Dr. Karen M. Becker, a veterinarian, currently serves at the United
States Department of Agriculture’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection
Service (USDA/APHIS) as the Area Veterinarian in Charge for
Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia with focus on
preparedness and response to foreign diseases and animal health to
support the U.S. export and import industry. She practiced small
animal and some large animal veterinary medicine from 1987-1998.

Dr. Becker was a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer (1998-2000) based in North
Carolina with a focus on infectious disease investigation and response
and surveillance during natural disasters such as the major hurricanes
(i.e., Dennis, Irene and Floyd) at North Carolina’s Department of
Health. In 2000, she joined the U.S. Health and Human Service’s
(HHS) Office of Global Health based in Washington DC with a focus on
global health policy. During her tenure she helped create a Field
Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program in China and served on
a U.S. Committee to assess and interpret the World Health
Organization’s (WHO) Health Systems Performance Report. In
addition, she was assigned to evaluate needs and assess progress of
the Healthy People 2000 goals and objectives.

From 2001 through 2006, Dr. Becker served as a senior public health
advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office
of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, with a focus on
strengthening National and Global health security against naturally
occurring and intentional public health threats. She was on detail
(2006-2010) from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service to USAID’s
Africa Bureau to assist with the prevention and control of avian
influenza as well as other zoonotic and livestock disease threats
impacting public health and agricultural development. From 2013-
2018, she served as the Director of the Applied Epidemiology Staff
within USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service’s (FSIS) Office of Public
Health and Science. From 2018-2020, Dr. Becker’s position as the
Director of the Office of Health Services for the Peace Corp was
unprecedented in demonstrating how veterinarians can make an
impact and lead in both animal and human health, including during the
first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Becker earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Brown
University, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree from the
University of Illinois’s College of Veterinary Medicine, a Master’s in
Public Health (MPH) from Johns Hopkins University and is board
certified by the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine
(DACVPM). In 2021, the American Veterinary One Health Society
(AVOHS)—then called American Veterinary Epidemiology Society
(AVES)—awarded her their coveted K.F. Meyer-James H. Steele Gold
Head Cane Award. She was elected President of AVOHS in June 2023.