Title: A Public Health Journey in Three Parts

Dr. Amanda Garcia-Williams is the Lead of the Disability and Health Program and Practice Team in the Disability and Health Promotion Branch of the Division of Human Development and Disability. Her team leads programmatic efforts focused on promoting the health and wellness of people with disabilities. This includes the 10-State Disability and Health Program and two national programs with Special Olympics and the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s National Center on Health, Physical Activity, and Disability. She joined CDC in 2015 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer in the Division of Violence Prevention. During EIS she led projects focused on topics such as suicide, homicide, and violence against children. She also led an Epi-Aid investigation of youth suicide in California and supported an Epi-Aid investigation of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Ohio. Following EIS, Dr. Garcia-Williams served as a health scientist in the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Disease, Division of Global HIV & TB, and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. During her time at CDC, she has supported multiple agency-wide responses, including Zika, Ebola, and COVID-19. Originally from Northern California, Dr. Garcia-Williams earned a PhD and MPH in behavioral sciences and health education at Emory University and a BS in biology at Tufts University.