The CDC Leaders

"I think that science is our most critical and valuable asset and therefore, for me, there is no better or more exciting job than one that contributes to supporting and promoting scientific excellence."

- Tanja Popovic, MD, PhD, F(AAM), AM(AAFS)

Tanja Popovic, MD, PhD, F(AAM), AM(AAFS)

Chief Science Officer

Tanja Popovic, MD, PhD, CDC's chief science officer, joined the agency in 1989 as a Fulbright Postdoctoral fellow. Since then, she has served as the chief of the Diphtheria Reference Unit, chief of the Epidemiologic Investigations/Anthrax Laboratory, and co-director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Prevention and Control of Bacterial Meningitis. Prior to her position as chief science officer, she served as CDC's associate director for science (Feb 2004 - Jun 2006).

She was a WHO consultant for bacterial meningitis and diphtheria in Russia and throughout Africa. For six years, she was CDC's lead subject matter expert on laboratory aspects of anthrax and led CDC laboratory efforts to perform thousands of confirmatory and molecular subtyping tests during the 2001 anthrax investigation.

Doctor Popovic grew up and was educated in Croatia, a small central European country. She possesses a medical degree, masters in clinical pharmacology, doctorate in microbiology, and completed residency in clinical microbiology.

From 2004 to 2006, Dr. Popovic chaired the Intragovernmental Committee of the Strategic National Stockpile and was the CDC representative on the Executive Steering Committee of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus.

She is widely published and has many scientific accomplishments to her name, including the authoring of over 150 scientific publications and book chapters on molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases. Dr. Popovic has chaired, organized and presented as an invited lecturer at numerous scientific meetings worldwide. She is an associate editor for Emerging Infectious Diseases, a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and associate member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

She has served as the Wachsman Foundation lecturer and received numerous awards for her contributions in the scientific and public health arenas, among them the Secretary of Health's Award for Distinguished Service to the World Trade Center and Anthrax Investigations Emergency Response Team.