Jill R. Harper, Ph.D.
NIAID Deputy Director, Science Management
Jill R. Harper, Ph.D., serves as the NIAID Deputy Director for Science Management. In this position, Dr. Harper provides leadership for scientific, policy, business, and administrative management of the Institute and conducts senior-level interactions with the extramural community, other National Institutes of Health (NIH) components, and the NIH Office of the Director. She also serves as the Executive Officer of NIAID.
Dr. Harper previously served as the Associate Director for Science Management at NIAID as well as the Director of the Office of Biodefense Research and Surety (OBRS), where she led the NIH chemical countermeasures research program and coordinated surety functions, including emergency preparedness, physical and personnel security, and biosurety, across the Institute. Previously, she served as the Chief of the Legislative Affairs and Correspondence Management Branch, in the NIAID Office of Communications and Government Relations, where she led congressional liaison and legislative analysis activities for NIAID.
Prior to joining NIAID in 2002, Dr. Harper was an American Society for Microbiology Congressional Science Fellow. As a Fellow starting in September 2001, she spent a year as a legislative assistant in a U.S. Representative’s office , where she worked on issues related to science and technology and bioterrorism. Dr. Harper earned a B.S. in biology from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton University.