MASO's Douan Kirivong Inducted into Corps
Douan Kirivong (LT USPHS) is pinned by MASO Director Alvin Hall (left) and her husband, Jack Kirivong.
Kirivong takes Oath of Office John Steward (CAPT USPHS) (left) administers the Oath of Office to Kirivong as Hall looks on.
Douan Kirivong (LT USPHS)
Kirivong makes brief remarks after the swearing-in ceremony.
Skipper, Kirivong, Steward, and Hall
Shown here are (left to right) Kathy Skipper, Chief, Management Analysis and
Policy, MASO; Nyla Kirivong, Douan Kirivong, Kaylee Kirivong, Steward, and
Alvin Hall. P
Kirivong and family
Kirivong celebrates with her family; (left to right) Nyla Kirivong,
Jack Kirivong, Kirivong, Kaylee Kirivong, Chantay Muonghane (Kirivong’s
father).
Photos by Greg Knobloch
Called to active duty on November 14, 2005, Douan Kirivong (LT USPHS) became one of CDC’s newest Commissioned Corps officers. But the fact that she is the first civilian working in the Management Analysis and Services Office (MASO) to be inducted into the Corps is only a portion of the uncommon account told here.
Leaving Laos
Kirivong’s story began many years ago when she fled communist Laos at the young age of five. Family members worked for the Laotian monarchy, which had been overthrown by Communist Pathet Lao in 1974. Kirivong’s mother, DiDi Muonghane, worked as a schoolteacher and her father, Chantay Muonghane, was a renowned coach. Four years of living under communism proved too much for Kirivong’s mother, so she bravely fled to Thailand-reluctantly leaving behind her husband and daughter. When she reached Thailand, she contacted Chantay and implored him to flee Laos with Douan. He conceded and subsequently slipped out of the country and crossed the border into Thailand.
For several months the young family found themselves living in a refugee camp in Thailand. They had no possessions when they arrived, and the few meager items they managed to accumulate were soon lost to a fire set by camp overseers who hoped to make a case for foreign aid. Following this loss, they traveled to the Philippines where they lived in yet another refugee camp for a number of months. A family relative who had escaped Laos several years earlier appealed to the Catholic Church to assist the Muonghanes in immigrating to the United States. They subsequently settled in Illinois, but soon moved to North Carolina. It was there that they built a business from the ground up, raised their daughter and achieved the American dream.
Peace Corps to Public Health
Kirivong was graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) with a major in biology and minor in chemistry. After graduation she served in the Peace Corps for 2 years in Jamaica. While there, she provided health education on solid waste disposal, sanitation, and prevention of infectious diseases. She developed friendships with the other volunteers and maintains many of those strong relationships to this day.
Following the Peace Corps, Kirivong returned to UNC-CH and secured a Master of Public Health degree in 1999. Three years later, she completed post-graduate courses at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Between her studies in 2000, she married her childhood sweetheart, Jack Kirivong.
From 2000 to 2003, Kirivong worked for Northrop Grumman IT Health Solutions where she provided contract services for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In 2003, she was inducted into the HHS Emerging Leaders Program. She did rotations with the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families and the Health Resources and Services Administration before coming to CDC for her final year in the program.
Twins Prompt the Move to CDC
Upon learning that she was expecting twins, she and her husband agreed that they wanted to raise their children closer to their grandparents, so Kirivong sought opportunities at CDC. “Jack and I had to find new jobs, sell our homes in Maryland, relocate to Atlanta, build a house and begin learning the fine skills of raising babies–times two! So, during my pregnancy, I experienced all the major life stressors: move, new jobs (working in new environments while severely sleep deprived), selling/buying homes, and adjusting to twins,” said Kirivong. Prior to beginning her assignment at MASO, in July 2004, Kirivong gave birth to twin daughters, Nyla and Kaylee.
Once here at CDC, Kirivong assisted in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in NCHSTP, and worked on the Preparedness of the Laboratory Response Network project. She graduated from the Emerging Leaders Program and was hired by MASO, where she has worked on various studies, including policy development and new HHS initiatives. On Wednesday, November 14, 2005, John Steward (CAPT USPHS) and Ali Danner (LCDR) arrived at the MASO offices to officially welcome Kirivong into the Commissioned Corps as CDC’s newest officer.
Kirivong is a young woman who perilously fled a communist ruled country as a small child, lived in refugee camps and struggled beside her parents to build a new life, in a new country. She now devotes her career to public health as a US Public Health Service officer. At age 31, Kirivong already has such an extraordinary story to tell. “How proud we all are at CDC to have her here working toward safer, healthier, people,” said Alvin Hall, director of MASO.
Induction into the Commissioned Corps
Although Kirivong is not the first Commissioned Corps officer to grace the halls of MASO, she is the first to be inducted into the Corps while serving as a civilian in MASO.
Danner was first to enter the fourth floor conference room at Executive Park Building 57 and called for “attention on deck.” Steward entered and welcomed the crowd waiting inside the packed conference room, where MASO’s Kimberly Thurmond sang “The National Anthem.” Jerry Shingleton (retired and on detail to MASO until April 2006), was clad in US Navy service dress blues and led everyone in the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Steward began the ceremony, “By order of the Surgeon General, the following individual is called to active duty: Lieutenant Douan Kirivong, effective November 14, 2005.” Kirivong stepped forward with her husband, Jack, and MASO Director, Alvin Hall, each at her side.
Both gentlemen pinned shoulder boards to Kirivong’s shoulders. Steward then administered the Oath of Office, after which played the “U.S. Public Health Service March.” Following brief remarks by Steward, Kirivong, and Hall, refreshments were served at a high-spirited reception.
Kirivong’s family and friends attended the ceremonial pinning. Those in attendance included: her father, Chantay Muonghane; husband, Jack Kirivong; twin 16-month-old daughters, Nyla and Kaylee Kirivong; and close friends, Rachel Jackson and Parris Nicholson.
CDC Connects, 1/11/2006 Story by Joanne D. Cox, MASO.