Dr. Lydia Ogden joined Merck (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada) in November 2012, initially directing U.S. and ex-U.S. work in policy, partnerships, and government relations to expand immunization access and uptake worldwide. Beginning in August 2017, she leads company-wide strategic engagement with international organizations, foundations, institutions and industry associations; guides overall access efforts; and serves as the manager for MSD’s Policy and Responsibility Council.

Prior to joining MSD, she worked in public health for more than two decades at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading domestic and international HIV/AIDS policy, implementing PEPFAR, serving as the agency’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, and heading the Office of Health Reform following passage of the Affordable Care Act. From June to December 2010, she served in the White House as the Senior Health Policy Advisor to President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

She has a doctorate in health services research and health policy from Emory University; a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; a Master’s degree in Literature from Vanderbilt University; and a bachelor’s degree in English and Education (K-12) from Middle Tennessee State University. She held an adjunct faculty appointment at Emory University through 2013, teaching U.S. health policy, and now holds an affiliate faculty appointment at the Dornsife School of Public Health of Drexel University in Philadelphia. She has published in Health Affairs, Nature Medicine, the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, and Publius: The Journal of Federalism, and authored chapters in Emerging Illnesses and Society and World Health Systems: Challenges and Perspectives.