Leadership
Office of Minority Health & Health Equity (OMHHE)

Leandris C. Liburd, PhD, MPH, MA

Director, Office of Minority Health & Health Equity (OMHHE)

Dr. Liburd is a respected leader with many years of experience addressing community health, health disparities, and social determinants of health. She has held a variety of leadership positions at CDC since joining the agency in 1987.

Most recently, Leandris served as the chief of the Community Health and Equity Branch in the Division of Adult and Community Health (DACH) in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where she directed a broad range of public health programs, including REACH U.S., one of CDC’s flagship health disparities reduction initiatives.

In her new capacity, she will provide agency leadership, direction, and accountability for CDC’s policies and programs to ensure they are optimally effective in improving minority health and achieving health equity. Leandris will serve as the agency lead in coordinating CDC engagement with HHS, other federal agencies, national organizations, and the public on issues of health equity.

Tamara J. Kicera

Deputy Director, Office of Minority Health & Health Equity (OMHHE)

Tamara Kicera, as theDeputy Director, plays a vital role on OMHHE's Senior Leadership Team; she is responsible for providing executive-level management, programmatic, and operational leadership and guidance for the Office.

Ms. Kicera served as acting Director of OMHHE from October 2010-February 2011, during which time she helped assure connections across the agency and with partners and colleagues in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Ms. Kicera began her public health career in 1980 as the Refugee Health Coordinator for the Colorado Department of Health, and joined CDC in 1984 as a Public Health Advisor assigned to the Chicago Immunization Program. She has held progressively responsible senior management positions with a number of CDC programs since that time.

In 1993, Tami completed the Managemnt/Leadership Development Internship program in CDC's Office of the Associate Director for Science. She holds two undergraduate degrees from the University of Colorado/Boulder in Communications and Sociology.

Tami came to OMHHE in 2008 from Denver, where she was CDC's Senior Management Official for Colorado since November 2006. Prior to that assignment, she worked with the Director's Office, providing s coordination for CDC's participation in then HHS Secretary Leavitt's state pandemic influenza summits held across the country.

Ms. Kicera has also served as:

• Project Coordinator for CDC's Racial and Ethnic Adult Disparities in Immunization Initiative (READII), which looked at disparities in influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates among black and Hispanic persons aged 65 and over;
• Deputy Division Director for the Division of Reproductive Health at CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion;
• Deputy Director for the CDC Health Alert Network;
• Deputy Director of the Immunization Services Division with CDC's National Immunization Program;
• Deputy Chief, Adult Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch, Immunization Services Division, National Immunization Program;
• Assistant Chief and subsequently Acting Chief, Surveillance and Information Systems Branch, Division of STD/HIV Prevention with CDC’s National Center for Prevention Services; and
• Regional Representative with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Region VIII/Denver.

Tami has spent over 30 years in public health and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this position.

OMHHE is organized into 3 Teams: Strategic Management & Accountability;
Science & Evaluation; and Initiatives & Partnerships

OMHHE shares a close collaborative relationship with the Office of the Associate Director for Program (OADPG), working to ensure all CDC Programs address health disparities at all levels, through planning, performance, accountablility, and program evalutation.

OMHHE is housed within CDC's Office of the Director (OD).
CDC is an Agency/Operating Division of the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

Organizational Charts for:

• Office of Minority Health & Health Equity (OMHHE)
• Office of the Associate Director for Program (OADPG)
• Office of Director (OD)
• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
• US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

CDC's Office of Minority Health was established by the CDC Director on August 8, 1988 as a small coordination office, set up in response to Secretary Heckler's 1985 landmark report on minority health. To view the full report, see the links below:

The Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black & Minority Health
Margaret M. Heckler, HHS Secretary
October 16, 1985.

• Volume 1: Executive Summary
• Volume 2: Crosscutting Issues
  in Minority Health
• Volume 3: Cancer
• Volume 4, Part 1: Cardiovascular
  & Cerebrovascular Disease
• Volume 4, Part 2: Cardiovascular
  & Cerebrovascular Disease
• Volume 5: Homicide, Suicide,
  & Unintentional Injuries
• Volume 6: Infant Mortality & Low Birthweight
• Volume 7: Chemical Dependency & Diabetes
• Volume 8: Hispanic Health Issues, Inventory of DHHS Programs,
  Survey of Non-Federal Community

Ten years later, the office went through the first of many strategic redirections, and continued to transform over the next 7 years to become CDC's Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities (OMHD) in September of 2005, with established programs now serving a broader focus of expanded populations.

OMHD was later strategically aligned within the Office of Strategy and Innovation (OSI) to establish the CDC Goals and ensure health disparities were being addressed and incorporated into all CDC work and agency goals.

In 2008, OMHD was moved to the Office of the Chief of Public Health Practice (OCPHP), to be best positioned to accelerate health impact for vulnerable populations in the US, with a focus to develop CDC-wide health disparity elimination strategies, policies, and programs.

In 2010, the CDC restructure initially partnered OMHD with the Office of the Associate Director for Program (OADPG), with whom it shares a close collaborative relationship today, working to ensure all CDC Programs address health disparities at all levels, through planning, performance, accountability, and program evaluation.

At the beginning of 2011, the office transforms once again, to emerge as the new Office of Minority Health & Health Equity (OMHHE), placed in the CDC Office of the Director (OD), and led by Dr. Leandris Liburd.