Nikki Romanik | Special Assistant to the President, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff
Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR), Executive Office of The President (EOP)

Nikki Romanik is the currently the Special Assistant to the President, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff for the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) in the Executive Office of the President at the White House. Prior to this role, Nikki was the Senior Policy Advisor for the White House National Mpox Response. Prior to this appointment, Nikki served as a technical expert at the World Health Organization. In this role she worked in the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme in the Country Readiness and Strengthening Department (CRS) where she facilitated access to COVID-19 tools Accelerator (ACT-A), with a specific focus on the horizontal cross-cutting Health System and Response Connector (HSRC) component that ensures all countries have the necessary technical, operational, and financial resources needed to translate new COVID-19 tools into national response interventions to stop transmission and save lives. In addition, Nikki developed a new partnership engagement strategy for the CRS.
While at CDC, Nikki supported the COVID-19 global response since the beginning of the pandemic. Her leadership roles include working as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on the U.S. Government’s COVID-19 Test-to-Treat Program (2022), serving as CDC Liaison to the White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2021-2022), working directly with the CDC Foundation to stand-up the COVID-19 Emergency Fund (2020), and standing up the Partnership Team within CDC’s COVID-19 Incident Management System (2020).
A medically trained policy and partnerships professional, Nikki has achieved nearly 15 years of experience engaging with the private sector and partners. Prior to entering the COVID-19 Pandemic Response, Nikki served as the Special Assistant to two Directors and two Chiefs of Staff at CDC. Her portfolio included the COVID-19 Emergency Response, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Center for Global Health, Center for Preparedness and Response, Ebola Response and the Polio Response, serving as a policy advisor and liaison between the interagency, external partners (private sector, academic, and collaborative), multiple CDC programs and the Office of the Director.