdue University. She is also a graduate of the FDA Leadership Program, which includes a certificate in Executive Leadership from the American University.

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