A file news photo of Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O'Connell testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committe hearing on preparing for the next public health emergency, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2023.
Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Dawn O’Connell testifies last year during a Senate hearing on preparing for the next public health emergency.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

By Isabella Cueto

Sept. 26, 2024

Chronic Disease Reporter

WASHINGTON — Pushing back on complaints from Congress this year that her agency’s response to disease outbreaks was sluggish, Dawn O’Connell forcefully defended the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at a STAT event in D.C. 

Congress has “extraordinary confidence in our ability to deliver,” she said Thursday, pointing to recent budget increases for ASPR in House and Senate markups of the 2025 Labor and HHS appropriations bill. The agency oversees the stockpile of medicines and supplies essential for the nation’s response to disease outbreaks.  

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O’Connell has tried to cut through some of the red tape that slowed disaster response in the past, she said. She asked for ASPR to be given more power to hire in times of crisis, and she has helped align the division that chooses devices and therapies for the national stockpile and the one that actually stocks those tools. 

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  1. Isabella Cueto

    Chronic Disease Reporter

    Isabella Cueto covers the leading causes of death and disability: chronic diseases. Her focus includes autoimmune conditions and diseases of the lungs, kidneys, liver (and more). She writes about intriguing research, the promises and pitfalls of treatment, and what can be done about the burden of disease.