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Dr. Deena Disraelly is the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Director of the HHS Center for the Coordination Operations and Response Element (H-CORE) in the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, she is responsible for synchronizing the operational coordination, distribution, and analytics for emerging public health events. She is also responsible for integrating medical and public health lessons learned into existing emergency response frameworks to improve national readiness for, and response to, public health emergencies. Dr. Disraelly collaborates with partners across the U.S. government; state, tribal, and territorial governments; Congress; industry; and academia to achieve these goals.
Dr. Disraelly previously served as H-CORE’s Deputy Director and ASPR’s Division of Planning Director. As the Deputy Director of H-CORE, she worked closely with the Director to lead the mission to coordinate and accelerate the operations and logistics readiness and response to public health emergencies and disasters in support of ASPR. As the Division of Planning Director, she led the development of the HHS’s first comprehensive all-hazards plan, and introduced new, rapid response planning capabilities and decision support tools.
Dr. Disraelly joined HHS after 16 years as a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), in their Studies and Analyses Center and Science and Technology Policy Institute. She has more than 20 years’ experience working in, and training others to support, public health and emergency response. She has also conduced analyses on issues related to the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) preparedness and response. Her work focused on policy, technological, operational, and organizational aspects of preparedness, emergency response, consequence management, and resilience, especially as it pertains to the interaction across levels of government and with private sector and non-governmental organization stakeholders.
Dr. Disraelly is also an adjunct professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the George Washington University, where she teaches Resilience, Continuity, and Disaster Recovery. She also volunteers as Board Director and President of the Captain Teresa E. Elders Foundation and as a Medical Reserve Corps member in the State of Virginia.
Prior to HHS and IDA, Dr. Disraelly served eight years in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer and Naval Nuclear Engineering Officer. Dr. Disraelly holds a Bachelor of Science in aeronautics and astronautics, a Master of Science in technology and public policy, and a Master of Engineering in logistics management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also holds a Doctorate in engineering management from the George Washington University. Her awards include the Society of Women Engineers 2018 Prism Award and the 2018 ASIS Meritorious Service Award, among other distinctions.
