Laura Chanchien Parajón

Laura Chanchien Parajon, MD, MPH, currently serves as the Acting Director of the CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) and has previously held the role of Principal Deputy Director within the same center. Prior experience includes serving as the Deputy Cabinet Secretary of Health and State Health Officer for the New Mexico Department of Health, as well as faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico. Laura co-founded and directed AMOS Health and Hope, a non-profit focused on addressing health disparities in Nicaragua, and served as Executive Director for PROVADENIC. Educational qualifications include a Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health from the University of New Mexico, along with a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from Brown University.