Eddie Garcia is the Founder and Board Chair of the Foundation for Social Connection, a non-profit organization in the U.S. aiming to foster evidence-based solutions addressing social isolation and loneliness and is Board Vice-Chair to the Coalition to End Social Isolation & Loneliness, a multi-stakeholder organization whose focus is to create awareness around social isolation & loneliness and to advocate for policy reform to combat this issue. Eddie is also the Co-Chair of the ‘Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection’ (GILC), a consortium of nations seeking to address and combat loneliness and promote social connection on a broader scale. Eddie is also a Partner at Healthsperien, a nationally recognized health care policy consulting firm focusing on accelerating responsible and sustainable health care system innovation and transformation to improve health outcomes for all, particularly the most vulnerable.
Eddie received his B.A. in political science & comparative health politics from Boston University in 2004, and in 2008 received his Master of Health Science in Public Health degree from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
What drives you to work on addressing social isolation & loneliness / fostering social connection ?
Building a culture where everyone “belongs” has always motivated me. A society in which our differences are valued as strengths and where young, old, rich, poor, brown, white, this or that can interact and support one another drives me to connect.