TB Notes Newsletter
This is an archived document. The links
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No. 4, 2006
Personnel Notes
Rana Jawad Asghar MD, MPH, left DTBE after
completing his EIS training with the Outbreak
Investigation Team (OIT) of the Surveillance,
Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investigations Branch. He
will now be working as Resident Advisor for the Field
Epidemiology Training Program in Islamabad, Pakistan,
under contract with the Division of International
Health, Office of Global Health, CDC. As an EIS-officer
with OIT, Jawad led three outbreak investigations (in
Miami, Mississippi, and Baltimore). His most important
work was his investigation in Miami, which highlighted
the importance of place-based contact investigations for
high-risk population groups (e.g., alcohol and drug
users) who usually do not disclose information about
their contacts for TB testing. Jawad presented the
findings of this investigation at the EIS conference as
well as at the American Public Health Association
meeting. He also worked on a very interesting and
important analysis about TB among patients from South
Asia (i.e., the Indian subcontinent), comparing these
patients to other foreign-born TB patients in the United
States. He is working on a publication related to these
analyses. We wish Jawad the best of luck in his new job!
Subroto Banerji, MPH, of DTBE’s Field Services
and Evaluation Branch was selected for a Public Health
Advisor (PHA) position with the CDC Global AIDS Program
(GAP). He began his new position with GAP on September
4. Subroto is relocating to Pretoria, South Africa, with
his wife, Melissa Amaro. (Melissa was also a CDC PHA,
working for the Division of STD Prevention in California
from 1990 to 1998 with assignments in Los Angeles and
Alameda counties.) In his new role, Subroto will serve
as Activity Manager for PEPFAR-funded projects with a
focus on TB and TB/HIV surveillance, expansion of HIV
services for TB patients, and TB screening and treatment
for HIV clients as well as blood and injection safety
and program evaluation. Subroto came to DTBE
headquarters in May 2003. During this time in Atlanta,
Subroto worked on several projects addressing program
and laboratory improvements for our six US-affiliated
Pacific Island programs, patient management information
technology, and electronic data notification for
immigrants and refugees. Subroto joined CDC in June 2000
as a PHA assigned to the California Department of Health
Services, TB Control Branch, Surveillance and
Epidemiology Section. Prior to joining CDC, Subroto
spent 3 years with the Alameda County TB Control
Program, located in Oakland, CA, where he served as the
Assistant Director and Epidemiologist for the TB Program
(and where he met Melissa). From January 1996 to April
1997, Subroto worked as a Public Health Epidemiologist
with the San Bernardino County Public Health Department,
in the TB and STD/HIV control programs. Between August
1993 and December 1995, Subroto completed graduate work
towards an MPH degree in epidemiology at the San Diego
State University School of Public Health and also worked
with the San Diego County TB Control Program on various
epidemiologic and programmatic projects. Subroto will
continue to receive e-mail at his CDC email address:
sbanerji@cdc.gov.
Stephen Benoit, MD, has joined DTBE in the
International Research and Programs Branch (IRPB). He
recently completed his service as an Epidemic
Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer, during which time he
was assigned to the Division of Healthcare Quality
Promotion in the National Center for Infectious Diseases
(NCID). As an EIS Officer, Stephen conducted infectious
disease field investigations and epidemiologic research
on nosocomial infections and antimicrobial resistance.
He has worked in Latin America and the US-Mexico border
region before and during EIS and will be focusing on
this region while in IRPB. A graduate of the University
of Massachusetts Medical School, Stephen completed his
residency in preventive medicine at the University of
California at San Diego and an internship in internal
medicine at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence,
Rhode Island. Prior to his service in the EIS program,
he completed a fellowship in pharmacoepidemiology at the
Food and Drug Administration. He is board certified in
preventive medicine and received his master’s degree in
public health from San Diego State University and
bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.
Jeuneviette Bontemps-Jones, MPH, CHES, has
joined the Communications Team of the Communications,
Education, and Behavioral Studies Branch as an
Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) fellow.
Her work within the branch will include planning,
developing, revising, implementing, and evaluating
educational print as well as Web-based materials.
