Debra Lappin is recognized across government, academic and nonprofit
sectors as a public servant and leading strategist in public health and science
policy. She consults on innovative public-private partnerships and other
alliances to drive translation research and public health promotion and
prevention. Calling upon her experiences as former national chair of the
Arthritis Foundation, Debra is a recognized national spokesperson on public
engagement in the nation's public health and scientific enterprise, and
currently is serving as the Chair of a National Partners Task Force on Partner
and Public Engagement in the Centers for Disease Control's Health Protection
Goals.
Debra has worked at the center of national policy issues for nearly two decades, with particular focus on the increasingly influential role of nonprofit patient organizations as partners with government in research, development and prevention. Most recently, she has orchestrated science policy campaigns on issues of open access and genetic nondiscrimination, and she has led the development of new models for coalitions, global consortia and other strategic alliances among academic research institutions, voluntary health agencies, government and industry. Areas of focus for such collaborative agreements has included work with the leading causes of disability, Arthritis and Alzheimer's Disease, and rare diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Drawing upon her understanding of health agency trends, law, ethics and practical business challenges, Debra advises on the development of a broad range of emerging, complex tools to enable translation, such as disease registries, large integrated databases, bio-specimen repositories and cross-institution affiliations to share data.
Debra serves or has served as an advisor to the leading agencies in public health, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. She has participated on a number of committees at the National Academy of Sciences, including the Committee on the Organizational Structure of the NIH which led to a number of directions incorporated in the 2006 NIH Reform Act. Debra is a member of the Board of Research!America, chairs the Ethics Committee at National Jewish Hospital and Research Center in Denver and is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.