Cynthia (Cyndy) Whitney is Program Director and Principal Investigator of CHAMPS. In this leadership role, she oversees Program Office functionalities and works to ensure success of the network’s strategic objectives.

Dr. Whitney joined CHAMPS as a Senior Advisor in 2018 and became Principal Investigator in 2019.  Before that, she worked for 25 years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as an epidemiologist, team lead, and branch chief. Dr. Whitney was a Professor in Rollins School of Public Health, Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University for 6 years before joining the Task Force for Global Health in 2025. Dr. Whitney has published over 300 scientific publications on topics such as child mortality, pneumococcal disease epidemiology, drug resistance, respiratory disease, neonatal sepsis, and disease outbreaks. She is a frequent consultant for the World Health Organization and other bilateral and multilateral groups and President of the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases.

Dr. Whitney completed medical residencies in Internal Medicine from the University of Minnesota and in Preventive Medicine through CDC. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Iowa State University, Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Minnesota, and Master of Public Health from Harvard University.