Dr. Kis Robertson Hale
Dr. Kis Robertson Hale was named acting assistant administrator for the Office of Public Health Science (OPHS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in December 2024. In this role, Dr. Robertson Hale leads OPHS to provide expertise in scientific analysis, including oversight of FSIS laboratories and testing of regulatory samples, risk assessment and outbreak investigation and response. Her team provides recommendations on all matters involving public health and related sciences at FSIS, striving to address current and emerging public health challenges. Her duties directly support FSIS’ Strategic Goals – 1: Prevent Foodborne Illness and Protect Public Health, 2: Transform Inspection Strategies, Policies and Scientific Approaches to Improve Public Health, and 3: Achieve Operational Excellence.
Dr. Robertson Hale previously served as deputy assistant administrator for OPHS and continues to act as chief public health veterinarian. In this capacity, she partnered with the OPHS assistant administrator in informing agency decision making through a program responsible for scientific analysis, advice and recommendations on matters related to science and public health. In addition, she executed efforts to enhance a modernized scientific response to foodborne illness outbreaks and adulteration events.
Dr. Robertson Hale’s FSIS career began in 2003 in the Office of Field Operations, where she worked as an enforcement, investigation and analysis officer. In 2008, she joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an epidemic intelligence service officer and led several domestic and international epidemiologic investigations related to rabies in human and animal populations. From 2010 to 2011, she continued with the CDC as a preventive medicine fellow assigned to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, providing zoonotic disease expertise to the state public health veterinarian.
In 2011, she returned to FSIS and joined OPHS’ Applied Epidemiology Staff, serving as deputy director until 2017. Through this position, she helped oversee the development and implementation of illness cluster surveillance activities, consumer complaint monitoring and the coordination of outbreak investigations linked to meat and poultry products. She also was instrumental in characterizing and identifying trends in consumer-reported hazards leading to voluntary product recalls and harmonizing federal activities related to whole genome sequencing.
Dr. Robertson Hale’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, and a Master of Public Health from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She holds board certification in veterinary preventive medicine and is also a rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service.