Maryann D’Alessandro

Maryann D’Alessandro (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL)

Maryann D’Alessandro, Ph.D., has served as the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) since March 2012. She also served as the Associate Director for Science for NPPTL from 2003-2012. Maryann provides leadership to the NIOSH Personal Protective Technology (PPT) Core and Specialty Program and the Public Safety Program where she serves as the Manager leading the effort to align PPT initiatives with user needs across all workplace industry sectors.

Within the PPT Program, Maryann has served as the catalyst for aligning surveillance, research, standards, certification, outreach and intervention activities to improve workplace safety and health. She has played a key role in the COVID-19 response including leading personal protective equipment research, respirator conformity assessment, combatting counterfeit and substandard PPE, and addressing respiratory protection needs for the general public.

Prior to joining NIOSH in 2003, she had a short academic career at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Bioengineering and served in various U.S. Army research and development organizations for 15 years in both an active duty (12 years) and reserve capacity (3 year). Maryann holds Electrical Engineering degrees from the Florida Institute of Technology (B.S.), Fairleigh Dickinson University (M.S.), and Georgia Institute of Technology (Ph.D.). She also is the recipient of multiple awards including the 2021 James P. Keogh Award for Outstanding Service, the 2021 Federal Executive Board Gold Award for Outstanding Service to the Public, and she led the PPT Program to receive the 2021 CDC Director's Award for Excellence in Public Health Impact (COVID-19 award category).