Director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention

Role at CDC

Dr. Wright is the director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where she directs programmatic and scientific efforts, as well as policy, partnerships, and communication strategies, to promote cardiovascular health equity and fulfill the division’s mission.

Previous experience

Dr. Wright returned to DHDSP in December 2020 after a 2-year detail in the Office of the Surgeon General as the acting director of science and policy. In that role, she was charged with ensuring the scientific integrity of the office's projects, reports, and presentations. From 2011 to 2019, Dr. Wright served as executive director of Million Hearts®, a national HHS initiative that CDC co-leads with the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to prevent a million cardiovascular events over 5 years.

Prior to federal service, Dr. Wright was senior vice president for science and quality at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) from 2008 to 2011. She practiced cardiology for many years in Chico, California, serving on the ACC's board of trustees, the National Committee for Quality Assurance's Physician Program Committee, and the Center for Information Therapy, a nonprofit organization committed to providing personalized health information during each health encounter.

Education

Dr. Wright received her MD from the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center and completed her internal medicine residency at Children’s Hospital and Adult Medical Center in San Francisco and her fellowship in cardiology at San Francisco General Hospital and the University of California, San Francisco.