Wingo named extension immunization educator in collaboration with USDA, CDC
By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture
June 12, 2025
Fast Facts:
- Heather Wingo, former extension health program associate, began immunization educator role on June 9
- New position is funded by $10 million grant from CDC, USDA NIFA for nationwide adult immunization education initiative
- Wingo will serve Arkansas, collaborate with Oklahoma State University Extension
(935 words)
(Newsrooms: With photo of Wingo)
LITTLE ROCK — Heather Wingo, extension immunization educator for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, knows that time is of the essence.
“Vaccine education right now is crucial,” Wingo said. After four years as an extension health program associate, she transitioned to her new role with the Cooperative Extension Service on June 9.
“Extension is a trusted resource, and I think now more than ever, we need to be true to our mission of providing researched, evidence-based knowledge to our clients and being that trusted resource so they can make the best decision for themselves,” she said.
Wingo is one of 20 immunization educators nationwide who were recently hired within the Cooperative Extension System as part of a $10 million grant to create a regional immunization education staffing model (USDA NIFA, Extension Foundation Award No. GR024192). The grant is a part of the EXCITE project: the Extension Collaboration on Immunization Teaching and Engagement. EXCITE, which was first established in 2020, is funded by an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The grant is also funded in collaboration with the Extension Foundation, which provides grant administration and fiscal oversight on behalf of the nationwide Cooperative Extension Service, and the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy.
The $10 million funding supports the 20 positions for an initial three-year period across the 112 land grant universities in the United States. Wingo will serve Arkansans and collaborate with Oklahoma State University Extension to provide immunization education to counties in the eastern areas of the state.
Educational programming
Wingo will expand on her previous work as an extension health program associate for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, which she began in January of 2021. She oversaw extension’s exercise programs, including Walk Across Arkansas and Extension Get Fit, as well as other public health programs, including vaccine education, health literacy and the How to Talk to Your Doctor program.
Wingo began her extension career in 2016, starting as an intern in the Family and Consumer Sciences department and later working as a SNAP-Ed assistant in Clark County. She graduated from Henderson State University in 2018 and started as a family and consumer sciences agent in Pike County in 2019.
In her new role, Wingo will train county family and consumer sciences agents to facilitate extension immunization programming, which includes the How to Talk to Your Doctor program and the “Learn, Understand, Decide” information campaign method.
“With this approach, we invite our participants to learn about the vaccines to see how they are beneficial,” Wingo said. “We invite them to understand about the vaccine: The safety of it, the benefits outweighing the side effects. When we say ‘decide,’ it’s about how you decide what’s best for your health. If they have further questions about whether it’s right for them, we invite them to talk to their healthcare provider, because they are a trusted resource.”
Wingo said her work will focus on adult audiences and that she wants to see the project expand to reach college students. She also plans to collaborate with healthcare providers and early childhood educators to talk with parents about the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.
“With college students, that’s a great opportunity to reach young people while they’re building healthy habits that they can carry on into their adult lives,” Wingo said. “That’s an audience we’ve been missing.”
Access to trusted information
In January, Wingo set up a vaccine information booth at the Arkansas Grown Conference and Expo, where she brought resources about H5N1, commonly known as bird flu.
“For a lot of the people who came up to me, their hesitancy was about, ‘Well, how do I know if vaccines are truly safe?’” Wingo said. “So, we would talk about the vaccine safety system, which tests the safety of the vaccine. We would talk about the adverse reporting system — how if there is something negative that happens to somebody because of a vaccine, it’s not like it’s swept under the rug. It’s reported to a system and investigated.”
Wingo said other people were confused about what vaccines they needed, correct vaccine schedules or about specific vaccine types.
“These folks have heard other people be hesitant about vaccines, or maybe they saw a Facebook post that expressed hesitancy, so they were asking me, ‘Tell me what I need to know,’” Wingo said. “Honestly, that was so heartwarming to have those conversations. People want to know the facts, and the fact that the extension service can provide non-biased information is amazing.
“People are truly concerned because they want to do what’s best for their health,” she said. “They want to do what’s right.”
As Wingo kicks off the initial three-year period of this grant-funded position, she said she’s looking forward to “seeing the impact of our work spread outside of Arkansas” by working with her peers in Oklahoma.
“I’m excited to really see how this collaboration is going to work,” she said. “With it being so new, this is going to be a tremendous undertaking, but it’s going to be great. I’m focused on cultivating these new relationships and starting to bridge what we need to do between our universities, building that collaborative working agreement. That’s going to be crucial to make this a successful project for the next three years.”
To learn more about extension vaccine education resources, visit the Vaccine Information page on the Cooperative Extension Service website or contact Heather Wingo at hwingo@uada.edu.
The Cooperative Extension Service is the outreach arm of the Division of Agriculture.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
Rebekah Hall
rkhall@uada.edu
@RKHall_
501-671-2061