Organization Chart
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
Dana Shelton, MPH
Ms. Shelton is the Acting Director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), a position she assumed July 2, 2018. Ms. Shelton leads an executive team that sets the strategic direction for the center’s portfolio, which focuses on surveillance and epidemiology to move data into action, policy and environmental improvements to support health and healthy behaviors, health care system collaboration to strengthen effective delivery of clinical and other preventive services, and links between community and clinical services to improve self-management of chronic conditions and enhance quality of life. NCCDPHP has an annual budget of about $1 billion and more than 1,000 staff members dedicated to preventing chronic diseases and promoting health across the life span, in key settings, and with attention to the leading chronic disease risk factors. Ms. Shelton has worked for CDC for more than 25 years, serving most recently as the Deputy Director for NCCDPHP. In this position, she supported the center’s coordinated, collaborative approach to investing its resources, working across divisions and programs and with grantees and partners to offer a more comprehensive, seamless approach to advancing population health. Before that, she served as the Associate Director for Policy for the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) and the Acting Director of OSH. She joined CDC as an epidemiologist in 1991. Before coming to CDC, Ms. Shelton was a Research Associate with the Department of Community Medicine and Health Center, University of Connecticut Health Center. She received her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
Ronney Lindsey, MS
Mr. Lindsey is the Acting Deputy Director for the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), a position he assumed in July 2018. Most recently, he was the center’s Management Officer, the principal management official with responsibility for planning, organizing, and directing the day-to-day administrative operations of the NCCDPHP. He served as principal advisor to the Director on all matters related to administrative program planning and resources management. Mr. Lindsey has over 38 years of experience in public health at the local, state, and national level. His service with CDC has spanned many centers across the agency, where he has held numerous senior leadership positions in program development, implementation, and management. Mr. Lindsey received his MS in counseling and personnel services from the University of Memphis.
Dee Wetterhall
Ms. Wetterhall is the Acting Management Officer for the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), a position she assumed in July 2018. Most recently, she was the Deputy Director in the Division of Reproductive Health, where she has served for more than 2 decades in a variety of capacities, including Deputy Branch Chief and Public Health Analyst. Before coming to DRH, as part of an Office of Personnel Management Executive Leadership Program, Ms. Wetterhall did a rotation with the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, where she worked with multiple federal agencies in putting together the President’s Budget. This experience enhanced her skills in fiscal management which served her well in her budget analyst positions with NCCDPHP’s Office of the Director. Additionally, Ms. Wetterhall did rotations with the Georgia State Health Department, where she saw CDC programs implemented first-hand, and with the CDC Foundation, where she worked to mobilize resources for programs across CDC. During her more than 30 years with the agency, Ms. Wetterhall has provided expertise to a number of CDC programs, particularly in the areas of fiscal and human resources.
Tonya Martin, MPH
Ms. Martin is the Acting Associate Director for Informatics for CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). She is responsible for the strategic direction of technology in the center and for oversight, operations, development, and security of information systems that support programs and grantees. In her role as the Senior Advisor for Informatics in the Office of Infectious Diseases (OID), she serves as the principal informatics advisor to OID senior staff on the development, support, application, standardization, and integration of public health information and surveillance systems as well as on the application of information technology to the collection, management, and analysis of public health data. Previously at CDC, she served as Informatics Senior Advisor in the Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases (CCID) and as Informatics Director in the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP).
Ms. Martin has worked in public health for more than 25 years. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and her Master of Public Health degree from Emory University.
