Executive Leadership Team

Verla S. Neslund, JD
Acting Chief of Staff

As Acting Chief of Staff for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ms. Neslund is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Office of the Director. She works to ensure that issues requiring a decision by the Director are handled in a timely manner, and advises the Director on high priority daily issues. Ms. Neslund is responsible for managing internal and external requests for the Directors time. She will work collaboratively with the other members of the executive team to provide leadership and guidance.

Over the years, Ms. Neslund has skillfully guided CDC and ATSDR staff and programs through a wide variety of complex and often controversial legal issues including HIV/AIDS, privacy and confidentiality, ethics, and appropriations law. In addition, she has published numerous articles on law and public health issues in noted publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and is coauthor of several textbook chapters on surveillance and public health law.

In 2001-2002, Ms. Neslund served as Director, Executive Secretariat Office, CDC and ATSDR. She began her career at CDC in 1983 as an attorney advisor in CDCs Office of General Counsel (OGC) and served as the Deputy Legal Advisor, OGC, from 1990 to 2001.

Ms. Neslund received her BA degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota, and her JD degree from the Emory University School of Law. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Neslund was a television reporter in Minneapolis, Minnesota and managing editor of a local newspaper in Prince Frederick, Maryland. Ms. Neslund also served as an adjunct professor of law at the Emory University School of Law.

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