Renowned Epidemiologist and Biostatistician Martin Kulldorff Appointed to Senior HHS Role

WASHINGTON — DEC. 1, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the appointment of Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., as chief science officer for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE).  Kulldorff recently chaired the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and previously taught at Harvard Medical School. He is a biostatistician and epidemiologist with more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.

ASPE serves as HHS' in-house think tank, providing policy advice to the Secretary. It also leads special initiatives, coordinates departmentwide research and evaluation activities, manages major planning processes, and produces analyses and cost estimates for policy options across public health, health care, and human services.

"Martin Kulldorff transformed ACIP from a rubber stamp into a committee that delivers gold-standard science for the American people," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said. "I'm glad to welcome him to my team to help develop bold, evidence-based policies to Make America Healthy Again."

"Five years ago, Martin Kulldorff and I co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration calling for an end to pandemic lockdowns," National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D. said. "That evidence-based approach to public health now permeates HHS."

"It's an honor to join the team of distinguished scientists that Secretary Kennedy has assembled," Kulldorff said. "I look forward to contributing to the science-based public health policies that will Make America Healthy Again."

Before his leadership on ACIP, Kulldorff helped build the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine and drug safety surveillance systems by developing new statistical and epidemiological methods for the Vaccine Safety Datalink and Sentinel systems. He served on the FDA Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee and on the ACIP COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group.

Kirk Milhoan, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric cardiologist and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, now chairs ACIP. Robert Malone, M.D., serves as vice chair.