Staff Bio
Wanda D. Barfield, MD, MPH, FAAP, RADM USPHS (ret.)
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Dr. Barfield leads efforts to provide optimal and equitable health to women and infants through improved surveillance and applied public health research during the critical junctures of population health—pregnancy, infancy, and adolescence.
Role at CDC
Wanda Barfield, MD, MPH, FAAP, is Director of the Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) within the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Barfield leads efforts to provide optimal and equitable health to women and infants through improved surveillance and applied public health research during the critical junctures of population health– pregnancy, infancy, and adolescence. Through building and strengthening strategic partnerships with multiple organizations, her division leads several programs to monitor maternal and infant mortality and morbidity; the impact of emerging threats to pregnant/postpartum women and their infants (opioids, disasters, COVID-19); and issues in women's reproductive health, from contraception and teen/unintended pregnancy to infertility and assisted reproductive technology.
Previous experience
Dr. Barfield joined CDC in 2000 as part of its Epidemic Intelligence Service where she worked in neonatal and perinatal health. She was named Division Director in 2010. Dr. Barfield's research focuses on maternal/infant morbidity and mortality, early child health services utilization, improving access to risk-appropriate perinatal care, and advancing the quality of maternal, infant, and reproductive health data for public health action. She has published over 200 scientific articles in these areas.
Education
Dr. Barfield received her medical and public health degrees from Harvard University, completed a pediatrics residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Harvard. She is a retired Rear Admiral (Assistant Surgeon General) in the US Public Health Service and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University. She continues to practice neonatology, providing clinical care to critically ill newborns.