Category: Meet the Scientist Blog Series

The Road Less Traveled – Not All Veterinarians are Clinical Practitioners

Meet Brittany Szafran, DVM, PhD, Toxicologist and Associate Service Fellow for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Atlanta, Georgia. A Brief Personal History Like many other students who pursue veterinarian medicine, Brittany wanted to work with animals from a young age. She tailored her life to pursue the profession. During her Read More >

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Our Health and Our Environment Are Intertwined

Meet Kelsey Benson. She works at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in the Office of Community Health and Hazard Assessment. Read More >

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Life Chose A Different Path for Dr. Patricia Ruiz

Dr. Patricia Ruiz

“I believe that we always have a dream for our lives — but some plans may change because of a situation that goes against our will. When things don’t go as planned, those are learning opportunities. In those times we need to be brave, be flexible, refocus, persevere, and never give up,” says Dr. Patricia Read More >

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In Fond Memory of a Beloved and Respected Colleague, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”

King Artur

Chris passed away on Sunday, May 3, 2020. In tribute to him, this blog is a reposting from September 19, 2016. “I often used to feel like ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’ — an out-of-place urban planner among physicians, epidemiologists, and nurses at CDC,” says Chris Kochtitzky, an Associate Director for Program Development Read More >

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Meet Dr. Victor R. De Jesús, Chief of the Volatile Organic Compounds Laboratory at CDC

Photos courtesy of Dr. Víctor R. De Jesús

Personal History and Education Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Dr. Victor De Jesús moved to the mainland after high school to pursue an education in chemistry, landing in Wisconsin. The brutal winter proved too much for him, so he returned to Puerto Rico where he completed undergraduate studies in chemistry at the Universidad Interamericana Read More >

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Meet Dr. Rudolph (Rudy) Johnson, Chief, Emergency Response Branch, Division of Laboratory Sciences at CDC

Photo courtesy of Dr. Rudy Johnson

“Everyone has something that I need to know.” Originally from Detroit, Rudy is a 4th generation public servant. He grew up moving with his family every 3 years, ending up in Atlanta where his father worked for and retired from the Internal Revenue Service, right next door to where Rudy now works. Read More >

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The Knowns and Unknowns about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Paul Mehta

“It is the ‘knowns’ that keep me humble, and the ‘unknowns’ that keep me challenged,” says Paul Mehta, M.D. Paul is a medical epidemiologist and the principal investigator who provides oversight for the congressionally mandated National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Registry at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Atlanta. Read More >

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Meet Dr. Amy Watson, full-time senior service fellow and self-proclaimed “helicopter mom.”

Amy Watson, PhD

Dr. Amy Watson works in the Emergency Response Branch of the Division of Laboratory Sciences, National Center for Environmental Health at CDC. Read More >

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“Super Cool” to Work for an Environmental Federal Public Health Agency

Tonia R. Burk, PhD

Celebrating 10 years with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Division of Community Health Investigations, Environmental Health Scientist Dr. Tonia Burk still finds her work as interesting and challenging as her first day on the job. Read More >

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From Ophthalmology to Environmental Public Health – a Life Well Traveled

Getting a little advice on nature photography from a local while traveling in Madagascar

Unlike many others who embark on a career in public health upon graduating from college, Bruce Tierney, M.D.,  Captain, United States Public Health Service, and Senior Medical Officer, Division of Community Health Investigations, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) came into public health by a most unusual route. Read More >

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