What to know
The Advisory Committee to the Director advises and recommends ways to advance CDC’s priorities, improve results, and address health disparities. Committee members are knowledgeable in areas pertinent to the CDC mission, such as public health, global health, health disparities, biomedical research, and public health preparedness.
Members
Bechara Choucair, MD
Executive Vice President and Chief Health Officer
Kaiser Permanente
Oakland, California
Term: 08-02-2024 – 06-30-2027
Dr. Bechara Choucair, a board-certified family physician, serves as executive vice president and chief health officer for Kaiser Permanente, one of America's leading integrated health systems with more than 12.5 million members. He leads the organization's community health and social health portfolios. This includes creating the nation's largest network designed to meet the social health needs of Kaiser Permanente's members and managing over $3 billion to support medical financial assistance and charitable health coverage programs, as well as grants to community health programs throughout the organization's footprint. Dr. Choucair oversees the organization's Medicaid line of business covering 1.5 million members, and advances initiatives to increase access to care and improve health outcomes for those enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare.
In addition, his accountability includes leading enterprise clinical business development opportunities focusing on care delivery models, technologies, and products. He also leads Kaiser Permanente's environmental stewardship work, which resulted in the organization becoming carbon neutral in 2020, and he oversees the organization's goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
From January through November 2021, Dr. Choucair served as the White House national COVID-19 vaccinations coordinator. During his tenure, nearly 500 million doses of the vaccine were administered nationwide.
Helene D. Gayle, M.D. M.P.H
Atlanta, Georgia
Term: 12-11-2023 – 06-30-2027
Helene D. Gayle, M.D., M.P.H., served as the 11th president of Spelman. A pediatrician and public health physician with expertise in economic development, humanitarian, and health issues, she previously worked in leadership roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and was the president and CEO of the international humanitarian organization, CARE, and the Chicago Community Trust.
Dr. Gayle serves on public companies and nonprofit boards, such as The Coca-Cola Company, Organon, Palo Alto Networks, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Brookings Institution. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and Council on Foreign Relations among others. She is a tenured Full Professor in the Department of Environmental and Health Sciences at Spelman College and has received 18 honorary degrees.
Dr. Gayle is married to Dr. Stephen Keith, the First Gentleman of Spelman College, and a proud Spelman dad.
Spero M. Manson, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health
The Colorado Trust Chair in American Indian Health, University of Colorado Denver's Anschutz Medical Center
Elbert, Colorado
Term: 07-06-2024 – 06-30-2027
Spero M. Manson, Ph.D. (Little Shell Chippewa), Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry, directs the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, and occupies The Colorado Trust Chair in American Indian Health at the University of Colorado Denver's Anschutz Medical Center.
His program includes 10 national centers that pursue research, program development, and training with 225 Native communities. A medical anthropologist, Dr. Manson has acquired $293 million in sponsored research to support this work and published 350+ articles on the assessment, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of health problems over the developmental life span of Native people.
He has served on the National Advisory Councils of 3 NIH institutes, Advisory Committee to the NIH Director, and received 35 awards from the NIH, CDC, APHA, NAM, and numerous other professional organizations. Dr. Manson is acknowledged as one of the nation's leading authorities on American Indian and Alaska Native health.
Joshua M. Sharfstein, M.D.
Professor of the Practice in Health Policy and Management
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland
Term: 03-31-2022 – 06-30-2026
Dr. Sharfstein is Professor of the Practice in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he also serves as Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement and as Director of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. A pediatrician by training, he is a former health commissioner of Baltimore, Principal Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. FDA, and health secretary of Maryland. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Designated Federal Officer
Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H.
Debra Houry, MD, MPH, is the chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at CDC. She serves as the designated federal officer for the Advisory Committee to the Director. Prior to this role, Dr. Houry served for nearly two years (2021-2023) as CDC’s acting principal deputy director and as director for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2014-2021).