Former Acting Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

“The Center’s main goal is to convey the message that injury prevention is important to the quality of life and health of Americans across the life span.”

Before her appointment as acting director, Louise Galaska was the Chief Management Officer (CMO) in the Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention (CCEHIP). Ms. Galaska also served as NCIPC’s deputy director from 2001 to 2006, and prior to that, worked eight years in the field of cancer prevention and control in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Ms. Galaska first went to work for CDC in the Chicago Health Department and learned public health through “shoe-leather” epidemiology, and then spent 15 years working in STD, HIV and TB control and prevention in state and local health departments. She completed undergraduate studies at Barat College, earning two Bachelor of Arts degrees-one in history and one in American studies.