Deborah L Rugg PhD

Deborah L. Rugg is a trailblazer, navigating uncharted waters in Public Health Evaluation, winning awards for Advancing Behavioral & Social Sciences at CDC and AEA’s Evaluation Leadership in Government Service Award. Her career spans four decades, 100 countries, pandemics from AIDS to COVID, and the frontline fight for scientific truth and social equity over stigma and discrimination. She has a PhD in Health Psychology, was a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, held high-profile jobs directing Evaluation at UNAIDS in Geneva and UN Headquarters in NYC, and shepherded historic UN resolutions helping developing countries conduct their own evaluations. She writes provocatively about pandemics and politics behind-the-scenes at CDC and the UN, how she rose to the top, spoke truth to power, knew when to move on, start her own business, and achieve work-life-family balance. She enjoys sailing on the San Francisco Bay where she now resides. To learn more about what’s revealed, get her amazing memoir “Navigating Change” and connect with her on Linked In.