About CDC

The CDC Leaders

“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”

—Seneca

Robin M. Ikeda, MD, MPH

Director, Office of Noncommunicable Diseases, Injury and Environmental Health
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Robin M. Ikeda, MD, MPH, is the Deputy Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Director for Noncommunicable Diseases, Injury and Environmental Health. In this position, she is responsible for providing guidance and leadership to the CDC′s scientific and programmatic portfolios.  She also serves as the Acting Director for the National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Previously, she served as Acting Director for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) from January to November 2010, while also serving as Deputy Director.

Prior to these appointments, from April 2006 to September 2009, Dr. Ikeda served as NCIPC′s Associate Director for Science. From 2003 to 2006, she held the position as Associate Director for Science within CDC′s Epidemiology Program Office and the Office of Workforce and Career Development. During 1993 – 2006, she held a range of positions within NCIPC, including Team Leader and staff epidemiologist, and worked on a number of injury prevention issues including youth violence, suicide, and motor-vehicle related crashes. She began her career at CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer assigned to the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the New York State Department of Health.

Dr. Ikeda holds a B.A. from Stanford University, a M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and a M.P.H. (Epidemiology) from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine and holds the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Public Health Service.