Marcus Plescia, M.D., M.P.H.

Marcus Plescia, M.D., M.P.H. Speaker Biography

Dr Marcus Plescia is the Chief Medical Officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). He provides medical leadership and expertise across the agency and oversees ASTHO’s portfolio of chronic disease prevention and control programs. During the COVID-19 epidemic he has served as ASHTO’s principal spokesperson, and primary liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, U.S. territories, and District of Columbia, as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ.

Dr Plescia has served in public health leadership roles at the local, state and federal level in North Carolina and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In these roles he has led successful efforts to enact systemic public health interventions including expanded cancer screening coverage, prescription drug and disease reporting requirements, revised clinical guidelines, and state and local tobacco policy. He has been prominent in nationwide efforts to transform public health practice to a more population-based, strategic framework, and led the implementation of the CDC's national colorectal cancer screening program based on this approach.

Dr Plescia received his Medical Degree, Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He trained in Family Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine and has practiced in a variety of settings serving homeless, urban poor and rural underserved populations. He has published extensively in the public health and family medicine literature.