Jeuneviette was born and raised in Long Island, New
York. After earning her BA degree in psychology from
Columbia University, NY, she taught elementary school
for 3 years in Queens, NY. She then enrolled in the
Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and
received her MPH degree in health education. During the
time between completing her degree at Emory and starting
her ASPH fellowship, Jeuneviette worked at the Morehouse
School of Medicine as a Research Coordinator in their
Community Oriented Primary Care Department.
Raffaella Espinoza, MPH, has joined the Field
Services and Evaluation Branch (FSEB) as an Association
of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) fellow. Born and
raised in South Africa, she moved in 2000 to Oklahoma.
She received a BA degree in anthropology from the
University of Oklahoma and an MPH degree in epidemiology
from the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center.
She worked as a graduate research assistant in both the
Department of Epidemiology and the Department of Health
Science Center where she assisted with outbreak
investigations at the Oklahoma State Health Department,
Communicable Disease Division. While she is with FSEB,
she will be working with the Program Evaluation team to
help develop technical assistance materials for TB
program evaluation.
Vernell Fields has joined DTBE in the Field
Services and Evaluation Branch as a Public Health
Advisor (PHA) with the TB control program in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. Her career in public health started in
1988 when she became a CDC PHA in the STD Division in
Miami, Florida. Vernell also worked in a Tampa, Florida,
STD/HIV clinic, where she worked on various studies
related to the prevention of and early testing for HIV.
She then worked in Baltimore, Maryland, as an STD
surveillance supervisor as well as a jail coordinator,
returning to Miami, Florida, in 1995 as a front-line
supervisor and clinic manager. In 2000, Vernell
transferred to Nashville, Tennessee, where she served as
a Special Project Coordinator with various
community-based organizations in the area of STD/HIV.
Also, as a PHA assigned to the Metro Health Department
(Nashville), and a team member of the Health Promotion
Unit, Vernell was involved in other health-related
education activities. Some of these activities included
providing high-risk groups with creative and
age-appropriate intervention presentations, such as a
haunted house at Tennessee State University, the 92Q
radio station Sky Show, the Faces of AIDS Exhibit, and
National HIV Testing Day. In addition, she worked on the
RAID ethnographic community assessment process report,
which was conducted in 2001 at the Metro Health
Department. In June 2006 Vernell transferred from the
Nashville STD program to the Baton Rouge TB program,
changing not just to a new duty station but to a new CDC
program as well. She received a bachelor of science
degree from Texas A&M University, Commerce, Texas, and
recently earned a graduate certificate in public health
from the University of Washington at Seattle.
Indhira Gnanasekaran, MPA, has been selected
as the new Project Manager (Chris Kissler's replacement)
for the TBESC. Indhira, a native New Yorker, received a
masters degree in Public Administration from Syracuse
University. While at Syracuse University, she also
received an Advanced Certificate of Study in Health
Services Management and Policy. After completing her MPA,
she worked at the Child Guidance Center of Southern
Connecticut as their Development and Communications
Associate. In this position she oversaw development of
projects; managed a committee of children’s mental
health advocates; and developed grant proposals,
evaluation reports, budgets, analysis reports, and
communication materials.
Wendy Heirendt, Field Services and Evaluation
Branch Public Health Advisor (PHA) assigned to Virginia,
has left DTBE for a new job within CDC. She joins the
Division of Diabetes Translation in Atlanta on September
17. Many of us have known Wendy and greatly appreciated
her work and contributions over the nearly 15 years she
has been with DTBE. Wendy started her DTBE career with
an assignment to Puerto Rico in 1991, was then assigned
to Indiana in 1993, and finally to Virginia in 1999.
Wendy has been the consummate Public Health Advisor in
all of her assignments and numerous temporary
assignments. She has a keen ability to translate and
incorporate CDC goals and objectives at all levels of a
program’s local activities, especially with
surveillance, DOT, and the use of incentives and
enablers. She also has a strong reputation for guiding
and developing state and local staff. Without question
she will be missed, and we wish her the best in her new
position as project officer in the Diabetes division.