Sean Cucchi, MHA
Mr. Cucchi is the Associate Director for Planning, Evaluation, and Legislation for CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). He is responsible for the policy agenda for the center, which has eight divisions and offices and a budget of about $1 billion. Mr. Cucchi most recently worked as the Legislative and Partnership Team Lead in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Legislation. Before joining CDC, he was the Chief of Planning and Fiscal Policy for the Georgia Department of Community Health, managing health policy and the budget for the agency responsible for Georgia’s Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and state employee health benefit programs. He also served as Policy Coordinator in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, with responsibility for developing policy and budget recommendations for Medicaid, Public Health, and Mental Health programs for Georgia’s governors. Mr. Cucchi has an MHA from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Gabbi Promoff, MA
Ms. Promoff is the Associate Director for Communication Science in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), where she oversees communication strategy, development, and implementation. She joined the center’s Office of the Director in June 2016. Since joining CDC in 2005, Ms. Promoff has provided expertise and strategic direction on tobacco control policy, led policy initiatives for tobacco control at the national and state level, and represented the Office on Smoking and Health in pivotal policy and social-environmental interventions to reduce tobacco use and eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. Before joining CDC, Ms. Promoff worked at Golin, providing social marketing expertise for tobacco prevention and control movements to more than 10 states, as well as for the Truth Initiative’s truth® campaign, to prevent tobacco use among adolescents and young adults. Ms. Promoff led the earned media efforts around Tips From Former Smokers®, the first-ever paid national tobacco education campaign, which profiles real people who live with serious long-term health effects from smoking and secondhand smoke. Ms. Promoff received an MA from George Washington University School of Political Management.
Cathleen Walsh, DrPH, MSPH
Dr. Walsh is the Associate Director for Public Health Practice for CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). She helps develop, direct, and coordinate high-priority NCCDPHP programmatic efforts. Dr. Walsh has been with CDC since 1990, when she led teams of CDC and local public health staff in assessing STD and HIV prevention programs nationally. While with CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, she focused on using epidemiology and surveillance to guide health policy and cost-effectiveness analysis. Dr. Walsh has extensive experience in health services research. She has co-chaired the CDC Health Systems Research Workgroup and the Public Health Practice Council’s work group on Knowledge to Action. She joined the CDC Office of the Director in May 2007 to work with internal leaders and external partners in coordinating agency efforts to execute the agency’s strategic plan and later became the director of the Policy Research, Analysis and Development Office. She holds an MSPH and DrPH in health policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Divisions
Division of Cancer Prevention and Control
Lisa C. Richardson, MD, MPH, Director
Dr. Richardson is the Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where she provides leadership and direction for all scientific, policy, and programmatic issues related to four national programs. Her public health service includes the following: medical director for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (1997–1998); medical officer in CDC’s Division of Blood Disorders (1998–2000) and later the division director; faculty member at the University of Florida in Medical Oncology working with the Florida Cancer Data System funded by CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries (2000–2004); medical officer in the DCPC’s Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch (2004); and Team Lead for the Scientific Support and Clinical Translation Team supporting the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (2006–2009). From 2010 to 2013, Dr. Richardson was DCPC’s Associate Director for Science and helped set scientific priorities to maintain integrity in public health activities. Dr. Richardson received her MD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Frances Babcock, MT, CTR, Deputy Director
Ms. Babcock has served as the Deputy Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control since December 2016 and is responsible for the development of emerging initiatives, providing operational and managerial leadership, and assisting with the implementation of strategic priorities of the Division. She began her career at CDC in 2002 in the Cancer Surveillance Branch as a program consultant with the National Program of Cancer Registries. Before joining CDC, Ms. Babcock spent 10 years as the director of registry operations at the Atlanta Metropolitan NCI-SEER registry and the Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Registry at Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health. In addition to her background in cancer surveillance, she has extensive experience in the clinical and research laboratory. Ms. Babcock earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Vermont.
Division of Diabetes Translation
Ann Albright, PhD, RD, Director
Dr. Albright is the Director of the Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where she provides leadership and direction to the science and programs conducted in DDT. Before joining CDC in 2007, Dr. Albright was the Chief of the California Diabetes Program at the California Department of Health Services and held an academic appointment at the University of California, San Francisco. She was the Senior Health Policy Advisor in the Office of the US Surgeon General and led the Secretary of Health’s Diabetes Detection Initiative. Dr. Albright lectures and has published works on several topics, including exercise, nutrition, and public health practice in diabetes prevention and management. She has served in leadership roles with the American Diabetes Association, American Association of Diabetes Educators, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and American College of Sports Medicine. She received her PhD in exercise physiology from The Ohio State University and completed an National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship in nutrition at the University of California, Davis, and a clinical internship in nutrition at the University of California, San Francisco.
