Staff Bio
CAPT Fleetwood Loustalot, PhD, FNP, FAHA
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Dr. Loustalot directs programmatic and scientific efforts for CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, as well as policy, partnerships, and communication strategies, to promote the cardiovascular health of the nation and fulfill the division's mission.
Role at CDC
CAPT Fleetwood Loustalot, PhD, FNP, FAHA is the acting director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) in CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where he directs programmatic and scientific efforts, as well as policy, partnerships, and communication strategies.
Previous experience
Dr. Loustalot began his clinical and public health journey in Mississippi, providing direct patient care and collaborating with community health centers in the Mississippi Delta region in establishing specialty diabetes clinics. He joined CDC in 2008 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service fellow and has since been engaged in numerous domestic cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and control projects, including the Healthy People program and the Million Hearts initiative. He led the DHDSP team in developing The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Control Hypertension.
Throughout his time at CDC, Dr. Loustalot has provided technical consultation on multiple global health projects and held various roles across numerous emergency responses, including H1N1, Ebola, Zika, COVID-19, and several natural disasters. He has expertise in surveillance, improvements in clinical management, and linking community and clinical programs. Dr. Loustalot has an active clinical practice at a local Federally Qualified Health Center and has been working in public health for over 20 years. He was most recently the chief of the DHDSP's Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch. He is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, holding the rank of Captain.
Education
Dr. Loustalot earned his BS and PhD in nursing from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. He completed an MS, family nurse practitioner degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition, Dr. Loustalot completed a postgraduate diploma in geographic information systems from Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand and a certificate in tropical medicine from Louisiana State University and the University of Costa Rica in San Jose.