Olivia D. Carter-Pokras, M.H.S., Ph.D.
Olivia D.
Carter-Pokras, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology
and Pre
ventive
Medicine at University of Maryland School of Medicine. A second-generation
Bolivian, Dr. Carter-Pokras has more than 20 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. Dr. Pokras untill recently served as the
Director of the Division of Policy and Data at the Office of Minority
Health in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 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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