Kayla Laserson

Kayla F. Laserson is an American epidemiologist who served as the director of the Global Health Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from July 2023 to April 2025. She was previously the deputy director for Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Delivery, India Office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Laserson served as a commander in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps until 2007.

Life Laserson earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and a Doctor of Science in infectious disease epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her 1997 dissertation was titled, The dynamics of malaria infection and disease among the Venezuelan Yanomami Amerindians.

Laserson worked in the CDC's Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE), where she started her career as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer in DTBE's International Research and Program Branch in 1997 and later became the branch's deputy branch chief.