Nancy Bennett Named Chair of CDC Advisory Committee

Nancy M. Bennett, M.D., director of the Center for Community Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center, has been appointed chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

The advisory group’s medical and public health experts provide advice and guidance to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and develop recommendations for the use of vaccines to control diseases in the U.S. civilian population.  ACIP recommendations, once approved by the CDC director, are published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report as official public health policy in an effort to reduce the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases and increase the safe use of vaccines. Officially adopted ACIP recommendations also determine vaccine coverage by insurance in the U.S., per the Affordable Care Act.

ACIP voting members go through an extensive nomination process for selection by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Bennett served as a voting member on the ACIP for four years before assuming her new role as chair.

Bennett will lead her first ACIP meeting on Oct. 21 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.