Cynthia (Cyndy) Whitney, MD, MPH

Cynthia (Cyndy) Whitney is the Executive Director and Principal Investigator of CHAMPS. In this leadership role, she oversees Program Office functionalities and works to ensure success of the network’s strategic objectives.

Whitney joined CHAMPS as a Senior Advisor in 2018 after 25 years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she worked as an epidemiologist, team lead, and branch chief, focused on respiratory infections, surveillance, outbreak response, and vaccine policy development and evaluation. She also led CDC-wide emergency response task forces for SARS, Ebola in West Africa, and pandemic influenza. She has long been a fan and friend of CHAMPS, co-leading the CDC efforts for the initial CHAMPS grant, and supervising the group responsible for CHAMPS Taqman Array Card development. Dr. Whitney has published over 250 scientific publications on topics such as pneumococcal disease epidemiology, drug resistance, respiratory disease, neonatal sepsis, and disease outbreaks. She is a frequent consultant for the World Health Organization and other bilateral and multilateral groups.

Dr. Whitney completed medical residencies in Internal Medicine from the University of Minnesota and in Preventive Medicine through CDC. She holds a Master of Public Health from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Science from Iowa State University.