Michelle L. Allen is the Infectious Disease Section Director for the Georgia Department of Public Health. In this role, Ms. Allen oversees statewide infectious disease prevention services to ensure all activities and initiatives work in unison. She also informs policy and procedure and directs planning and operational activities for the state’s HIV/AIDS, STD and Tuberculosis programs. Before her role as director, Ms. Allen spent 14 years in field service in the area of communicable disease prevention, intervention, surveillance and education. She still organizes testing and community outreach events for at-risk communities.

Ms. Allen currently serves as chairman of the board of directors for the National Coalition of STD Directors. She previously sat on the advisory board for the STD/HIV Prevention Training Center at Johns Hopkins University. She was a Southeastern Regional Trainer for “A34Life: Ask.Accept.Act,” an HIV/AIDS Education and Awareness Initiative funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ms. Allen has received the Leadership in Health Award by the Greater Atlanta National Pan Hellenic Council, the Gerald Ludd Lifetime Award for Excellence in Support of HIV/AIDS and Community Service by the National Aids Education and Services for Minorities, Inc., and the 2014 Janet Stancliff Epidemiology Award from the Georgia Public Health Association. She was honored as the 2015 Red Pump Award winner for her work in HIV/AIDS, and the 2015 Flame Thrower Award for work in public health. She was also the recipient of the first Brenda Fitzgerald Leadership award from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Ms. Allen has been invited to speak at national conferences including the National STD Conference, the HIV Prevention Leadership Conference and the American Public Health Association Conference.

A native of Atlanta and a proud “Georgia Peach,” Ms. Allen is a distinguished alumna of Georgia Southern University and a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.