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EIS in the News

As EIS officers work on the frontlines of public health, they attract the attention of the news media and the public. EIS officers often share exciting stories describing their wide-ranging work, investigative skills, and public health insights.

  • Former Cleveland Heights resident helps CDC fight Zika virus in American Samoa
    Ruth Link-Gelles, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, is recognized for months of ardent service on the front lines of the Zika virus outbreak in American Samoa. Link-Gelles was part of CDC’s team that investigated Zika transmission, coordinated laboratory testing and health services, and provided Zika education to the local community. These efforts helped ensure babies born to Zika-infected mothers were tested for birth defects.
    The Plain Dealer
    December 8, 2016
  • How many Zika-infected infants will develop microcephaly and other FAQs
    When an outbreak strikes, the Epidemic Intelligence Service is the cavalry. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention EIS officers work on the front lines, where they investigate the causes and set up defenses.
    PBS Newshour
    May 18, 2016
  • Search Begins For Mothers In Brazil To Probe Zika Mysteries
    Disease detectives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are in Brazil, rushing to answer one of the most important questions about the Zika outbreak. They’re going door-to-door to try to establish whether the virus is causing terrible birth defects.
    NPR
    February 25, 2016
  • US, Brazilian health teams go into slums to start Zika study
    Eight teams, each made up of one “disease detective” from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, work with Brazilian health officials to determine if the Zika virus is causing babies to be born with a birth defect affecting the brain.
    Associated Press
    February 24, 2016
  • CDC Arrives In Brazil To Investigate Zika Outbreak
    On February 22, 2016, a team of U.S. government disease detectives launched an eagerly anticipated research project in Brazil designed to determine whether the Zika virus is really causing a surge of serious birth defects.
    NPR
    February 22, 2016
  • Zika Virus May Cause Paralysis -Video 3:42
    EIS officer Ashley Styczynski talks with Dr. Richard Besser on an ABC News digital about the work she is doing with the Brazilian Ministry of Health to investigate Guillain-Barre syndrome and any possible link with Zika virus.
    ABC News
    February 15, 2016
  • CDC on highest alert over Zika Virus -Video 2:44
    Paige Armstrong, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, is featured in CDC’s Emergency Operations Center for the Zika response.
    CBS46 News
    February 9, 2016

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Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Service, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Links to nonfederal organizations or other internet sites are provided solely as a service and do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations, nor their programs, nor products by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content contained at these sites.

Ebola Response

National and International Articles

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CDC 24/7

  • Disease Detective: Erik
    EIS officer talks about the impact of Ebola on everyday life in Liberia.
    September 30, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Rupa
    EIS officer trained medical workers in Guinea to screen river passenger for Ebola symptoms.
    September 30, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Ruth
    EIS officer will rely on her familiarity with African culture to gain community buy-in during her deployment to Sierra Leone.
    September 22, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Rebecca
    EIS officer leaves for West Africa with communication equipment to assist in efforts to improve health messaging at the community level.
    August 13, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Meredith
    EIS officer talks about her first encounter with an Ebola patient during her second tour of duty helping fight Ebola in West Africa.
    August 12, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Greg
    EIS alum helps with contact tracing, a task vital to controlling the Ebola virus.
    August 12, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Kelsey
    EIS officer tells about her work as a CDC disease detective responding to the Ebola outbreak.
    August 11, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Leisha
    EIS officer educated people in West Africa to recognize new cases and prevent spread of Ebola.
    August 11, 2014
  • Disease Detective: Kari
    EIS officer says teamwork is an important part of controlling the Ebola virus.
    August 21, 2014

Radio and Television

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Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Service, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Links to nonfederal organizations or other internet sites are provided solely as a service and do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations, nor their programs, nor products by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content contained at these sites.

EIS Disease Detectives at Work

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Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Service, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Links to nonfederal organizations or other internet sites are provided solely as a service and do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations, nor their programs, nor products by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content contained at these sites.

