CDC Leadership

Mitchell Wolfe, MD, MPH, is CDC’s Chief Medical Officer. In this role, Dr. Wolfe provides support to the CDC Director, and interacts with key public health partners, Congress, the White House, and other government and public health officials. In addition, he leads the development of objectives and planning for CDC’s global health strategy, footprint, and budget.

John Auerbach, MBA, is the Director of Intergovernmental and Strategic Affairs. In this role, Auerbach oversees a range of activities as lead strategic advisor on CDC engagement with government agencies at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels, public health partners, and other external partners.

Sherri A. Berger, MSPH, is the Chief of Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this role, she serves as the principal advisor to the CDC Director by providing strategic advice and ensuring proactive coordination of agency-wide priorities and policies in direct support of CDC’s public health mission.

Robin D. Bailey Jr., MA, is the Chief Operating Officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of 10 major operating divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, he oversees management, facilities, and operations at the Atlanta-based public health agency.

Jeff Reczek, MPA is the Director of the CDC Washington Office. He has a rich history of public service in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government as well as state government.

Reginald R. Mebane, MS, is currently the Director of CDC’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (OEEO). As Director, Mr. Mebane is responsible for advising and counseling CDC′s executive leadership team on a variety of equal employment opportunity, diversity management, civil rights and human resources issues impacting the agency′s complex and diverse global workforce.

Abbigail Tumpey, MPH, CHES, is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Acting Associate Director for Communication. When not serving as the acting director, Abbigail is the Associate Director for Communication Science for CDC’s Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services.

Dori Salcido is the Senior Counselor for Strategic Communication with the Office of the Director. In this role, Salcido provides support to the CDC Director for strategic communications planning and advises on major CDC campaigns and initiatives.

Michael F. Iademarco, MD, MPH is a Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service serving on detail as the Acting Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety (ADLSS) which also directs the Office of Laboratory Science and Safety (OLSS). He oversees OLSS while away from his position as Director of the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS).

Robin M. Ikeda, MD, MPH, is the Associate Director for Policy and Strategy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  In this capacity, she supports the policy, performance, and strategy across CDC.

Leandris Liburd, PhD, MPH, MA is the Associate Director for the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this role she leads a wide range of critical functions in the agency’s work in minority health and health equity, women’s health, and diversity and inclusion management.

Nathaniel Smith, MD, MPH is the Acting Director for the Center for Global Health (CGH) where he leads CDC’s efforts to protect and improve health globally through science, policy, partnership, and evidence-based public health action. Dr. Smith also serves as Deputy Director for Public Health Service and Implementation Science (DDPHSIS) where he leads, promotes, and facilitates programs and policies that identify and respond to public health threats, improve health domestically and internationally, and put science into action.

Kevin Cain, MD, is Acting Director of the Center for Preparedness and Response (CPR). In this role, he supports CPR’s three divisions and the Office of the Director to prepare for, respond to, and improve performance in domestic and global public health emergencies.

José T. Montero, MD, MHCDS, is the Director of the Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, where he oversees support to the US health departments and those serving tribal nations and insular areas. He provides leadership for key activities and technical assistance designed to improve the public health system’s capacity and performance to achieve the nation’s goals in population health.

Rebecca Bunnell, PhD, MEd is the Director of CDC’s Office of Science. Since joining CDC in 1996 as an EIS Officer in the Division of STD Prevention, Dr. Bunnell has held key CDC positions in Atlanta, California, Uganda, and Kenya.

Michael F. Iademarco, MD, MPH is a Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service serving on detail as the Acting Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety (ADLSS) which also directs the Office of Laboratory Science and Safety (OLSS). He oversees OLSS while away from his position as Director of the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS).

Leslie Ann Dauphin, PhD, is the Acting Director of the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where she leads CDC’s efforts to track America’s health, strengthen laboratory networks, and help public health officials identify urgent health threats.

Brian C. Moyer, PhD, is the Director for the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which is the nation’s principal source for health statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the health of people. In this role, he is responsible for providing leadership for a wide-range of programs, including research and analysis in health and vital statistics, epidemiology, and related health and statistical sciences.

Karen Remley, MD, MBA, MPH, FAAP, is the Director for the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD). She has more than 30 years of experience in public health and health care, with leadership roles in the public and private sectors. Her “north star” has always been children and families, and she has shaped her career around helping every family have the best opportunity for health and well-being.

Karen Hacker, MD, MPH, is the Director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), a position she assumed in August 2019. NCCDPHP has an annual budget of about $1.2 billion and more than 1,000 staff members dedicated to preventing chronic diseases and promoting health across the life span.

Pat Breysse, PhD, CIH, joined CDC in December 2014 as the Director of NCEH/ATSDR. Dr. Breysse leads CDC’s efforts to investigate the relationship between environmental factors and health. He came to CDC from the Johns Hopkins University where he served as Associate Chair for Educational Programs within the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Program Director for the Industrial Hygiene Training Program, and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Childhood Asthma in the Urban Environment.

Christopher Jones, PharmD, DrPH, MPH (CAPT, USPHS), is the Acting Director for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), and a captain in the US Public Health Service. When not serving as the Acting Director, Dr. Jones is the Deputy Director of NCIPC.

Sam Posner, PhD, is the Acting Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) and the Center’s Deputy Director for Science. In this role, he oversees the center’s surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory, and data science programs to expand and refine CDC’s capacity to detect, prevent, and respond to vaccine-preventable and respiratory infectious disease threats.

Rima F. Khabbaz, MD, is the Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). In this capacity she helps to advance the agency’s cross-cutting infectious disease priorities, including the integration of advance molecular detection (AMD) technologies into public health. She served as CDC Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases and Director of the Office of Infectious Diseases (OID) from 2010 to 2017 where she provided leadership to the efforts of CDC’s three infectious disease national centers.