Emilie Karafillakis

Dr. Emilie Karafillakis serves as a Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where she focuses on vaccine confidence, hesitancy, and public health policy. Her work investigates the social, structural, and emotional determinants of vaccination decisions in European populations, including healthcare workers and adolescents. She is currently leading projects such as the Coalition to Strengthen the HPV Immunisation Community (CHIC) and Combatting Vaccine Misinformation in Partnership with YouTube, demonstrating her commitment to evidence-based interventions for improving immunisation rates.

Her academic credentials include a Master’s degree in the Control of Infectious Diseases and a recently completed PhD from LSHTM. Her doctoral research examined adolescent girls' decision-making processes regarding HPV vaccination in France, emphasizing trust dynamics and risk-benefit perceptions between mothers and daughters.

Dr. Karafillakis' research spans vaccines, global health policy, social determinants of health, behavior change, anthropology, and policy analysis. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates qualitative methods to address vaccine hesitancy across contexts like adolescent HPV vaccination, maternal immunization, and pandemic response, with particular attention to cultural and emotional factors influencing public trust.

Analysis of her 2022 publications reveals a cohesive focus on HPV vaccination decision-making in France, highlighting intergenerational trust mechanisms and embodied risk perceptions. Her work extends to broader European contexts through studies on healthcare professionals' vaccine confidence and COVID-19 hesitancy, demonstrating methodological versatility across qualitative, review, and policy analysis frameworks.

She has directed major collaborative initiatives since 2017 including the Global Attitudes Toward Maternal Vaccination project, HIV/STI prevention research across EU and Africa, and The Fifth Child Project addressing immunisation gaps. Current partnerships with AstraZeneca, Team Halo, and YouTube reflect her innovative translation of research into digital interventions for vaccine confidence building.