Donald Betts, MPA, Dep. Director
Mr. Betts is the lead management official for the division, and is responsible for planning and directing financial management and business operations, human resource management, and strategic planning. Mr. Betts has over 20 years of CDC experience, working in policy and program evaluation, adolescent and school health promotion, and health promotion for children and adults with disabilities. Mr. Betts was previously the Deputy Director for CDC’s Division of Human Development and Disability. During this time, he helped establish the first ever Associate Director for Disability Inclusion and Public Health (aka CDC’s Disability and Health Officer). Mr. Betts received a CDC/ATSDR Group Honor Award for leadership in promoting the potential of people with disabilities. He received his MPA from the University of Georgia.
Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
Betsy L. Thompson, MD, DrPH, RADM USPHS, Director
Dr. Thompson joined the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention as the director in January 2018. Dr. Thompson came to DHDSP from HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, where she served in several capacities, including the Deputy Regional Health Administrator, (RHA), Region IX. Among her many accomplishments there, she helped to increase departmental focus and resources on the health concerns of the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, served as a senior regional prevention and public health scientist, and represented RHA at state, regional, national, and international meetings. From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Thompson served as CMS’ Region IX’s Chief Medical Officer. There, she provided medical expertise and guidance on projects ranging from hospital conditions of participation and regulations for accountable care organizations to the value modifier for the physician fee schedule. Dr. Thompson received her MD and MSPH from the University of Colorado, Denver, and her DrPH from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed an internship and residency in primary care internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; an epidemiology fellowship in CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program; and a residency in preventive medicine at CDC.
Joseph Bertulfo, DNP, MPH, Dep. Director
Dr. Bertulfo is the responsible for managing division operations. Since joining CDC in 2003, he has provided program and project leadership in the areas of emergency preparedness, workforce development, and partnership development. Previously, he served as the Deputy Director for the Division of Applied Sciences, home to CDC’s premier scientific fellowship programs, including the Epidemic Intelligence Service. Dr. Bertulfo has been recognized for his contributions to public health and nursing, including an HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service and two US Public Health Service Chief Nurse Officer Awards. A board-certified nurse practitioner, he holds advanced degrees in nursing and public health from the University of Alabama (Sigma Theta Tau) and the University of South Florida.
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity
Ruth Petersen, MD, MPH, Director
Dr. Petersen is the Director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. DNPAO provides national leadership on nutrition, physical activity, and obesity prevention through policy and guideline development, surveillance, epidemiological and behavioral research, and technical assistance to states and communities. Dr. Petersen has a breadth of experience and leadership from multiple settings, including health care, local and state health departments, national advisory groups, academic settings, the private sector, and global health platforms. Her broad, deep, and diverse experience with populations, partners, and stakeholders are strong assets for leading DNPAO in its focused efforts to prevent chronic diseases through population-wide public health initiatives and health system innovations. Throughout her career, Dr. Petersen has drawn on her expertise in patient care, health system change, disease prevention, and community engagement to develop and guide programs, research, and policy to improve health behaviors and reduce chronic disease. Dr. Petersen received her MD and MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After training in obstetrics and gynecology in Rochester, NY, she completed the UNC Preventive Medicine Residency and a postdoctoral fellowship in health services research.
