Press Release

CDC Names New Director for Health Promotion

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Julie Gerberding announced today the appointment of Kathleen Toomey, M.D., M.P.H., as the new director of the Coordinating Center for Health Promotion (CoCHP).

As director of CoCHP, Dr. Toomey leads CDC's efforts that focus on chronic diseases, population health, disabilities, birth defects and other reproductive outcomes, as well as adverse consequences of hereditary conditions.

"Dr. Toomey is an outstanding scientist who brings to the agency critical skills she acquired early on as a CDC disease detective and then most recently as a state health officer. Her appointment represents another building block to a strong foundation of leadership across the agency that is working daily to meet the challenges to protect our nation's health," said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding.

Dr. Toomey has led a distinguished career in the field of public health. After receiving an A.B. in biology from Smith College, she studied in Peru as a Fulbright Scholar, and subsequently attended Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, receiving both M.D. and M.P.H. degrees. After completing a residency in family medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1982, she served three years as clinical director of the Kotzebue Service Unit with the Indian Health Service in Northwest Alaska. In 1985, Dr. Toomey was selected as a Pew Health Policy Research Fellow, studying at the University of California, San Francisco, Institute for Health Policy Studies.

From 1987 to 1993, she worked at CDC in a number of key positions, including an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and an Associate Director in the Division of STD/HIV Prevention. Most recently, she served as the Director for the Division of Public Health at Georgia′s Department of Human Resources from 1997 to 2005. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.