I still remember the exact moment this photo below was taken. I was on my way to interview for CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS)—the two-year training program for “disease detectives.” For people in my world, EIS is the dream job. These were the folks who jumped onto planes with 24 hours’ notice, parachuted into outbreaks, and pieced together scientific mysteries fast enough for Americans—and communities around the world—to live safer, healthier lives.
Walking onto campus that day, I felt as if I were stepping into the beating heart of public service. Full on electric. People moved with purpose. Conversations were about problems that mattered to families, kids, clinics, and communities. It was alive with urgency, curiosity, advancement, and the shared belief and optimism that good science could make life better for all of us.
I didn’t end up accepting the EIS position. Life took me in a different direction. But about 10 years later, I returned to CDC as a scientific communication advisor to two directors during a period when the agency was struggling through the pandemic. Even before Covid-19, the system was weakened by chronic underfunding, outdated infrastructure, bureaucratic bottlenecks, rising political pressure, and relentless falsehoods. The pandemic pushed the CDC to its limits, and Americans suffered because of it.
Advising CDC then felt like caring for a critically ill patient. You stabilize what you can. You celebrate tiny signs of recovery. You push....
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