Ron A. Otten, PhD

Dr. Otten is CDC’s Deputy Associate Director for Science. From 2010 – 2014, he served as the Director for the Office of Scientific Integrity (OSI) within the Office of the Associate Director for Science (OADS). From both a scientific and regulatory perspective, Dr. Otten’s experience provides him with an in-depth understanding for extremely diverse biomedical studies and a great appreciation for the ethical aspects related to those studies. He serves as the CDC Institutional Official for Human Research Subjects and for Animal Research.

Dr. Otten joined CDC in 1991 as a laboratory scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS. He has authored or co-authored numerous articles on topics such as biomedical interventions designed to prevent HIV infection and detecting variant strains of HIV. His research has been presented at both national and international conferences, awarded James H. Nakano citations honoring scientific excellence, and nominated for CDC Shepard awards. Dr. Otten, along with a select team, was awarded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service in 1997. In addition, he has served on numerous committees during his career including the CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases Safety Committee (1994 -1997), the Emory University Institutional Review Board (2000 – 2006) and the CDC-Atlanta Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, for which he served as Chairperson (2006 – 2010).

Before coming to CDC, Dr. Otten received his Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology at the University of Florida (UF). He entered graduate school in the Microbiology and Immunology department where he met and followed an esteemed UF scientist to complete his doctoral degree in Medical Microbiology at the Medical College of Ohio (now known as University of Toledo).