Staff Bio
Christopher S. Holliday, PhD, MPH, MA, FACHE
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Dr. Holliday provides leadership and strategic direction to the science and programs in the Division of Diabetes Translation to prevent type 2 diabetes, prevent diabetes complications, reduce health disparities, and improve the health of all people with diabetes.
Role at CDC
Dr. Holliday is director of the Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where he provides leadership and strategic direction to the science and programs conducted in DDT to prevent type 2 diabetes, prevent diabetes complications, reduce health disparities, and improve the health of all people with diabetes.
Previous experience
Before joining CDC in 2021, Dr. Holliday was with the American Medical Association (AMA), where he served as director, Population Health and Clinical-Community Linkages, Improving Health Outcomes. He led AMA's landmark engagement with YMCA of the USA, under a Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation demonstration grant that facilitated Medicare coverage for the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) lifestyle change program.
Throughout his career, Dr. Holliday has focused on improving outcomes for populations disproportionately impacted by chronic and mental health conditions, addressing root cause social and structural determinants of health, including access to care. Before joining AMA, Dr. Holliday was director of the Adler School of Professional Psychology's National Center of Excellence and served as the chief executive officer for a national organization promoting access to care for uninsured and underinsured people. For a dozen years before that, he held progressive leadership positions in the Georgia Department of Public Health, heading chronic disease prevention and health promotion initiatives.
Education
After beginning his academic career at Northwestern University (BA, psychology), Dr. Holliday received an MPH in health policy and management at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and trained as a community psychologist and applied research scientist, earning an MA and a PhD in community psychology at Georgia State University. He is board-certified in health care management as a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.