Clydette Powell BS, MD, MPH, FAAP

Dr Powell serves as Director, Division of Health Care Quality (DHCQ), within the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) at HHS. Dr Powell leads a team that is responsible for oversight of HHS's National Action Plan for the Prevention of Health Care Associated Infections (HAI), and HHS's National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event (ADE) Prevention (opioids, anti-coagulants, diabetes agents). She convenes and coordinates work of relevant federal steering committees and federal inter-agency working groups to: (1) advance goals and objectives of both national plans; (2) oversee development and progress in measures and targets for HAI and ADE prevention; and (3) make relevant health policy recommendations to OASH.
Within this scope of work, Dr Powell engages with multiple federal partners, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, National Institutes for Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Veterans Health Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health Service, and Bureau of Prisons. As a result, HHS has won national recognition from the American Pharmacists Association (The Pinnacle Award, 2016) and from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2017).
She is the designated ODPHP preceptor for preventive medicine residents via the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. She mentors ORISE Health Policy Fellows within DHCQ. Dr Powell is active on HHS's Policy Operating Group Public Awareness and Prevention Subcommittee on Human Trafficking. She has published and spoken extensively on this subject, in the US and abroad. As part of her official duties, she provides child neurology consultations at a federally qualified health center in the greater metropolitan Washington, DC area.