The CDC Leaders

"We are in a new era of emerging and reemerging zoonotic diseases. Episodes of emerging zoonoses are increasingly recognized around the world and the confluence of people, animals and animal products today is unprecedented. Our center recognizes the inextricable link between human, animals, and the environment."

- Lonnie King, DVM

Lonnie King, DVM

Acting Director, National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases

Lonnie King , DVM, is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s senior veterinarian and the director of the newly formed National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (ZVED).

Before the establishment of NCZVED, Dr. King served as CDC’s first director of the Office of Strategy and Innovation. Before coming to CDC, he was dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University for 10 years. His training and background is in veterinary medicine, but he also has experience in food safety and security, emerging diseases, new zoonoses, and bioterrorism, and is trained in epidemiology with expertise in disease transmission and ecosystems. King has worked on national animal disease eradication campaigns as well as national and global emergencies. He dedicated 19 years of his career to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which culminated in his serving as the agency’s administrator for 4 years. During that period, he also served as the country’s chief veterinary officer for 5 years and worked extensively in global trade agreements and protecting the nation’s plant and animal resources.

King served as a consultant and member of the Board of Scientific Counselors to CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases and is currently a member of FDA’s Science Board Advisory Committee. He was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies in 2004, is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Microbial Threats to Health, editor for the OIE Scientific Review on Emerging Zoonoses, and is president of the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society.

His other assignments with APHIS included field veterinary medical officer in Georgia and station epidemiologist in Texas. He spent 5 years in Hyattsville, Md., in staff assignments in emergency programs, as well as animal health information. While in Hyattsville, King directed the development of the agency's National Animal Health Monitoring System. He left APHIS briefly to serve as the director of the Governmental Relations Division of the American Veterinary Medical Association in Washington, D.C., and served as the lobbyist for the AVMA. From 1988 to 1989, King was APHIS deputy administrator for veterinary services from 1989 to 1992. In that position he had oversight over the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and the high security Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

A native of Wooster, Ohio, King earned a bachelor of science and doctor of veterinary medicine from Ohio State University in 1966 and 1970, respectively. He was in private veterinary practice for 7 years and subsequently earned a master of science degree in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota and a master in public administration from American University in Washington, D.C., in 1991. King is a board-certified member of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and has completed the senior executive fellowship program at Harvard University.