Deputy Director for Non-Infectious Diseases (DDNID)

Ileana Arias, PhD

Ileana Arias, PhD, is the Acting Deputy Director for Non-Infectious Diseases (DDNID) at CDC. In this position, she is responsible for providing leadership and guidance to CDC′s four non-infectious disease centers and helps to advance the agency’s cross-cutting non-infectious disease priorities such as mental health, health outcomes associated with marijuana use, and the prevention of non-occupational hearing loss.

Dr. Arias joined the CDC in 2000 as Chief of the Etiology and Surveillance Branch in the Division of Violence Prevention of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). She became Director of the NCIPC in 2004 and served in that capacity until 2009. Dr. Arias served as Principal Deputy Director for the CDC and ATSDR from 2009-2015. In this role, she served as the principal advisor to the director on all scientific and programmatic activities of CDC/ATSDR and was responsible for advising the Director in the executive responsibilities of shaping policies and plans for CDC/ATSDR. Immediately preceding her current position, Dr. Arias served as the Director of Division of Community Health Investigations (DCHI) of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) working to prevent exposures to harmful substances in the environment and their health consequences.

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. She is a well–respected clinical psychologist with research expertise in intimate partner and family violence. Her research career began as a research associate at the State University of New York at Stony Brook after which she 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.

Dr. Arias has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in professional journals and has given presentations across the United States and in several foreign countries. She is on the editorial boards of leading intimate partner and family violence journals and also serves on numerous professional boards.