CDC Leadership

"Preparedness is a continuum rather than a state of being."

- Richard E. Besser, MD

Richard E. Besser, MD

Director, Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response

Richard E. Besser, MD, serves as the Director of the Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (COTPER). He is responsible for all of CDC′s public health emergency preparedness and emergency response activities. COTPER has primary oversight and responsibility for all programs that comprise CDC′s terrorism preparedness and emergency response portfolio. Through an all-hazards approach to preparedness, focusing on threats from natural, biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events, COTPER helps the nation prepare for and respond to urgent threats to the public’s health. COTPER carries out its mission by emphasizing accountability through performance, progress through public health science, and collaboration through partnerships.

He began his career at CDC in the Epidemic Intelligence Service working on the epidemiology of food-borne diseases. He has served as the epidemiology section chief in the Respiratory Diseases Branch, acting chief of the Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch in the National Center for Infectious Disease, and as the medical director of Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work, CDC′s national campaign to promote appropriate antibiotic use in the community.

Doctor Besser received his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a residency and a chief residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.He has authored and co-authored more than 100 presentations, abstracts, chapters, editorials, and publications and has received many awards for his work in public health and his volunteer service.