Office of Policy, Performance, and Evaluation (OPPE)

Debra Lubar, PhD, is the director for the Office of Policy, Performance and Evaluation (OPPE). In this role, she is responsible for enhancing CDC’s effectiveness in improving policy, planning, and evaluation to address and support cross-cutting issues while leveraging CDC’s collective influence to improve public health.

Dr. Lubar previously served as the deputy director for management and operations for the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). In this capacity, she provided senior-level leadership in numerous areas, including strategy, budget, communications, program development, management and operations, policy, and congressional relations.

During the agency-wide COVID-19 emergency response, Dr. Lubar served in several leadership roles, including principal deputy incident manager. She also previously led CDC’s budget formulation and appropriations work as the director of the Office of Appropriations in CDC’s Office of Financial Resources (OFR). In that position, she served as CDC’s primary contact with congressional appropriations committees and the White House Office of Management and Budget.

From 2007-2010, Dr. Lubar served as the branch chief of the State Support, Arthritis, Epilepsy, and Quality of Life Branch in the Division of Adult and Community Health within CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). During that time, she led national public health efforts to address diseases that profoundly affect people’s quality of life.

Throughout her CDC career, Dr. Lubar has developed and executed agency-wide legislative and partnership strategies, served in several leadership roles – including associate director for policy at NCCDPHP – and worked in the Office of Program Planning and Evaluation during the emergency response operations in 2001 and 2002. In 2019, she was the acting director of the Division of Emergency Operations.

Before joining CDC, Dr. Lubar was a senior official with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, where she led policy efforts. She also served as director of the state’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. She was the founding director of the Healthy Start National Resource Center, an organization focused on infant mortality reduction through community-driven programs.

Dr. Lubar is a recipient of the Presidential Rank Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the federal career civil service. She earned a doctorate in social work from the University of Georgia, a master’s degree in social work from Boston University, and an undergraduate degree in human service studies from Cornell University.