NCHHSTP Deputy Director

Dear Colleagues,

September 15, 2020

I am pleased to announce that Deron Cornell Burton, MD, JD, MPH (CAPT, US Public Health Service) has been selected as the Deputy Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. CAPT Burton will play a key role in formulating and implementing NCHHSTP’s goals, objectives, research, and policy, and, alongside the Deputy Director for Management and Operations, will serve as a principal advisor for the Center.

CAPT Burton joined CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in 2004 in the Respiratory Diseases Branch, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. He has held leadership positions both domestically and internationally in infectious diseases and health equity, including Special Advisor for Infectious Diseases to the CDC Director, Deputy Director for Science and Head of International Emerging Infections Program activities in western Kenya, and Associate Director for Health Equity in CDC’s former National Center for Health Marketing. In 2013, CAPT Burton joined NCHHSTP’s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination and served as the Team Lead for the Methodology and Analysis Team, Clinical Research Branch, from 2014 to 2018, when he accepted the role of NCHHSTP Associate Director for Health Equity.

CAPT Burton brings a wealth of leadership experience to the position of Deputy Director of NCHHSTP, having led the NCHHSTP Office of Health Equity (OHE) over the last two years, overseeing Center-wide health equity activities, including the NCHHSTP Public Health Leader Fellowship Program with Morehouse College and the Morehouse School of Medicine, the Public Health Reports special supplement on policy approaches to address NCHHSTP priority infections, and the development of a roadmap of cross-Divisional activities to improve screening and treatment of NCHHSTP priority infections in correctional settings. He has published more than 25 journal articles and presented at numerous conferences. He received his Medical Degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, his Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law, and a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

I would like to thank CAPT Burton for his commitment and contributions to the work of NCHHSTP over the last two years as the Associate Director for Health Equity and look forward to working alongside him in his new role at NCHHSTP. Please join me in welcoming and supporting him as he transitions into this new role over the next several weeks.

Thank you,

/Jonathan Mermin/

Jonathan H. Mermin, M.D., MPH
RADM and Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS
Director
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/nchhstp