Shayla C. Anderson is an equity advisor at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the Hazard Mitigation Directorate where she advances equity through policies, programs, and the workforce. She has over 15 years of experience spanning local, state, territorial, and federal government.
Before FEMA, Anderson was the senior public health policy advisor at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity. There, she led modernization of the Disparity Impact Statement requirement for grant recipients. She previously served as public health analyst at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and field-based public health advisor in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At HRSA and CDC, Anderson's work involved providing technical assistance for substantial federal grants and cooperative agreements focused on primary healthcare and public health emergency preparedness and response. Before federal service, she was a health district manager and public information officer for the Virginia Department of Health (Crater and Central Virginia), where she led initiatives to enhance equity through community health assessments, disparity data mapping, and creation of a health information center to improve health literacy.
Anderson's response and recovery background encompasses domestic and international emergencies including hurricanes, COVID-19, Chikungunya, Dengue, Ebola, 2009 H1N1 Influenza, and Zika. She is a master certified health education specialist and a certified mental health first aid instructor. Anderson earned a Bachelor of Science from Longwood University and a Master of Public Health from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.