Christine Branche

BIO

Christine M. Branche, Ph.D., FACE is the Principal Associate Director of and the Director of the Office of Construction Safety and Health for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is located in Washington, DC. Dr. Branche began her career at CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in the Division of Injury Epidemiology and Control. During 1996-2007, she was the Director of the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. In 2007, Dr. Branche joined the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Dr. Branche has been the Director of NIOSH’s Office of Construction Safety and Health since its inception in December 2009. The Office is responsible for addressing the special problems in the construction sector, and rigorously coordinating NIOSH’s construction safety and health research, the NIOSH funded national construction center, university-based and other external researchers, and coordinating with the Directorate of Construction in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, part of the U.S. Department of Labor).
Dr. Branche has conducted extensive research and program development in injury prevention including drowning, water recreation, fire-related injury prevention, falls among both construction workers and older adults, motor vehicle-related injury prevention, spinal cord injuries, and sports and recreation. She has authored many scientific publications, including many which uncover new problems in injury control. Dr. Branche has provided technical consultation to many U.S. and international organizations including the American Red Cross, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Football League.
Dr. Branche received her B.A. in biology from the University of Rochester in New York, and her M.S.P.H. and Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her coursework at UNC, she was a National Science Foundation Fellow. At CDC, Dr. Branche has received numerous awards for her research and leadership.
Dr. Branche is a Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology, and is also a Public Health Leadership Institute scholar. She serves on the Fire Council of Underwriters Laboratory.