International Day of Women and Girls in Science
"I want to help the nation respond to infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics, and the best place to do that is at ASPR."
Kimberly Armstrong
Director of the Influenza and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
How long have you been in science and technology?
Since I started graduate school in 2001. I have been with ASPR for 9 years.
Do you have a specialty or focus area?
I am a virologist by training, and I have spent the last 12 years focused on product development, mostly therapeutics for infectious diseases.
What motivated you to take this career path?
When I was still in high school, I read a book about the start of the HIV epidemic in the United States. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be involved in public health and in particular infectious diseases.
After graduate school, where I focused on HIV drug resistance research, I was incredibly excited to become a Presidential Management Fellow at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. It was a fantastic learning experience, but even while I was there, everyone talked about what great things BARDA was doing.
At the end of the day, I want to help the nation respond to infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics, and the best place to do that is at ASPR. Since I have been at BARDA, I have helped respond to the 2015 Ebola outbreak in East Africa, the Zika outbreak in Brazil, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
What specialty training or education prepared you for this career path?
My undergraduate degree is in medical laboratory science, which gave me a good foundation for understanding clinical labs and what they are capable of. I have a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences in Public Health where I focused on the evolution of drug resistance in HIV. Ph.D. training develops data analysis skills that can be applied to problem solving. I think both parts of my formal education have been vital to my career.
What would you say to a woman who is considering a career in science and technology?
Science and technology provide an avenue to learn even after you have left school. For me that was an important part of choosing a career, the idea that the learning will never stop. Women are needed in science and technology careers, so that there are more and more role models for the younger generation to follow.
