Rebecca Alvania, PhD, MA, MPH, is executive director and chief executive officer of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). Alvania provides leadership and direction to advance the NFID mission to educate and engage the public, communities, and healthcare professionals about infectious diseases across the lifespan. She serves as an NFID spokesperson and an ex-officio member of the NFID Board of Directors and Board-level committees. She has extensive experience in scientific communications, strategic planning, and global public health.

Alvania began her career in media communications at the National Academy of Sciences and held leadership roles working with scientific journals, including the American Society for Microbiology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped launch 1 of the first expedited, open-access publishing workflows for COVID-related research, accelerating the global dissemination of critical scientific findings. She previously served as CEO of the American Society for Cell Biology, where she spearheaded a comprehensive strategic planning process, modernized the organization’s mission and programs, and led a successful financial turnaround while expanding global engagement.

She holds a doctorate in neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, a master’s in science communication from The Johns Hopkins University, and a master’s in global public health from Tulane University. She is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives, the Society for Scholarly Publishing, and the Association for Women in Science.

To arrange an interview, contact: Diana Olson, dolson@nfid.org

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Updated September 2025