Ann O’Connor, MPA, Dep. Director
Ann O’Connor, MPA serves as the Deputy Director for the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention managing operations for a $94 million dollar budget to prevent and control obesity and chronic disease through regular physical activity and good nutrition. Prior to this position, Ann served as the CDC Chief of the Program Planning and Advancement unit leading many of the agency’s program development initiatives including direction for CDC Winnable Battles, the CDC Quarterly Program Review process, and the development of new program standards for CDC funding opportunity announcements. She also served the Associate Director for Policy in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response leading national policy and legislative activities. Before joining CDC in August 2003, Ann worked on national policy evaluations in the Office of the Inspector General for more than 15 years in a variety of positions, including Regional Inspector General, Assistant Director and senior program analyst. In this capacity, Ann published national evaluation reports on topics ranging from child support and child welfare, to Medicaid and to public health preparedness and emergency response. She received her MPA from George Mason University and her Bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Division of Oral Health
Casey Hannan, MPH, Director (Acting)
Mr. Hannan is the Acting Director of the Division of Oral Health (DOH) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), where he is directs programs, and develops and implements policies and strategies to achieve the mission of the division. Previously, he was Chief of the Arthritis, Epilepsy, and Well-Being Branch in NCCDPHP’s Division of Population Health. Mr. Hannan also previously served as the Associate Director of Policy, Partnerships, and Communications in CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Since coming to CDC in 1996, Mr. Hannan has received two HHS Secretary’s Awards for Distinguished Service for developing national health objectives and health communication materials, and three Special Act of Service Awards related to his accomplishments in accountability measures, strategic planning, and national leadership conferences. He is a 3029-year veteran of the public health workforce and has worked in community-based, medical center, university, and government settings. He holds an MPH from the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan.
Lisa Petersen, MS, Dep. Director
Ms. Petersen has served as Deputy Director of the Division of Oral Health since August 2013, providing oversight of the division’s budget, staffing, and business operations. She came to CDC in October 1999 as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Office on Smoking and Health, where she worked as a Public Health Analyst for 7 years in the Program Services and Evaluation branches. In 2006, she transitioned to the role of Special Advisor to the Chief Management Officer in the Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention. In 2010, she joined the Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support as Management Officer. Along the way, she was detailed to CDC’s Office of the Chief Operating Officer in 2009 and Office of the Chief Financial Officer in 2013, supporting special projects addressing, respectively, executive recruitment and Working Capital Fund implementation. Ms. Petersen received her graduate degree in public policy and management from the University of Oregon.
Division of Population Health
Craig W. Thomas, PhD, Director
Dr. Thomas is the Director for the CDC’s Division of Population Health, a position he assumed in June 2018. For the previous 8 years, Dr. Thomas served as Director of the Division of Public Health Performance Improvement in CDC’s Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support. In that position, he provided strategic guidance and direction on a system of performance and accountability to improve public health performance and health outcomes at the state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) level. Most recently, he has served as the Associate Director for Strategy with CDC’s Center for STLT Support (proposed). An expert in continuous quality improvement, program evaluation, systems thinking, multisector collaboration, and population health improvement, Dr. Thomas has more than 25 years of experience working with STLT health departments, local communities, nonprofit organizations, national public health partners, and other federal agencies. Dr. Thomas received a PhD in applied social psychology with an emphasis in applied research methods, performance measurement, and program evaluation from the Claremont Graduate University; a master’s degree in experimental psychology from California State University Fullerton; and a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of California Irvine.
Nick Farrell, Dep. Director
Mr. Farrell serves as the lead official for Division management of personnel, budget, contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and general operations. Mr. Farrell joined CDC in 1986 as a field Public Health Advisor in Detroit, Michigan, and remained with the National Center for Prevention Services/National Center for HIV, STD, TB Prevention until 1998. In 1998 he started his work in global health where he ultimately served as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Global Health through 2010. He was assigned to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from 2001-2004 working on polio eradication, measles mortality reduction, malaria, safe water, and HIV prevention and care. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Division of Reproductive Health
Wanda D. Barfield, MD, MPH, RADM USPHS, Director
Dr. Barfield is the Director of the Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She is responsible for promoting CDC’s Safe Motherhood Initiative, which works for optimal and equitable reproductive health, maternal health, and infant health through research, surveillance, programs, and partnerships. Dr. Barfield joined CDC in 2000 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and became Director of DRH in 2010. As director, she has strengthened CDC’s Winnable Battle on Teen Pregnancy Prevention, global and domestic maternal mortality prevention, and maternal and infant health surveillance. She also helped produce a national action plan on infertility. Dr. Barfield’s research includes over 60 publications on racial disparities in preterm delivery, stillbirth, and infant health outcomes. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and an adjunct associate professor at the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Barfield is board-certified in both general pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine and continues to provide care for critically ill newborns. She received her medical and public health degrees from Harvard University and completed a pediatrics residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Harvard.
