Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD

Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, serves as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She fights every day to improve the health and well-being of all Americans. She’s working to help our nation overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and build a stronger foundation for a healthier future - one in which every American can attain their full health potential. ADM Levine’s storied career, first, as a physician in academic medicine focused on the intersection between mental and physical health, treating children, adolescents, and young adults. Then as Pennsylvania’s Physician General and later as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health, she addressed COVID-19, the opioid crisis, behavioral health and other public health challenges.

Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH

As Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Dr. Daskalakis leads CDC’s efforts to detect, prevent, and respond to vaccine-preventable and respiratory infectious disease threats. He oversees and coordinates activities across the Center to effectively balance public health efforts in both domestic and global arenas, and to accommodate the specific needs of a variety of populations at risk for vaccine preventable diseases across the lifespan. Dr. Daskalakis also plays a key role in CDC emergency responses to respiratory and vaccine-preventable diseases such as seasonal respiratory viruses (COVID-19, influenza, and RSV), measles, and avian influenza. Prior to joining NCIRD, Dr. Daskalakis served as the Director of the Division of HIV Prevention in CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention Dr. Daskalakis has been recognized nationally and internationally as an expert in HIV prevention and has focused much of his career on the treatment and prevention of HIV and other STIs as an activist physician with a focus on LGBTQIA+ communities. He also served as the Deputy Coordinator of the White House’s Mpox Response, where he successfully led vaccination and public education efforts that helped to halt the advancement of the virus. Dr. Daskalakis began his career as an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital in New York City (NYC), New York, where he spearheaded several public health programs focused on community HIV testing and prevention. He has since served in several healthcare and public health capacities in NYC, including the Deputy Commissioner for the Division of Disease Control at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Daskalakis also directed the public health laboratory and all infectious disease control programs for NYC, including HIV, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, vaccine-preventable diseases, and general communicable diseases. In addition to his leadership in infectious disease control efforts, he served as the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene incident commander during the measles outbreak of 2018-2019, as well as the 2020 COVID-19 public health emergency. Dr. Daskalakis received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the New York University School of Medicine and completed his residency training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He also completed clinical infectious disease fellowships at the Brigham and Women’s Massachusetts General Hospital combined program and received a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Thomas (Dan) Filardo, MD

Thomas (Dan) Filardo, MD, is a physician trained in Internal Medicine and Adult Infectious Diseases. He joined the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in 2021 with the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, and has served as a Medical Officer with the Measles, Rubella, and cCMV team since 2023.

CAPT David Sugerman, MD, MPH

David Sugerman, MD, MPH, is a medical officer in the Division of Viral Diseases, serving as Team Lead for the Measles, Rubella, and Cytomegalovirus Team. During his CDC career, he’s played key roles in the agency’s injury prevention, global field epidemiology workforce development, and vaccine preventable disease work. He is an alumnus of CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program, assigned to the San Diego County Health Department and CDC Quarantine Station. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson Medical College, completed a Masters of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and his residency in emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Sugerman serves as editor for several scientific journals and has published over 40 scientific papers.

Michael Bell, MD

Michael Bell, MD, is the Acting Director of CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. Prior to that he served as the Associate Director for Infection Control and was the Executive Secretary for the US Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. His career has focused on investigating and preventing transmission of healthcare-associated illness, development of evidence-based infection control guidelines, and optimizing systems of care.

Erica Kaufman West, MD

Erica Kaufman West, MD, completed her undergraduate degrees at Valparaiso University in Indiana. She received her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She finished her Internal Medicine residency and her chief resident year at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She stayed to complete her fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the West LA VA/Cedars-Sinai/Olive View-UCLA Medical Center program. She has been working in the Midwest since then, focusing on acute inpatient as well as outpatient care in HIV, Hepatitis C and wound care. She now works as the AMA’s Director of Infectious Diseases while maintaining her clinical practice.