Guest Author
Molly McCollom is a health communication specialist with the Epi-X and HAN Team CDC’s Emergency Risk Communication Branch. She serves as an editor for the Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X), which is CDC’s secure, Web-based communications network for CDC, state and local health departments, poison control centers, and other public health professionals. Epi-X provides rapid reporting, immediate notification, editorial support, and coordination of health investigations for public health professionals.
Ms. McCollom began her career at CDC as a contractor with the Emergency Risk Communication Branch’s Clinician Communication Team, where she provided health communication support for emergency responses, including 2009 H1N1 influenza, the earthquake in Haiti, and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Prior to her work at CDC, Ms. McCollom served over three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa, where she coordinated a center for severely malnourished children and provided technical assistance to the country’s only association of HIV-positive persons. She has also worked with Global Health Action, an Atlanta-based organization, to develop a curriculum and conduct training for community health workers in Haiti.
Ms. McCollom earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Haverford College, and her Masters of Public Health from the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.