Lisa Bastin, MA

Acting Deputy Director

Associate Director for Communication

Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance

Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services

Deputy Director for Public Health Science and Surveillance

Lisa Bastin serves as the acting deputy director and associate director for communication in the Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance (DHIS). She has more than 25 years of experience as a communication professional, both in federal service and private industry, and in communication strategy development, project management, writing, editing, and the development of editorial teams.

As DHIS ADC, Lisa leads the development and execution of the division’s communication strategy, focusing on the core activities of syndromic surveillance, case-based surveillance, data as a resource, and information systems.

Prior to this role, Lisa served as the deputy associate director for communication in DHIS, where she led the communication strategy for the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), served as the senior DHIS communication advisor for the CDC Data Modernization Initiative, and oversaw the web and social media efforts for the division. During this time, she also served as the Case Surveillance Section Communication Lead during the CDC Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic response.

Lisa began her career at CDC in 2007, where she worked in CDC’s Writer-Editor Services Branch, serving the editorial needs of the Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention while also being involved in CDC-wide projects such as the CDC Health Protection Goal Action Plans and briefing books for the CDC Director and HHS Secretary. She also served as a senior-level writer-editor for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. In these roles, she worked on a child injury prevention national action plan, two high-profile reports about health system surge capacity, a report on Hurricanes Gustav and Ike responses, and a resource guide for mental health assessments after a disaster.

Prior to CDC, she served in Washington, DC, as acting unit chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch Communications Unit. In this position, she led the development of communication materials, congressional testimony, executive speeches, websites, and media responses to support the National Security Branch and its counterterrorism, counterintelligence, weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence missions.

Before her work with the FBI, she served in Arlington, Virginia, as the executive editor and chief of the Publications and Information Services Unit of the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center. In this position, she led a staff of federal employees and contractors to develop U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings magazine and the websites and technical publications of the USCG’s Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection Office.

Prior to the USCG, she worked at UP Media Group, a publishing firm in Marietta, Georgia, and produced several award-winning magazines for the electronics manufacturing industry. She served in roles that ranged from editorial assistant to editor-in-chief.

Lisa is the recipient of two CDC/ASTDR Honor Awards, The Communicator Award: Excellence for Federal Websites, The Communicator Award: Distinction for General Website Redesign, and six American Society of Business Publication Editors editorial and design awards.

Lisa received a B.A. in English-history and political science from Emory University and an M.A. in communication from Georgia State University.