partner profile
Dr. Sonja Rasmussen
by Nancy Maddox, MPH, writer
Sonja Rasmussen, MD, MS, is the deputy director for Infectious Diseases and the director of the
Office of Infectious Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In these
positions, she provides leadership to the efforts of CDC’s infectious disease national centers and
helps to advance the agency’s cross-cutting infectious disease priorities.
Rasmussen joined CDC in 1998 and, since then, has provided significant scientific expertise
and leadership. Most recently, she was the director of the Division of Public Health Information
Dissemination in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS)
and the editor-in-chief of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Series. Earlier,
Rasmussen served as the acting director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response
(OPHPR), and, from 2011-2014, she served as deputy director of the Influenza Coordination Unit.
She has also held several positions in the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental
Disabilities, including medical officer, associate director for science, and senior scientist. While
there, she worked collaboratively with other experts across CDC on pandemic planning for
pregnant women, efforts that guided CDC’s recommendations for pregnant women during the
2009 H1N1 pandemic.
Rasmussen received her BS in biology and mathematics with magna cum laude honors from
the University of Minnesota-Duluth, her MS degree in medical genetics from the University of
Wisconsin, and her MD degree with honors from University of Florida. She is board certified in
pediatrics and clinical genetics.
How did your interest in science begin?
My brother who is 17 months younger
has Down syndrome, and because of
him, I became intrigued with genetics at
an early age. In preparation for a career
in genetics, I majored in biology and
mathematics as an undergraduate and
followed that with post-graduate training
to become a genetic counselor, a field in
which I worked for three years before
going to medical school.
How did your training in pediatrics and
genetics lead you to a career in public
health?
In 1987, during the summer after my first
year of medical school, I had the privilege
of working in CDC’s Birth Defects Branch.
This was at a time when information was
beginning to accumulate to suggest that
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LAB MATTERS Spring 2018
folic acid could reduce the risk of having
a baby with a neural tube defect. I became
fascinated with the idea that work such
as this could result in improved lives for
large numbers of babies.
How has your background in genetics
aided you in your career, for example,
in your work in birth defects and
developmental disabilities, and
infectious disease? What developments
in genetics intrigue you most?
As part of my genetics fellowship and as
a junior faculty member, I worked in a
molecular genetics laboratory studying
the genetic condition neurofibromatosis
1 (NF1) and the genetic changes that cells
from persons with NF1 undergo to move
from normal growth to benign tumors to
malignancy. Because of that molecular
genetics laboratory experience, I was
asked to lead the plans for collection,
storage and study of biologic specimens
as part of a large multi-site case-control
study of birth defects when I came
to CDC in 1998. This background in
molecular genetics has also helped me
to understand some of the challenges to
diagnostic testing for infectious diseases.
I am most interested in the treatments
that are now available for some persons
with genetic diseases. When I began my
master’s in genetics, we had so little to
offer families with genetic conditions.
Although we have a long way to go, it is
exciting to see that treatment options are
now available for some patients.
As the former editor-in-chief for
MMWR, what is the most effective
way to communicate scientific findings
or recommendations to scientists in
diverse disciplines?
In my position as editor-in-chief of
MMWR, I learned that different people use
different modalities of communication to
get public health information. Some want
brief information in a visual format, such
as what we prepared in a Vital Signs fact
sheet (Vital Signs was in the Division of
Public Health Information Dissemination,
the Division where I served as director).
Others want to listen to podcasts or
webinars to get information. Some want
to read all the details in an MMWR report.
I believe it is critical to offer multiple
modes of communication to ensure that
people can get information in the way
that works best for them.
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