Caroline Orr is a social sciences scholar studying human interactions on the Internet. Her Twitter feed plays an invaluable role in decoding the cyber-mysteries of Donald Trump and Russia for the amateur sleuth and average reader alike. Known to her hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter as @RVAwonk, Orr has emerged as one of the most incisive and compelling observers on Trump, Russia, and the propaganda wars now consuming world attention.
Caroline joined Canada's National Observer in May 2019 as a research analyst, writing on disinformation and the rise of hate in Canada's 2019 federal election. She led the Election Integrity Reporting Project, since renamed, 'The Democracy Integrity Reporting Project.'
Caroline has studied Social and Behavioral Health at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA. Prior to enrolling at VCU, she completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology and then went on to get her M.A. in Health Education and Promotion and her M.S. in Psychology. She has had a variety of research interests, but her main focal areas include sociopolitical determinants of health, racial health disparities, social stigma, and women's health issues- particularly pertaining to maternal and child health, reproductive health, and violence against women.
When not working she enjoys photography, reading, and posting on Twitter, where she has a following of more than 400,000 people. During the last U.S. presidential campaign, she tracked and exposed disinformation, Russian involvement, bot and troll activity. Her twitter following exploded in 2016 when an interaction with Roger Stone went viral after Stone tweeted at her, calling her an unpleasant name.
"I really love what I do, and I feel privileged to be able to say that. I am proud of what I do, and one of the most rewarding aspects of my work is being able to provide a voice for those who may otherwise go unrepresented. At the end of the day, my goal is to make a difference in the health and wellbeing of as many people as possible, and to use my research to promote justice, equality, and fairness in health-related public policy and political action," Caroline says.
Find out more about Caroline Orr in this article by Sandy Garossino entitled 'Who the hell is @RVAwonk and how is she cracking the Kremlin's code?'
