Overview

The Office of the Chief Science Officer (OCSO) leads the agency in scientific vision by enhancing the relevance, quality, and integrity of science, and by fostering successful scientific collaborations.

The Office provides the agency with scientific vision and leadership in research, public health ethics, and science administration. It ensures continuity and commitment to long-term scientific investments to enable the achievement of CDC’s mission, both nationally and globally.

The Office upholds scientific ideals, establishes an environment thriving with scientific excellence, innovation and integrity, learning and discovery, and upholds the timely dissemination and translation into practice of scientific information.

The Office is responsible for developing policies and procedures to ensure that integrity and excellence in science are maintained.  The Office articulates and enforces standards of ethical, equitable, and respectful conduct of all CDC enterprises.

The Chief Science Officer (CSO) is the primary advisor to the CDC Director on scientific and medical matters and provides agency-wide scientific leadership.  The CSO directs the Office of the Chief Science Officer (OCSO), which provides the agency with scientific vision and leadership in research, ethics, and science administration.

CDC and its National Centers and Coordinating Offices support and foster research that creates knowledge, tools and interventions that people and communities need to protect their health through health promotion, prevention of diseases, injury and disability, and preparedness for threats at home and abroad. Within OCSO, the Office of Public Health Research (OPHR) is responsible for coordinating guidance for best research practices and supporting innovative and cross-cutting research.

Oversight for federally mandated regulatory activities is located in the OCSO’s Office of Scientific Regulatory Services (OSRS) at CDC which provides guidance and assistance to all CDC programs. There are three offices within OSRS in addition to several other regulatory functions:

• The Human Research Protection Office (HRPO) leads the agency in protecting the rights and welfare of human beings who participate in research. HRPO coordinates CDC's institutional review boards (IRBs), exemptions from human subjects research, and joint review arrangements with research partners.
• The Information Collection Review Office (ICRO) (formerly OMB PRA activities) ensures that federal agencies do not overburden the public with requests for federally sponsored data collections according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). ICRO also works with CDC National Centers and other federal agencies to protect the privacy of individuals when records are maintained by a federal agency by applying the Privacy Act as required.
• The Animal Care and Use Program Office (ACUPO) is responsible for ensuring compliance with federal laws and principles in the care and use of laboratory animals at CDC. ACUPO works closely with the CDC Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), the CDC Animal Resources Branch, the CDC Scientific Resources Program, and with individual investigators.
  
  

OSRS is also responsible for providing technical assistance on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule which regulates the use and disclosure of protected health information by covered entities and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which regulates the disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in an education (school) record. In addition, OSRS issues Assurances of Confidentiality and Certificates of Confidentiality which protect against compulsory legal disclosure of sensitive data and an individual’s personal information.