Awal Khan, PhD, has left DTBE to pursue a new
opportunity within another Center at CDC. As of August
21, Awal is the newest Team Leader in the Division of
Alliance Management and Consultation, National Center
for Public Health Informatics, Coordinating Center for
Health Information Service. Awal began working in DTBE's
Clinical Research Branch (now Clinical and Health
Systems Research Branch, CHSRB) in March 1997 as an
Epidemiologist, Data Analyst, and Data Manager for Study
22. He had worked previously with Dr. Andy Vernon, Chief
of CHSRB, at the Georgia Department of Human Resources,
and had also overseen the management of TB and HIV
surveillance data for the state of Georgia. Awal came to
CDC with a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the
University of Arizona, a master's degree in demography,
and postdoctoral experience in nutritional sciences at
Cornell University. From the beginning, Awal
demonstrated a rigorous work ethic and superb attention
to detail. During his tenure with CHSRB, Awal was
instrumental in the data management and primary analysis
for every TBTC clinical trial (both parent trials and
substudies), in every secondary analysis, and in the
engagement of all quality control issues associated with
TBTC data. Awal consistently did the work of three
persons, while maintaining the positive attitude and the
gentle manner that characterize him. Some of the latest
TBTC innovations, such as daily Internet posting of
quality assurance data so that TBTC site investigators
and coordinators can access information on their
performance and respond to data queries on a 24/7 basis,
are part of the legacy that Awal leaves with the TBTC.
In addition to his demanding work schedule, for the past
3 years Awal has been pursing part-time at Emory
University the course requirements for a master’s degree
in biostatistics; he has completed about 75% of these
requirements. Invariably, when a challenging analytic
issue arose, Awal would suggest an approach or knew an
expert to whom we could pose our questions, and
facilitated this interaction. Awal has many reasons to
be proud of the contributions he has made to the TBTC.
We are grateful for his dedication to his work and his
kindness to his coworkers, and wish him the best in his
new position.
Chris Kissler, who was the project coordinator
for the Tuberculosis Epidemiologic Studies Consortium (TBESC),
has left DTBE. Chris accepted a position as a Public
Health Analyst (Project Officer) in the Division of
HIV/AIDS Prevention, Prevention Program Branch. In this
position, he is now overseeing CDC HIV prevention grants
to state health departments and local community-based
organizations. This is a great opportunity for Chris,
and we are very happy for him. He did a wonderful job
overseeing the consortium's activities, which included
his work on the TBESC committees, the overall evaluation
plan/logic model for the consortium, the semi-annual
meetings, and oversight of DMACS. In general, he made
sure that the consortium ran smoothly. Chris' last day
with DTBE was September 1. We wish him the best of luck
in his new job!
Michael F. Iademarco, MD, MPH, DTBE’s
Associate Director for Science (ADS) since 2001, left
CDC and DTBE September 17, 2006, to take the position of
Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Attaché in Hanoi,
Viet Nam. Michael joined DTBE in 1998 as a Medical
Officer in the International Activities Branch (now the
International Research and Programs Branch); he then
served as ADS from 2001 to 2006. As ADS, he initiated
several new systems and improvements in the division and
led DTBE staff in carrying out numerous critical
projects. He guided the efforts of the DTBE team members
who collaborated to find and ensure treatment completion
for 200 TB patients displaced from the Gulf area owing
to Hurricane Katrina. With significant input from branch
chiefs, he redesigned the internal budget planning
process to set overall divisional prioritized goals and
objectives and to select programmatic and scientific
projects. He also streamlined various division clearance
procedures such as the coordination of media and
communications, and worked to mitigate the increasing
complexities of the review for human subjects research.
He also meticulously reviewed and offered advice on
numerous protocols, manuscripts, and publications,
including four major guidance documents in
2005—“Controlling Tuberculosis in the United States”;
“Guidelines for the Investigation of Contacts of Persons
with Infectious Tuberculosis”; “Guidelines for Using the
QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Test for Detecting Mycobacterium
tuberculosis Infection, United States”; and “Prevention
of Tuberculosis Transmission in Health Care–Associated
Settings”—serving as a co-author on the last two. Prior
to that, during 2001–2003, he played a major role in the
coordination of the CDC-wide response (including the
publication of four MMWRs) to reports of severe adverse
events from treating patients for latent M. tuberculosis
infection with 2 months of daily rifampin and
pyrazinamide. He also made contributions and lent his
expertise to various advisory groups and committees.
