Ralph J. Coates, PhD
Associate Director for Science, Office of Public Health Genomics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Ralph Coates is the Associate Director for Science in the Office of Public Health Genomics at the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA. He serves as the chief science advisor for the Genomics Office in promoting the evidence-based translation of genomics into public health policies, practice, and research. Major Office initiatives include the Evaluation of Genomic Applications in Practice and Prevention (EGAPP) project, which has developed and is testing a systematic, evidence-based process for evaluating genetic tests in transition from research to practice, and the Human Genome Epidemiology Network (HuGENet), an international collaboration of organizations examining relationships between genomic variation and health.

Ralph received a bachelor’s degree at Harvard University and a doctorate in Epidemiology from the University of Washington. As an Assistant and then Associate Professor in Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology at Emory University from 1987-1995, he taught Epidemiology, conducted research in cancer and nutrition, and was Co-Director of the Nutrition and Health Sciences Program. He was an epidemiologist at the CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control from, 1995-2000, when he became the Division’s Associate Director for Science until 2007. He currently does research and public health practice genomics.

He has authored more than 125 peer-reviewed journal articles and 35 other publications. He has served on panels and committees for the U.S. Institute of Medicine, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the President's Cancer Panel, the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society.