Mary Leinhos is a senior health scientist in the Office of Applied Research in Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She earned a master’s in molecular and cellular biology and a PhD in higher education studies, with a concentration in science and technology policy and a minor in culture science and technology studies. With dissertation support from the National Science Foundation, she conducted a critical examination of the emerging field of bioethics in the United States. Leinhos joined the OPHPR Extramural Research Program in 2009, where she has served as project officer for five Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers, OPHPR’s portion of the Hurricane Sandy Recover Research Program, and several research contracts and cooperative agreements. She recently completed a six-month temporary assignment acting as CDC’s public health ethics team lead.
Before working in OPHPR, Leinhos was involved in several activities related to emergency preparedness at CDC, including workshops on genomics in acute public health investigations, providing CDC Emergency Operations Center ethics desk coverage and input during an influenza exercise and response, and providing guidance for protection of human subjects and regulatory compliance in investigations related to emergency response. Leinhos has been a member of CDC’s Public Health Ethics Committee since 2006, and serves as the public health ethics lead for OPHPR.