Director, Division of Partnership Support

Role at CDC

Dr. Dean leads the work of the Division of Partnership Support (DPS). DPS leverages partnerships to help develop the capacity of state, tribal, local, and territorial public health systems to sustain and strengthen public health foundational, infrastructure, and workforce capabilities by providing capacity building assistance to the field to improve performance.

Previous experience

Dr. Dean served as the director of the Office of Equitable Population Health in CDC’s Office of Health Equity where she provided leadership in developing CDC’s long-range plans for populations that have been historically marginalized and underserved and who experience a disproportionate burden of premature death, preventable injury, and disease. She also served as the 25^th Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of Public Health Reports (PHR), the journal of the Office of the Surgeon General and the US Public Health Service.

Dr. Dean served in many leadership roles with a distinguished record of service and achievements. From 2019 to 2023, Dr. Dean served as an Associate Director in the former Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services. From 2006 to 2019, she was the Principal Deputy Director of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP). Prior to this position, she was NCHHSTP’s first Associate Director for Health Disparities and Director of the Office of Health Disparities.

Dr. Dean has worked in public health at the state, federal, and international levels, and in nonprofit organizations. She has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles, policy reports, and other publications about infectious and chronic diseases, public health surveillance, applied epidemiologic methods, social and structural determinants of health, and public health workforce and leadership development.