Ileana Arias, PhD, serves as Principal Deputy Director for CDC and ATSDR. In this role, she serves as the principal advisor to the director on all scientific and programmatic activities of CDC/ATSDR. Dr. Arias is responsible for advising the director in the executive responsibilities of shaping policies and plans for CDC/ATSDR, including overseeing the organizational improvement activities.
Dr. Arias became the Director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) in July 2005, where she has worked to prevent injuries and violence and reduce their consequences.
Previously, she served as acting director of the Center since June 2004, and was the chief of the Etiology and Surveillance Branch in NCIPC’s Division of Violence Prevention.
She began her career as a research associate at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and then joined the University of Georgia in Athens as an assistant professor. Prior to joining CDC in 2000, Dr. Arias was the director of clinical training and professor of clinical psychology at the University of Georgia.
She is a well–respected clinical psychologist with research expertise in intimate partner and family violence. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in professional journals and has given presentations across the United States and in several foreign countries.
Dr. Arias is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma; the Review of Aggression and Violent Behavior; and Violence and Victims; and serves as a reviewer for 11 professional journals.
She currently serves as a member on the Advisory Boards of the Psychiatric and Forensic Doctor of Nursing Program of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) College of Nursing, the National Safety Council, the Center for Risk Communication Research of the University of Maryland, and the European Center for Injury Prevention. Dr. Arias also currently serves as a member of the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services.
Dr. Arias holds a BA, from Barnard College, and a MA and PhD, both in psychology, from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
