María José Sierra Moros

María José Sierra Moros (born 1968) is a Spanish doctor specialising in preventive medicine, public health and epidemiology. She is the deputy director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies of the Spanish Ministry of Health since 2024.

In late March 2020, following Fernando Simón's positive COVID-19 test result, she took over as technical spokesperson for the Ministry of Health during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.

Early life and education Sierra was born in 1968 in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. She studied medicine at the University of Zaragoza and after passing the professional examination, she moved to Madrid.

Career She is a career civil servant in the National Health Service Medical Corps, and in 2001 Sierra was appointed head of section in the Directorate-General for Public Health and Consumer Affairs within the Deputy Directorate-General for Health Promotion and Epidemiology.

She is an expert in epidemics and contagious diseases, having published works on the 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic in America, the circulation of the West Nile virus in Spain, dengue fever, the epidemiological situation of Leishmania infantum and Influenza A virus. She is also part of the Spanish Network of Microbiology Laboratories. Her appearances on Spanish television at press conference were regular during the pandemic.

Sierra was appointed deputy director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies in November 2024.