EIS Conferences

2017

2016

  • CDC Provides Zika Resources for Researchers, Healthcare Providers, and the Public
    As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) learns more about the threat of Zika virus infection on pregnant women and their growing fetuses, it will continue to share its knowledge with researchers, healthcare providers and the public.
    Contagion Infectious Diseases Today
    May 05, 2016
  • CDC: Providers should consider Zika in returning US Travelers
    Health officials are urging providers to be more aware of Zika virus in travelers returning to the United States, and to inform patients about the potential risks associated with the disease and how to reduce exposure to mosquitoes in areas with active Zika virus transmission.
    Meeting News Coverage
    May 4, 2016
  • New Evidence of Link Between Zika and Guillain-Barré
    There is new evidence that Zika may cause Guillain-Barré syndrome, according to findings presented at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference, held from May 2 to 5 in Atlanta.
    DoctorsLounge
    May 6, 2016
  • Novel orthopoxvirus discovered in Alaska patient
    Investigators for the CDC and the Alaska Division of Public Health discovered that a patient living in a remote area of Alaska was infected with a novel species of orthopoxvirus.
    Healio Infectious Disease News
    May 9, 2016
  • Outbreak of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Brazil suggests Zika association
    Researchers investigating a 2015 outbreak of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Brazil found that it was much more prevalent than expected — and saw signs that it may be associated with Zika virus.
    Healio Infectious Disease News
    May 5, 2016
  • How Many Americans Floss Their Teeth?
    Americans can now be scientifically divided into three categories: Those who floss daily, those who never floss and those who fall somewhere in between.
    U.S. News Report
    May 2, 2016

2015

2014

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Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health Service, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Links to nonfederal organizations or other internet sites are provided solely as a service and do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations, nor their programs, nor products by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content contained at these sites.

Hometown Heroes

2017

  • Robin Cree
    Newark Grad Part of CDC’s ‘Disease Detectives’
    September 14, 2017
    Newark Native, Robyn Cree, begins her work as a CDC disease detective who analyzes children’s mental health issues and addresses the needs of children during public health emergencies. The inspiration for her career path and her love for science were spawned by a teacher who made science fun in her Newark High School chemistry class. Cree is grateful for a mentor who introduced her to CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service during her undergraduate internship. Cree earned her doctorate in chronic disease epidemiology.
  • Elisabeth Hesse
    Moses Lake Native Accepted to CDC Program
    September 12, 2017
    Elisabeth Hesse reaches a career milestone by joining CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, following eight years of service to the U.S. Army where she taught techniques to improve public health. Her work as a disease detective will involve analyzing data and investigating immunization safety issues. Hesse’s early interest in science and medicine prompted her participation in Frontier Middle School’s Science Olympiad team, where she placed in the national competition. She credits her biology and chemistry teachers at Moses Lake High School for nurturing her interest in science.
  • Audrey Pennington
    Santa Rosa native joins CDC’s prestigious ‘disease detectives’
    September 1, 2017
    Audrey Pennington attributes her career path to great teachers, who fostered her affinity for math and science through AP-level course work at Santa Rosa High in Santa Rosa, CA. Today and for the next two years, she gets to fulfill her dream of being a disease detective for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In her undergraduate studies, Pennington embraced public health as a way to improve health at a population level, which also inspired her MPH and Ph.D. in epidemiology from Emory University.
  • David Jackson
    Mountain Brook native enters elite CDC training program
    August 26, 2017
    During his time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, David Jackson witnessed pressing health needs, and lead him to pursue medical school in Alabama. A native of Mountain Brook, AL, Jackson had dreamed of being a doctor since his days at Mountain Brook High School. Today, he is one of the newest disease detectives at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helping to improve safety in workplaces with a focus on chemical and biological exposures. Prior to his work at CDC, Jackson joined the U.S. Public Health Service and worked as a physician in Navajo Reservation in northeast Arizona.
  • Aimee Summers
    Portland grad playing a critical role in fighting Ebola in West Africa
    May 19, 2017
    From Ukraine to Kenya to Senegal, Aimee Summers, an EIS officer at CDC, has been deployed all over the world to respond to outbreaks and health threats. During the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, she led CDC’s on-site Dead Body Management in Liberia. Summers views these experiences as rewarding opportunities, stemming back to her studies and influencers at Portland High School (Class of 2000).
  • Jessica Healy
    How a Redlands native is helping Puerto Rico with Zika virus outbreak
    May 5, 2017
    The work of a Redlands native can now be used by health officials in Puerto Rico to help families impacted by the Zika virus. Jessica Healy, an Epidemic Intelligence Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented her research last week to colleagues during the 66th annual EIS Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Healy spent a month in Puerto Rico investigating the number of people infected with the mosquito-borne virus that has spread across Caribbean countries as well as South and Central Americas.
  • Victoria Hall
    Newtown native discovers flaw in opioid-death count
    April 28, 2017
    New research suggests that some opioid deaths involving infectious disease may be missed by state surveillance, leading to an underestimate of the burden nationwide opioid epidemic that, according to the most recent statistics, already claims about 90 lives per day. Victoria Hall, a Newtown native and CDC epidemic intelligence service officer, discussed the findings at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 66th annual Epidemic Intelligence Service conference in Atlanta.

