Debra Elaine Houry is an American physician. She is the acting principal deputy director of the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...

, having formally served as the Director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Early life and education

Houry was born and raised in Virginia. She completed her undergraduate degree at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of h ...

in 1994 with a double major in biology and philosophy. She also volunteered at

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Egleston Hospital is a nationally ranked, freestanding, 295-bed, pediatric acute care children's hospital located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is affiliated with the Emory University School of Medicine and is a m ...

, worked as a house staff assistant at

Grady Hospital Grady Memorial Hospital, frequently referred to as Grady Hospital or simply Grady, is the public hospital for the city of Atlanta. It is the tenth-largest public hospital in the United States, and one of the busiest Level I trauma centers in th ...

. From Emory, Houry entered the dual

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into specia ...

and MPH program at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

. Following this, she trained in emergency medicine at Denver Health Medical Center and received the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors Resident Academic Achievement Award.

Career

Following her residency, Houry became an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and gene ...

of emergency medicine and of occupational and environmental health at

, as well as associate director of Emory’s Center for Injury Control. While serving in this role, Houry was elected as the president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. In May 2013, Houry was selected as a Fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program to prepare women for senior leadership roles in academic health institutions. The following year, she was appointed director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the

(CDC). During her tenure at the CDC, Houry oversaw the release of "Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain," which gives providers research and academic evidence for managing patient opioid prescriptions. As a result of her research, Houry was elected a member of the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

in 2019 and appointed acting principal deputy director of the CDC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houry, Debra Living people Physicians from Virginia 21st-century American women physicians 21st-century American physicians Members of the National Academy of Medicine Tulane University alumni Emory University alumni Emory University faculty Year of birth missing (living people)