Staff Bio
Rashid Njai, PhD, MPH, MSW (CDR)
Acting Director of the Office of Public Health Ethics and Regulations (OPHER) in the Office of Science.
CDC role
CDR Rashid Njai is responsible for planning, managing, and evaluating the programs within OPHER. He works to ensure CDC science and research activities comply with scientific regulatory and ethical practices.
Previous experience
CDR Rashid Njai has over 20 years of experience in public health. He joined CDC and the U.S. Public Health Service in 2008 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer assigned to the former Division of Adult and Community Health. After completing EIS, he served as a senior epidemiologist in the Division of Community Health.
CDR Njai served as senior epidemiologist for CDC's Deputy Director of Non-Infectious Diseases (2016-2020), supporting the cross-cutting science, syndemic, and emergent activities. In 2020, he became the lead for the Minority Health and Health Equity Science Team in CDC's Office of Minority Health (OMH). In 2023, he became the Deputy Associate Director for Strategic Science within OMH.
Education
CDR Njai's degrees include a Bachelor of Science from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Public Health and Doctorate from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He recently completed a Master of Social Work degree, with a trauma-informed clinical focus, from Boston University School of Social Work. He completed Lean Six Sigma Yellow belt, Population Health Training in Place, and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies trainings while at CDC.