is the Associate Director for Science with US CDC’s Middle East/North Africa (MENA) regional office in Muscat, Oman. She joined CDC in 2010 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer. After completing EIS she joined CDC’s Global Disease Detection program as the One Health Advisor to CDC Egypt before being assigned as the Lead for Science and Innovations on the Eastern Mediterranean Region Polio Eradication team in the Global Immunizations Division. During the pandemic she served as CDC’s Senior Liaison to WHO/EMRO in support of COVID-19 response in the region. Before joining CDC she completed Medical School training in 1995 and her academic career included Post-doctoral fellowships in Behavioral Medicine at the University of California, San Diego and University of Oklahoma.  She has MS and PhD degrees in epidemiology from the University of Oklahoma where her research focused on the effects of stress and physical activity on cardiovascular risk factors.  Her publications span a range of public health issues including the effects of behavioral and socioeconomic factors on hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis functioning and infectious diseases epidemiology.