2016

  • Emily Pieracci
    Former Richland woman makes difference through CDC
    October 2, 2016
    Emily Pieracci has turned her childhood love of animals and science and into an extraordinary career, one that’s sent her around the world and made an unquestionable difference. Building on her years of education and experience, Emily became a CDC disease detective in 2014, providing aid in CDC’s emergency response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Emily recently accepted a veterinary epidemiologist position at CDC. Her work includes training and education, from helping communities develop surveillance systems to recognize potential infection in people and animals, to teaching veterinarians to better identify and deal with rabid dogs.
  • Mary-Margaret Fill
    Alumni Spotlight – Disease Detective-School of Medicine Graduate Investigates, Addresses Outbreaks for CDC [PDF – 44 pages]
    REACH Mercer University Health Sciences Center, Volume 3
    Spring 2016
    In Mary-Margaret Fill’s role as a CDC disease detective, she works with the Tennessee Department of Health and local partners to identify and address communicable and environmental diseases threats within the community. Dr. Fill was drawn to the EIS program as a means to expand her sphere of influence beyond her clinical practice to make a greater impact. She realizes that working at the state level puts her in a position to impact a broader population through policy and programmatic interventions, work closely with local partners and stay abreast of what happens in the community.
  • Paige Armstrong
    Investigating the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of disease outbreaks- The Redding Pilot
    June 20, 2016
    Redding-native Dr. Paige Armstrong never expected to become an expert in the field of fungal diseases, but lately, she’s been focusing on exactly that.
  • Sara Oliver
    Disease Detective: Alumna Sara Oliver joins CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service
    June 17, 2016
    Sara E. Oliver, M.D., MSPH, has always had an interest in public health. After a medical mission trip to South America following her first year of medical school, Oliver realized she was more intrigued by the population-level health care challenges she encountered.
  • Lauri Hicks
    CDC’S Lauri Hicks ’95 Tackles the Dangers Imposed by the Misuse of Antibiotics
    January 21, 2016
    Seven decades ago, antibiotics arrived on the market as a life-saving remedy to common infectious diseases. Due to overuse or improper use, however, antibiotics are losing their effectiveness against new bacteria strains.
  • Matthew Ritchey
    The ABCS of heart health
    January 21, 2016
    Matthew Ritchey takes a big-picture view of our hearts. A senior epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ritchey conducts research related to national cardiovascular health projects such as the Million Hearts initiative.

