Anita Cicero, JD
Deputy Director

Professional Profile

Ms. Cicero is the Deputy Director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a visiting faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a lawyer with over 27 years of experience. Ms. Cicero works closely with the Center Director to lead strategic and budget planning and program development. She is also an Associate Editor of the journal Health Security, the leading peer-reviewed journal in this field.

Ms. Cicero has greatly expanded the Center’s efforts in epidemic preparedness policy, global catastrophic biological risk issues, and international programs to engage other countries and regions in collaborative efforts to address biosecurity threats. In working to engage the Center in valuable new exchanges, Ms. Cicero has also launched a number of initiatives to improve mutual understanding and collaboration with countries including the People’s Republic of China, Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia.

Ms. Cicero has authored or co-authored a number of widely cited articles and reports on biosecurity policy, pandemic preparedness, nuclear consequence management, biosurveillance, international disease surveillance, and public health law.

Before joining the Center, Ms. Cicero spent nearly two decades as a practicing attorney in both the US federal government and the private sector. She was Managing Partner in charge of the Washington, DC, office of Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP, where she was responsible for more than 300 lawyers and staff. In her legal work, she created and managed a number of pharmaceutical consortia, with a particular focus on clinical research and regulatory compliance. Ms. Cicero’s work required constructive engagement with members of Congress; the World Health Organization; the European Commission; the US Food and Drug Administration; the US Departments of State, Defense, and Health and Human Services; and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Before entering private practice, Ms. Cicero focused on environmental litigation and counseling. She began her career as a trial attorney in the Honors Program at the US Department of Justice, Environmental Enforcement Section. Ms. Cicero is a graduate of the Yale Law School and Oberlin College.