About CDC

The CDC Leaders

Melinda Wharton, MD, MPH

Acting Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases

Dr. Melinda Wharton currently serves as the Acting Director for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She received her Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School and Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and her infectious diseases fellowship at the Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North Carolina.

Dr. Wharton joined CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in 1986 and was assigned to the Tennessee Department of Health and Environment in Nashville, TN. In 1989, she began work as a medical epidemiologist in CDC's Epidemiology Program Office. She joined CDC's immunization program in 1992, and since that time has held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility.

In 2006, she became Deputy Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She has worked extensively on issues related to vaccine policy, vaccine safety science, and public health response. Dr. Wharton has authored or co-authored more than 80 scientific journal articles, book chapters, and CDC publications.