Deputy Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health

Dr. Susan Coller Monarez is a globally recognized leader with over twenty years of experience in health innovation. She currently serves as the Deputy Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). ARPA-H supports the development of high-impact research to drive biomedical and health breakthroughs to deliver transformative, sustainable, and equitable health solutions for everyone.

Prior to this position, Dr. Monarez founded the Center for Innovation at the Health Resources and Services Administration, the largest funder of safety-net health programs in the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Monarez has also served at the White House as the Assistant Director for National Health Security and International Affairs in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and as the Director of Medical Preparedness Policy on the National Security Council (NSC). In both White House roles, she led multiple efforts to enhance the nation’s biomedical innovation capabilities. Dr. Monarez has led the development of several Presidential-level national strategies, action plans, and policy directives related to domestic and global health.

Prior to the White House, Dr. Monarez served in leadership positions at the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) within the Department of Homeland Security and the Biomedical Advanced Research Projects Agency (BARDA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In addition to leadership roles within the Federal government, Dr. Monarez has been called upon to serve on numerous advisory panels to include at the National Academies of Science, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, and the Federal Experts Science Advisory Panel. Dr. Monarez has also served as the U.S. representative on several international cooperative initiatives including with the European Union, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in bilateral and multilateral engagements.

Dr. Monarez was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy fellow and a research scientist in microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin and at the Stanford University School of Medicine.