Jennifer Layden, MD, PhD

Dr Layden serves as the Associate Deputy Director of Public Health Science and Surveillance at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In this role, she provides strategic and executive leadership for public health’s data modernization initiative (DMI). Prior to joining CDC in 2020, she held leadership positions in state and local public health, serving as the Deputy Commissioner for Chicago’s Department of Public Health (CDPH), as well as the State Epidemiologist and Chief Medical Officer for Illinois’ Department of Public Health (IDPH). She has led numerous past public health responses, including the EVALI response for IDPH, COVID response for CDPH, and served as a co-lead for CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. Dr Layden is an infectious disease physician and holds her doctorate in epidemiology, and has previously held academic appointments at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University. She is an experienced researcher and public health practitioner, having been involved in numerous funded research projects and having published over 80 scientific papers, and has presented and been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences and meetings.