Olivia D. Carter-Pokras, Ph.D. is the Director of the Division of Policy and Data at the Office of Minority Health in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A second-generation Bolivian, Dr. Carter-Pokras has more than 19 years of experience in the collection, analysis and presentation of health data; development of national health goals and objectives; and development of health policy. She earned a Ph.D. in Epidemiology, and a Master of Health Science in Biostatistics, from Johns Hopkins University. Before joining the Office of Minority Health in December 1991, Dr. Carter-Pokras worked with the Hispanic and National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys at the National Center for Health Statistics. Dr. Carter-Pokras co-chairs the Working Group on Racial and Ethnic Data of the HHS Data Council, and chaired the Hispanic work group of the federal Interagency Committee for the Review of the Racial and Ethnic Standards and the Healthy People 2000 Working Group for Hispanic Americans. Major accomplishments of these work groups include more than doubling the number of national health goals and objectives for racial and ethnic minorities, establishment of the first-ever Federal policy for the inclusion of racial and ethnic data in Federal (HHS) data systems, and the first revision of the Federal standards for racial and ethnic data (OMB Directive No. 15) in 20 years.

Dr. Carter-Pokras is an Associate with the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University's School of Hygiene and Public Health and a member of the American Public Health Association. Her publications and presentations at professional meetings have covered a wide range of health topics including environmental health, social class and health, and the health of racial and ethnic minorities. Dr. Carter-Pokras has received awards from the Secretary of HHS, the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Surgeon General, the Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the Director of the National Center for Health Statistics.

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