The CDC Leaders

“Chronic disease prevention and control is a relatively new frontier in public health practice and offers the potential for dramatic improvements in quality of life and the elimination of health disparities."

—Janet Collins, PhD

Janet Collins, PhD

Acting Associate Director of Programs
Director, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Janet Collins, PhD, is CDC's Acting Associate Director of Programs. In this position, she provides leadership and guidance in promoting CDC priorities across the agency. She has held CDC leadership positions at the Branch, Division, and for the last four years, at the Center level as Director, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). Prior to coming to CDC, Dr. Collins taught and worked at UCLA in the area of educational measurement.

Dr. Collins' interests and publication record span applied science as well as program design and evaluation, with a special focus on the prevention of risk factors for disease. She has published extensively in the area of adolescent health and has given numerous invited addresses on health promotion and disease prevention issues across the lifespan. Much of her work has focused on the surveillance of adolescent health risk behaviors and the development and evaluation of school-based programs to prevent tobacco use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and sexual risk behaviors.

Dr. Collins is a behavioral scientist with a PhD in educational psychology from Stanford University, and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from San Diego State University.