Dee Wetterhall, Dep. Director
As the Division’s principal management official, Ms. Wetterhall is responsible for leading fiscal and human resources, space, and overall infrastructure management. She has been with the Division for more than two decades in a variety of capacities, including Deputy Branch Chief and Public Health Analyst. Before coming to DRH, as part of an Office of Personnel Management Executive Leadership Program, Ms. Wetterhall did a rotation with the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget where she worked with multiple federal agencies in putting together the President’s Budget. This experience enhanced her skills in fiscal management which served her well in her budget analyst positions with NCCDPHP’s Office of the Director. Additionally, Ms. Wetterhall did rotations with the Georgia State Health Department where she saw CDC programs implemented first-hand, and with the CDC Foundation, where she worked to mobilize resources for programs across CDC. During her more than 30 years with the agency, Ms. Wetterhall has provided expertise to a number of CDC programs particularly in the areas of fiscal and human resources.
Office on Smoking and Health
Corinne Graffunder, DrPH, MPH, Director
Dr. Graffunder is the Director of the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), where she is responsible for providing broad leadership and direction for all scientific, policy, and programmatic issues related to tobacco control and prevention. She has served CDC since 1987 in positions of increasing responsibility, building on her early NCCDPHP leadership roles in community health and tobacco prevention and control. Dr. Graffunder has developed subject matter expertise in a wide range of fields, including health system transformation, prevention strategies, and population health. She previously served as Deputy Associate Director for Policy in CDC’s Office of the Director, where she worked successfully to strengthen collaboration among public health, health care, and other sectors. Dr. Graffunder spearheaded the implementation of CDC’s National Tobacco Control Program. She received her doctorate from the University of North Carolina’s Executive Doctoral Program in Health Leadership, Department of Health Policy and Management, and her MPH in health behavior and education from the University of South Carolina.
Pamela Cox, PhD, MA, Dep. Director
Dr. Cox is the Deputy Director of the Office on Smoking and Health (OSH). In this role, she is responsible for providing executive level management, programmatic, and operational leadership to the Division. Prior to joining OSH, Dr. Cox served as Director of the Division of the Executive Secretariat within CDC’s Office of the Chief of Staff. Prior to her role in Exec Sec, Dr. Cox served as the Deputy Director of the Policy Research, Analysis and Development Office within the Office of the Associate Director for Policy. During that time, she oversaw the development of the policy awareness and review process and served a 3-month assignment as OADP’s acting management officer. From 2001 to 2011, Dr. Cox served in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control where her work focused on using the best implementation science to build capacity at the state and local levels to address violence prevention from a public health perspective. Dr. Cox received her PhD in public health from the University of Georgia, her MA in family therapy from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, and her BS in finance from the University of Tennessee.
Peter Briss, MD, MPH
Dr. Briss is the Director of the Office of Medicine and Science of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) and the center’s Medical Director. His work focuses on enhancing the conduct, quality, communication, and impact of public health science and establishing or strengthening links between health care and public health. In 28 years at CDC, he has worked on issues ranging from health care to community prevention, including lead poisoning, vaccine-preventable disease, tobacco, cancer, heart disease, and oral health. Dr. Briss has participated in public health teaching, practice, and research at state and national levels in the United States and internationally. He completed training in epidemiology and preventive medicine at CDC, is board-certified in internal medicine and preventive medicine, and is an active clinician at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. He has authored or coauthored nearly 100 professional publications and coedited the Guide to Community Preventive Services. Dr. Briss received his MD and training in internal medicine and pediatrics at The Ohio State University and his MPH in health management and policy from the University of Michigan.
