Nikki Romanik

Dr. Romanik is a physician and policy strategist with deep experience leading U.S. preparedness and response to high-consequence biological threats. She previously served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President, Deputy Director, and Chief of Staff for the inaugural Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR), where she established the office and coordinated federal responses to major outbreaks, including mpox, COVID-19, and Marburg virus disease. Prior to OPPR, she served as Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Mpox Response. Following her White House service, Dr. Romanik was a Distinguished Senior Fellow in Global Health Security at the Brown University School of Public Health. Earlier in her career, she held senior leadership roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the World Health Organization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as the CDC COVID-19 Liaison to the White House and HHS. Dr. Romanik is an Associated Scholar of the Georgetown/MedStar Health National Center for Health Security and Resilience, a Non-Resident Affiliate of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center, and a Member of the National Center Outbreak Response Experts (N-CORE). She also serves as an Advisor to Network 20/20.