Director, Office of Rural Health

Staff Bio

Diane M. Hall, PhD, MSEd, is the Director for the Office of Rural Health in CDC's Public Health Infrastructure Center.

Diane M. Hall, PhD, MSEd
Director, Office of Rural Health, Diane M. Hall, PhD, MSEd

Role at CDC

Dr. Hall leads CDC's efforts to improve the health and well-being of rural communities by advancing its rural public health strategy and integrating rural health approaches into its programs at the outset. Under her direction, the Office of Rural Health works with CDC staff and external partners to build the science and evidence base to understand and address rural public health challenges. Dr. Hall also helps develop and share best practices for addressing rural public health needs and strengthening rural public health infrastructure through partnerships with federal, national, and state agencies, and rural-serving organizations.

Previous experience

Prior to joining the Public Health Infrastructure Center, Dr. Hall was a senior health scientist in CDC's Office of the Associate Director for Policy and Strategy (OADPS), where she led the office's strategic engagement and capacity building work. She served as CDC's rural health lead, led the agency's public-private partnerships work, and oversaw training activities focused on using policy to improve the population's health. As a recognized expert in knowledge synthesis and translation, Dr. Hall led the development of the office's policy portal, POLARIS (Policy Analysis and Research Information System). Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Hall held several leaderships positions within CDC's response.

Previously, Dr. Hall held several positions in CDC's Division of Violence Prevention, where she worked on research related to the prevention of teen dating violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and youth violence. She also served as lead of several translation products on Veto Violence.

Prior to coming to CDC, Dr. Hall held an academic appointment at the University of Pennsylvania, serving as the lead coordinator for a master's program in psychology. She taught courses on theories of psychotherapy and counseling, psychology of women, and adolescent development.

Education

Dr. Hall earned her B.A. in psychology from Hollins College (now Hollins University) and earned her MSEd in psychological services as well as her PhD in school, community, and child clinical psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.