About the National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases (NCPDCID)

At the National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases, we provide leadership and bring many partners together to protect the world from infectious diseases. Our aim is to detect, prevent, and control infectious diseases from spreading, whether they are naturally occurring, unintentional, or the result of terrorism.

We achieve this by working in the United States and abroad to establish safe and high-quality healthcare, laboratory services, surveillance systems, and networks that share vital information about infectious diseases. We focus on

• Specific populations, such as immigrants, refugees, travelers, patients, and healthcare providers.
• Specific places, including U.S. and international borders and places where newly emerging diseases threaten the world population’s health.
• Specific settings, such as laboratories, hospitals, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, dialysis centers, and other healthcare settings.
  

We work with many partners to strengthen our capacity to respond to infectious disease threats. For example, we support efforts to strengthen pandemic influenza preparedness by

• Providing international training courses in rapid response to avian influenza.
• Training and offering technical assistance to states and international partners to increase their capacity to control infection, deliver healthcare, and strengthen healthcare preparedness during a pandemic.
• Training and assisting the nation’s 20 CDC quarantine stations to strengthen their capability for advanced emergency response during a pandemic.
• Producing molecular tools for detecting a dangerous form of influenza A/H5 and distributing these tools to more than 150 laboratories that make up the Laboratory Response Network.

Here are two other recent examples of our activities, as published in Spectrum, the CCID newsletter:

One of our greatest strengths is our diverse workforce. We are laboratorians and information technology experts. We are statisticians, health economists, veterinarians, and health communication experts. We are nurses, medical doctors, and epidemiologists in cities and remote villages. We are infection control practitioners. We are health officials keeping the nation’s 20 quarantine stations on alert every minute of every day.

Director, Rima Khabbaz, MD

Rima Khabbaz, MD, is the director of CDC’s National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases (NCPDCID). She became the director of CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) in December 2005, and provided important leadership to transition NCID to four centers.

Read full biography »

NCPDCID Divisions

Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) works to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States. Major activities include administering regulations related to travelers and imported animals and animal products; developing and coordinating disease screening programs for immigrants and refugees; overseeing CDC quarantine stations; disseminating health information for international travelers; developing measures to prevent the introduction of zoonotic diseases into the United States; and identifying diseases in mobile populations. More »

Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) protects patients and healthcare personnel and promotes safety and quality in healthcare delivery systems. Examples of activities include programs for addressing antimicrobial resistance; blood and tissue safety; and healthcare-associated infections and other adverse events affecting patients and healthcare workers. DHQP also oversees the National Healthcare Safety Network, a surveillance system operating in select hospitals in all states and being implemented in all hospitals in 5 states. More »

Division of Emerging Infections and Surveillance Services (DEISS) helps establish and support domestic and international infectious disease platforms; promotes effective, standards-based surveillance; and builds public health capacity. DEISS includes CDC’s Arctic Investigations Program in Anchorage, Alaska; the U.S. and international emerging infections programs; the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity program; health disparities; the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response program; training and fellowships for CDC’s Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases; health economics; and the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. More »

Division of Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response (DBPR) provides leadership for CDC’s Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases in strengthening preparedness for infectious disease emergencies as well as operational support for non-infectious disease emergencies such as natural disasters. Since the program’s establishment in 1999, DBPR has been involved in virtually all of CDC’s large-scale responses. Major projects include the Laboratory Response Network, the Early Aberration Reporting System, and the All Threats Agent Content System. More »

Division of Laboratory Systems (DLS) leads and coordinates high-priority public health and clinical laboratory partnerships and promotes excellence in laboratory practices by developing, evaluating, and implementing systems to improve laboratory quality. Activities include managing the HHS Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee; developing federal quality standards for the nation’s clinical laboratories; providing leadership in the development of the National Laboratory System to enhance the nation’s preparedness and response capabilities; and working to improve laboratory practices internationally by developing and implementing country-specific plans and training materials. More »

Division of Scientific Resources (DSR) provides laboratory products (e.g., cultures, reagents, and supplies), services, and specialized expertise (e.g., use of advanced technological equipment) to CDC staff and programs. Activities include applied research and diagnostic programs on the use of animal models; basic and applied research in cell biology and in the expansion of tissue-culture technology; maintenance of a bank for epidemiologically important biological specimens; CDC Drug Service; specimen receipt and management; Select Agent distribution; and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment coordination. More »