Executive Board 2023–2024

Chair: CDR Zewditu Demissie

CDR Zewditu (Zewde) Demissie is the Health Equity Infrastructure and Capacity Building Team Lead for CDCs Office of Health Equity’s (OHE). Her team is responsible for activities related to improving and evaluating improvement of state, tribal, local, and territorial capacities and capabilities to effectively address minority health and health equity considerations and fostering growth of the health equity workforce. Before joining OHE, CDR Demissie served as the Associate Chief of Science for the Surveillance Branch in CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention. From 2010-2020, she worked in CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health as Supervisory Epidemiologist for the Scientific Support and Innovation Team, Senior Research Scientist, and Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer. CDR Demissie holds both PhD and MPH degrees in Epidemiology, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, respectively. She also has a Graduate Certificate in Global Health and Global Health Engagement from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. She is a behavioral epidemiologist qualified in occupational and environmental epidemiology, with expertise in youth populations, obesity-related factors, injury and violence, sexual health, and substance use. She has more than 50 scientific publications and has contributed to more than 60 scientific oral and poster presentations.

CDR Demissie commissioned into the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in 2010. She is a former member of Rapid Deployment Force 3 and National Incident Support Team B, and has deployed for agency and service responses, including polio, Ebola, natural disasters, and COVID-19. She has served in several USPHS Commissioned Corps leadership roles, including as Atlanta Commissioned Officers Association President, Black Commissioned Officers Advisory Group Executive Secretary, Atlanta PACE Lead, and Editor-in-Chief of the PACE newsletter. She has contributed to more than 40 USPHS-related publications. Her previous major SciPAC roles have included Career Development Subcommittee Co-Chair and SciPAC Awards Subcommittee Chair, but her involvement has extended to the Category Day, Mentoring, Rules and Membership, Science, and Visibility Subcommittees. CDR Demissie is excited to serve as your Chair and welcomes any feedback on how we can best support our PAC and showcase the great accomplishments of Scientist Officers.

Chair-Elect: CDR Colleen Scott

CDR Colleen Scott is the Protocol Unit Lead for the Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis (DGHT) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global Health Center. In this role, she serves as a subject matter expert in human subjects protections and research methods for the Division, and provides scientific guidance and support for research and non-research activities across 25 DGHT country and 3 DGHT regional offices. CDR Scott is a behavioral epidemiologist with expertise in infectious diseases, immunizations, and emergency response. During her time as an officer, she has responded to both CDC- (Ebola (2014 West Africa), Ebola (2019 DRC), COVID-19 (2020-2021), MPX (2022)) and HHS-directed emergency responses (Hurricanes Harvey/Maria/Irma 2018 & 2019), and NDMS/DMAT training (2019)). CDR Scott was commissioned into the U.S. Public Health service in 2012 as a Health Services Officer in the Jr Commissioned Officer Student Training Program and commissioned in the regular corps as a Scientist Officer in 2014 when she joined the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service assigned to the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. She earned a DrPH in Community and Behavioral Health from East Tennessee State University and an MPH in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from Emory Rollins School of Public Health in Georgia. She previously served as SciPAC Executive Secretary and Chair and Co-Chair of the Visibility Subcommittee, among other SciPAC roles.

LCDR Jonathan Leshin is a Senior Regulatory Review Officer for the Division of Human Food Safety in the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA. In this role, he serves as a subject matter expert on the food safety of veterinary drugs as well as a specialist in the human user safety of veterinary drugs. During his time as an officer, he has deployed for RDB as a Data and Information Section Chief across three deployments (COVID-19 2021, 2022, UAC 2021), an information management officer (Hurricane Ian 2022, COVID-19 2020, Typhoon Mangkhut/Hurricane Florence 2018), and a case manager (Hurricanes Harvey/Irma/Maria 2018). LCDR Leshin served his initial USPHS Commissioned Corps detail at the EPA as an antimicrobial pesticide toxicologist. He received his PhD from Georgetown University in Pharmacology with a focus on biological weapons defense. Prior to serving as the SciPAC Executive Secretary, he served for 3 years as the Executive Director of Prevention through Active Community Engagement (PACE) as well as 2 years as its Chief of Staff. Within SciPAC, he has served as Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee Chair, Policy Subcommittee Co-Chair, and Visibility Subcommittee Co-Chair, among other roles.

Executive Liaison: LCDR Shayne Gallaway 

LCDR Michael “Shayne” Gallaway commissioned as a Scientist Officer in 2016 after 12 years combined serving on active-duty in the Air Force and as a post-doctoral Civilian Scientist in the Army. He began his Commissioned Corps career at CDC with assignments in the Division of Health Informatics, Division of Cancer Prevention, and Division of Population Health. He is currently assigned to the Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency, Global Emerging Infections Surveillance Branch. Serving as the Respiratory Infections Focus Area Lead, LCDR Gallaway is responsible for enhancing global health security by coordinating global surveillance networks that promote rapid detection of respiratory pathogens with pandemic potential, including 15 partners laboratories and 25 projects across 40 countries. During his time as an officer, he has responded on several CDC-(Zika (2016), Hurricane Harvey (2017), Ebola (2019), COVID-19 Case Investigation (2020-21), Ebola (2022)) and HHS-directed emergency responses (Hurricane Maria (2017), Hurricane Florence (2018), COVID-19 Testing sites (2020), Unaccompanied Children (2021)). LCDR Gallaway earned a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and an MPH in Behavioral Sciences from the University of Texas School of Public Health. He previously served as Chair and co-Chair of the Mentoring Subcommittee, among other SciPAC roles, and has also been very active in local COAs.

Immediate Past Chair: CDR Alice Shumate

SciPAC Chairs 1984–Present