Dr. Aaron Samuels serves as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Influenza Program Director for Southern and Central Africa based in Pretoria, South Africa. Aaron received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, his Internal Medicine Residency at Brown University, and his public health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service Fellowship in the Parasitic Diseases and Malaria Division and then served as an Epidemiologist in the Malaria Branch. In 2015, Aaron and his family moved to Kisumu, Kenya where he served as the Director of CDC’s Malaria Research Platform until 2022, when he transitioned to his current role. Dr. Samuels has extensive experience leading observational studies and interventional trials with a focus on translating research findings to global policy recommendations.