2015

  • Emily Ussery
    Beaumont native sees end of Ebola in Sierra Leone
    December 30, 2015
    Emily Ussery watched as weary faces broke into smiles for the first time in months when Sierra Leone was declared Ebola free the past November. The 34-year-old Beaumont native volunteered through a program with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to travel to the West African country in October to ensure the outbreak was coming to an end.
  • Dana Olzenak
    A Drexel Dragon Turned Disease Detective
    December 8, 2015
    How do you combine backgrounds in physical therapy and epidemiology to find a career that allows you to call upon both skill sets? Dana Olzenak ’06, an alumna of Drexel’s Post Professional DPT, carved a path that does just that – and on the front lines of public health, no less.
  • Katharine Benedict
    Kathy Benedict: Disease Detective
    December 1, 2015
    For many Americans, 2014’s Ebola epidemic in West Africa began and ended with the four imported cases reported in the United States. For the people of Sierra Leone and neighboring countries, it’s an ongoing health crisis—a crisis that Kathy Benedict (Ph.D. ’11, D.V.M. ’13) and her fellow Epidemic Intelligence Service officers were charged with combating for six weeks earlier this year.
  • Anita and Kanta Sircar
    Sisters fight diseases around the world
    Palos Verdes Peninsula News
    November 10, 2015
    Anita Sircar has looked up to her older sister, Kanta, her entire life. Whatever Kanta did, Anita wanted to do, such as volunteering at food banks and charity drives together during high school.
  • Julie Self – NCEZID/DFWED
    Macon native ready for focus as CDC ‘disease detective’
    Macon Telegraph
    Monday September 8, 2015
    A zest for childhood mystery novels and a penchant for problem solving has thrust Julie Castles Self to a global front. From pecking away at the keyboard well after midnight as a teen growing up in Macon, she is now focused on finding ways to fight back pandemics and pathogens that threaten us all.
  • Kate Russell – NCIRD
    Atlanta bound as a CDC detective
    Scarborough Leader
    Friday, August 21, 2015
    Kate Russell, a 2002 graduate of Scarborough High School, will always consider Scarborough home, but for the next two years she will be living in Atlanta working as a Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Mark Laughlin
    West Shore Sun
    August 20, 2015
    Westlake native is CDC disease detective: Westlake native Mark Laughlin is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2015 class of Epidemic Intelligence Service officers.
  • Lillianne Lewis – NCEH
    People in the news: Lillianne Lewis
    The True Citizen
    August 19, 2015
    Dr. Lillianne Lewis is now part of the Centers for Disease Control’s 2015 class of Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers.
  • Saleena Subaiya
    Subaiya Joins ‘Disease Detectives’ Force
    The Roslyn News
    August 19, 2015
    Roslyn resident Saleena Subaiya is not just another physician. Subaiya is on the front lines of public health, working across both the United States and at global destinations to keep the world’s peoples safe from a variety of health threats, including outbreak investigations for emerging disease threats, global health, chronic disease and injury prevention.
  • Lawrence Purpura
    The Almanac
    August 17,2015
    Also known as CDC’s “disease detectives,” only about 60 EIS officers are selected each year from a highly competitive national candidate pool of medical doctors, veterinarians and PhD recipients. EIS officers work across the United States and around the globe to keep Americans safe from a variety of health threats. All of the EIS officers in the 2014 class were involved in the Ebola response.
  • Alaine Knipes – DGHP
    Shutesbury native joins elite Centers for Disease Control team
    Amherst Bulletin
    Sunday, August 16, 2015
    During her education in Shutesbury and Amherst schools and eventually at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Alaine Knipes learned that she loved French and biology. Now, she uses her skills in both fields as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer — an elite group known as “disease detectives” — for the federal Centers for Disease Control.
  • Shannon Novosad – NCEZID/DHQP
    Opelika native begins fellowship as CDC officer
    Opelika-Auburn News
    Friday, August 15, 2015
    Serving others has long been a priority for Shannon Novosad. The Opelika native said she realized her passion for people and love for science at an early age, and by high school, the young scholar had developed an interest in studying medicine.  Little did the Opelika High marching band fanatic know she’d eventually obtain a biology degree from Tulane University and then graduate medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before starting a fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control.
  • Jason Lake – NCEZID / DHQP
    Gainesville man sleuths for sickness at CDC
    Gainesville Times
    Friday, August 14, 2015
    A Gainesville native has joined an elite fellowship program of “disease detectives” at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Selected each year from a highly competitive pool of hundreds of medical doctors, veterinarians and PhD recipients, Epidemic Intelligence Service officers work across the country and around the world to keep Americans safe from a variety of health threats.
  • Joel Massey – CSELS (State DOH)
    North Mesquite grad becomes CDC ‘detective’
    Mesquite Times
    Thursday, August 13, 2015
    When an epidemic strikes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is usually called into action to assess the situation, determine the best solution and how to prevent it from spreading or reoccurring. One of those on the front lines is 1997 North Mesquite High School grad Dr. Joel Massey.
  • Malini DeSilva
    Former Topekan working as ‘disease detective’
    The Topeka Capital-Journal
    May 16, 2015
    Topeka native Malini DeSilva has traveled around the United States — and the world — as a disease detective. DeSilva, 34, works as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The application period for the EIS Class of 2018 is now closed.

For questions about the EIS program, please contact us directly at eis@cdc.gov.

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