Our Global Voices Posts

Together, Let’s End Polio: Reflections from CDC’s 2022 Polio Response in Malawi

CDC Health Scientist Stephanie Dopson reflects on her recent deployment to Malawi supporting the CDC Polio Response. Throughout my 23-year career at CDC, time and time again, I am reminded that it takes the collaboration of many to make a difference in public health. I have served in many responses and deployments, including the anthrax Read More >

Posted on by Stephanie Dopson, ScD, MSW, MPH, CDC Health ScientistLeave a commentTags ,

A COVID-19 Paradox: Finding Strength in Weakness

Ashley King, striking a pose during a COVID-19 testing event in Salisbury, Maryland. May 2021.

Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” And I, being the opportunist that I am, might have taken that a bit too literally. A month and a half before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the International Task Force (ITF) was formed at CDC to Read More >

Posted on by Ashley King, MPH, CDC Public Health Advisor2 CommentsTags ,

Hispanic/Latino Global Health Experts Help CDC’s COVID-19 Domestic Response

Edgar Monterroso

My name is Edgar Monterroso. I’m a senior epidemiologist with CDC’s Center for Global Health and board member in CDC/ATSDR’s (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) Latino/Hispanic Health Work Group. In the science community, we apply knowledge we’ve learned from past pandemics to current situations, just as we are doing with the current CDC Read More >

Posted on by Edgar Monterroso, MD, MPH, CDC Senior Epidemiologist2 CommentsTags ,

Public Health Veteran Leads Global CDC Team from Atlanta During COVID-19

Prior to COVID-19. Nathalie Roberts during an assessment of a camp for internally displaced persons in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the January 2010 earthquake. Photo by David Snyder/ CDC Foundation.

I first learned about what would soon be called the COVID-19 pandemic after I returned from the 2020 New Year holidays and met with a colleague to resume work as usual. He mentioned that a “new coronavirus” had been identified in China. I thought to myself, “hopefully it won’t be as serious as SARS.” I Read More >

Posted on by Nathalie Roberts, Global Rapid Response Team (GRRT) Lead in CDC’s Division of Global Health Protection.Tags

Moving to Atlanta to Help Stop COVID-19 in Kansas and Beyond

Jahn Jaramillo is working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, July 15, 2021. He is a public health advisor with Travel Restriction and Intervention Activity team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, I was a Public Health Institute/CDC Global Health fellow in CDC’s Central America office located in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I developed communication strategies that showcase the important work of my colleagues in the region. I also managed disease surveillance projects in Honduras and the Dominican Republic and helped with research Read More >

Posted on by Jahn Jaramillo, Public Health Advisor with Travel Restriction and Intervention Activity (TRIA) team in CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine Tags

Routine Monitoring Reveals COVID-19 Surge in Brazil

Roberto Jorge Freire Esteves, MD, MPH

Brasilia, BRAZIL – A native of Brazil and a medical epidemiologist by training, I joined the CDC South America Regional Office on August 31, 2020, as its Senior Technical Advisor. The global pandemic had been going on for most of 2020, and I remember the sense of dread I had when I first heard about Read More >

Posted on by Roberto Jorge Freire Esteves, MD, MPH; Senior Technical Advisor in the CDC South America Regional Office in Brasilia, BrazilTags ,

Diverse Group of Atlanta Experts Support COVID-19 Field Team in Brazil

CDC epidemiologist Mateusz Plucinski (right) organizing dried blood spots collected during a household survey in Nampula, Mozambique in 2013 aimed at assessing the impact of a bed net distribution campaign on malaria and lymphatic filariasis exposure. Photo by Mateusz Plucinski/CDC.

When CDC staff go into the field to investigate outbreaks, a diverse group based in Atlanta supports their every move. Scientists create research protocols, logistics coordinators handle travel and lodging, someone looks for funds to pay for the work. I am an epidemiologist. Earlier this year, as the Atlanta lead for a team that deployed Read More >

Posted on by Mateusz Plucinski, PhD, MPH, CDC Epidemiologist1 CommentTags , ,

Going Home to Brazil to Investigate a New COVID-19 Variant was Enormously Rewarding

Dr. Juliana de Fatima da Silva hold fruit she received from grateful participants in the COVID-19 research study in Parintins, Brazil.

MANAUS, Brazil – I was born and raised in Brazil, near the city of São Paulo. There, I got a medical education at a top institution, a privilege very few have. When I decided to come to the United States to pursue residency and training, it was not without some self-doubt. I knew the opportunities Read More >

Posted on by Juliana de Fatima da Silva, MD, Medical epidemiologist6 CommentsTags , ,

World Meningitis Day 2021: Improving Meningitis Surveillance in Burkina Faso

Dr. Yameogo in front of the Public Health Emergency Operations Center of Burkina Faso.

Imagine losing a loved one to a tragic illness like meningitis, an illness that still ravages parts of the world. Meningitis represents a daunting and deadly health challenge for Africa, but today there is hope. April 24th—World Meningitis Day—presents an opportunity to both raise awareness about the dangers of meningitis and build on progress that Read More >

Posted on by Janelle Kibler, MPH, Surveillance Epidemiologist (Contractor with CDC Foundation) supporting CDC, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Division of Bacterial Diseases, Meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch

Continuing to Fight, 10 Years and 12 Outbreak Responses Later

OJ (red checked shirt), with colleagues from CDC and the Infectious Disease Institute, in a meeting to support Uganda’s COVID-19 Response and Ebola Preparedness Activities.

When I heard COVID-19 was spreading around the world, I struggled personally, knowing we would be responding for a long time. I needed a silver lining to keep me grounded and give me hope so that I could focus on helping my country. As COVID-19 spread across Europe, it was clear that COVID-19 was going Read More >

Posted on by Joseph Conrad Ojwang, MD, MPH, Health Security Public Health Specialist, CDC Uganda6 CommentsTags