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Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H.
Director
Coordinating Center for Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H., serves as the director of the
Coordinating Center for Health Promotion and is responsible for the overall
direction and management of the coordinating center that comprises the
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
(including the National Office of Public Health Genomics) and the National
Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
An epidemiologist and board-certified family practitioner, Dr.
Toomey’s career in public health has been long and distinguished. 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. In 1991, she worked in
Washington as a legislative assistant on health issues for U.S. Senator John
Chafee (R-Rhode Island), staffing the Senate Republican Task Force on
Health. She also served as the Associate Director for External Relations in
the Division of STD/HIV Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
In 1993, she became the state epidemiologist and
Director of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the Division of Public
Health in the Georgia Department of Human Resources. From 1997-2005, she
held the position of director of the Division of Public Health in the
Georgia Department of Human Resources. Prior to assuming her current
position at CDC in 2007, Dr. Toomey served as a public health consultant to
the Department of Veterans Affairs and served as a visiting faculty member
at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security in the Naval Postgraduate
School (NPS), Department of Homeland Security.
Dr. Toomey has received many honors and awards,
including the CDC Award for Contributions to the Advancement of Women and
the Public Health Service Plaque for Outstanding Leadership. She was named
to the 2000 Academy of Women Achievers by the Atlanta YWCA and received the
2001 Shining Star Award from the Atlanta Women’s Foundation. Dr. Toomey was
recognized nationally as the recipient of the 2003 Public Health Award from
the American Academy of Family Physicians. She was the first recipient of
the Recognizing & Encouraging Aspirations in Community Health (REACH) Award
from Emory University School of Medicine in 2004 and was honored by the
Georgia Public Health Association, receiving the 2005 Sellers-McCroan Award
for outstanding achievement in public health policy.
In 2004, Toomey was elected to the Council on
Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank and publisher dedicated to
better understanding the world and the foreign policy choices facing the
United States and other governments. In her role on the Council, Dr. Toomey
provides a voice for public health within the context of international
policy. She has lectured nationally and internationally on an array of
health issues.
Date last reviewed:
April 7, 2008
Date last modified: April 7, 2008
Content source: Coordinating Center for Health Promotion
(CCHP) |
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