Captain Janice Huy
Chief Dietitian Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In Captain Janice Huy's office hangs a framed burlap poster that reads, "Thanks, You're Great!" adorned with the handprints of five different children. As a dietitian in the Indian Health Service in Montana, she taught children with fetal alcohol syndrome about good nutrition. CAPT Huy hangs the poster in every office she's ever had as a reminder of the importance of her work.
CAPT Huy leads and coordinates U.S. Public Health Service dietitian professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services, advising the Surgeon General and the Dietitian/Nutritionist Professional Advisory Committee on the recruitment, assignment, deployment, retention, and career development of PHS dietitians and nutritionists. "Disease prevention has been my driving force from the very beginning," she says.
CAPT Huy has been a regular Commissioned Corps officer since 1979, when she became a public health nutritionist with the Indian Health Service Fort Peck Service Unit in Montana. Previously, she worked as a nutritionist in local health departments in Kentucky and Tennessee. While assigned to the North Carolina State Health Department, she helped determine the feasibility of offering nutrition services for children with special health care needs and her proposal helped the State secure funding for this important activity.
In 1988, CAPT Huy joined the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she has held several senior leadership positions and is currently deputy director of the NIOSH Office of Research and Technology Transfer. In this capacity, she establishes partnerships with private organizations and government agencies to translate research findings into practice, target dissemination efforts, and evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts in improving worker safety and health.
In 2006, her work in preventing HIV exposure for non-health care workers took her to Las Vegas for the Association of Professional Piercers convention. CAPT Huy says, "I thought I had seen it all, but this convention was a whole new world. The practitioners were really excited to learn how to protect themselves and welcomed us with open arms."
CAPT Huy is proud that she can serve her country in the Corps and mentors junior officers, a task that she takes very seriously. She says, "The Corps isn't just a job-it's a calling. I talk to people every day who are interested in joining. We only want the best." CAPT Huy has been able to achieve every career goal she's ever imagined with opportunities in the Corps. Her career in the Corps has taken her from sea to shining sea-from an eastern North Carolina beach to the Seattle waterfront.
CAPT Huy received a bachelor of science degree in medial dietetics from the Ohio State University in 1976 and a master of science degree in nutrition with an emphasis in public health from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1979.
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