Rachel Kaufmann, PhD, MPH
Dr. Kaufmann is the Associate Director for Science for CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). She oversees scientific quality and integrity for NCCDPHP’s programs in population health, cancer control and prevention, diabetes translation, heart disease and stroke prevention, reproductive health, physical activity and nutrition, oral health, and tobacco use. Before joining NCCDPHP in 2016, Dr. Kaufmann served in similar roles for CDC’s Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, CDC’s Epidemiology and Analysis Program Office, and NCCDPHP’s Office on Smoking and Health. Prior to that, Dr. Kaufmann was an epidemiologist in the Division of Reproductive Health and the Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch. She has also worked at the World Bank and the Rhode Island Department of Health and in academic settings. Her research has covered a wide range of issues, including cancer, reproductive health, heart disease, tobacco use, illicit drug use, lead poisoning, arsenic poisoning, indoor air pollution, health services, waterborne disease, and Ebola virus disease. Dr. Kaufmann has an MPH and PhD in epidemiology from the University of Michigan.
Leonard Jack, Jr, PhD, MPH
Dr. Jack was appointed Editor in Chief of Preventing Chronic Disease, a journal of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), in October 2016. Previously, he was Director of NCCDPHP’s Division of Community Health (2013-2016). Before returning to CDC, from 2009-2012, he served as Associate Dean for Research; Director of the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education; the Endowed Chair of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research; Professor in the Division of Clinical and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy; and Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, at Xavier University of Louisiana. Dr. Jack held the Jim Finks Endowed Chair of Health Promotion and was Professor of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center’s School of Public Health (2007-2009). Dr. Jack served as Lead of the Applied Behavioral Research, Epidemiology, and Systems Team and Chief of the Community Intervention Section in NCCDPHP’s Division of Diabetes Translation (2000-2006). He currently holds two adjunct appointments as Professor in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Xavier University of Louisiana. Dr. Jack completed his MSc and PhD in Behavioral Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Jack has received numerous awards and recognitions for his contributions in advancing the discipline of behavioral health, behavioral science, health education, and health promotion.
Office of the Director
Dana Shelton, MPH, Director (Acting)
Ronney Lindsey, MS, Deputy Director (Acting)
Dee Wetterhall, Management Officer (Acting)
Tonya Martin, MPH, Director of Office of Informatics and Information Resource Management (Acting)
Sean Cucchi, MHA, Associate Director for Policy
Gabbi Promoff, MA, Associate Director for Communication Science
Cathleen Walsh, DrPH, MSPH, Associate Director for Public Health Practice
Peter Briss, MD, MPH, Medical Director
Rachel Kaufmann, PhD, MPH, Associate Director for Science
Leonard Jack, Jr., PhD, MSc, Editor in Chief, Preventing Chronic Disease
Divisions
Division of Cancer Prevention and Control
Lisa C. Richardson, MD, MPH, Director
Frances Babcock, BS, MT, CTR, Deputy Director
Division of Diabetes Translation
Ann Albright, PhD, RD, Director
Donald Betts, MPA, Deputy Director
Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
Betsy L. Thompson, MD, DrPH, CAPT USPHS, Director
Joseph Bertulfo, DNP, MPH, Deputy Director
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity
Ruth Petersen, MD, MPH, Director
Ann O’Connor, MPA, Deputy Director
Division of Oral Health
Casey Hannan, MPH, Director (Acting)
Lisa Petersen, MS, Deputy Director
Division of Population Health
Craig W. Thomas, PhD, Director
Nick Farrell, Deputy Director
Division of Reproductive Health
Wanda D. Barfield, MD, MPH, RADM USPHS, Director
Dee Wetterhall, Deputy Director
Office on Smoking and Health
Corinne Graffunder, DrPH, MPH, Director
Pamela Cox, PhD, MA, Deputy Director