Since 2001, Michael served as a member of the Technical
Advisory Group (TAG) for TB control to the Western
Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) of the World Health
Organization (WHO). He also led DTBE’s efforts to
improve TB laboratory services by improving coordination
between the Public Health Practice Program Office (PHPPO)
and the TB laboratory unit, serving on the American
Public Health Laboratory Task Force, and helping
organize the 4th National Conference on the Laboratory
Aspects of Tuberculosis. He also chaired the Scientific
Advisory Group of Experts, a group of DTBE leaders who
oversee and provide guidance to DTBE’s TB Clinical
Trials Consortium. He served on various committees of
the Mycobacteria, Tuberculosis, Pulmonary Infection
Assembly of the American Thoracic Society, 2001–2005,
and also served as co-chair and organizer of the CDC-IUATLD
late-breaker session at the IUATLD annual conference.
Michael also promoted DTBE and its resources and staff
whenever possible. He served on the Charles Shepard
Science Award Subgroup Committee, 2001–2004, and served
as the chair of the subgroup and the NCHHSTP
representative to the full committee in 2004. He
coordinated the practice sessions of EIS officers’ oral
presentations, and reinvigorated the lunchtime “Brown
Bag” series of updates and discussions. He also pushed
for the reinstitution of the “TB Weekly Update,” a TB
news service distributed by e-mail internationally that
he continuously publicized to national and international
partners.
From August 1998 to April 2001, as a Medical
Officer-Epidemiologist with the International Activities
Branch, he provided technical support for six operations
research projects of Viet Nam’s National TB Control
Program (NTP). He coordinated USAID support for a 3-year
management training program for the NTP of Vietnam and
for a 2-year pilot project to help develop private
sector DOTS models in the Philippines, and he supervised
laboratory quality control projects for the TB reference
laboratory of southern Vietnam. He also guided the
implementation of a collaborative protocol to develop
and field test a serodiagnostic test for TB specifically
applicable in regions with high HIV prevalence. From
September 1998 to present, concurrent with his work here
in DTBE, Michael found time to serve as Adjunct
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Emory University School
of Medicine, and as Adjunct Assistant Professor, Rollins
School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta,
Georgia, lecturing to or co-directing a number of
graduate-level health courses. While we will miss
Michael’s humor, energy, and dedication, we know he will
continue to make contributions to public health in his
new role as HHS Health Attaché in Viet Nam, and we wish
him and his family the very best of luck.
Philip LoBue, MD, was selected as DTBE’s new
Associate Director for Science; he started on October 1,
2006. Phil obtained his BA degree in biochemistry from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1985, and earned his
MD degree from the same institution in 1989. He
completed an internal medicine internship and residency
at the University of California–San Diego (UCSD) Medical
Center, followed by a fellowship in pulmonary and
critical care medicine, also at UCSD. In 1995 Phil
became a faculty member with the Division of Pulmonary
and Critical Care Medicine at UCSD, appointed first as
Clinical Instructor and then as Assistant Clinical
Professor of Medicine. During his time in UCSD, Phil
served as Principal Investigator for the QuantiFERON
Study 1 and Co-investigator for the TB Trials Consortium
(TBTC) USPHS Study 22. In September 1999 he was selected
as medical epidemiologist for the TB Control Program in
San Diego County, working for the Division's Field
Services and Evaluation Branch (FSEB). In this
assignment, his primary responsibilities were to assist
the local TB program with epidemiologic data collection,
analysis, and reporting; provide clinical consultation;
and oversee clinical and epidemiologic studies. While
assigned to the San Diego County TB program, Phil served
on numerous local, state, and national committees and
workgroups, including the National TB Controllers
Association/CDC contact investigation recommendations,
California Department of Health Services Tuberculosis
Indicators Project Advisory Committee, CDC's efforts to
revise the Report of Verified Case of Tuberculosis (RVCT),
and CDC's Tuberculosis Surveillance Program Area Module
Steering Committee. While in San Diego, Phil also
maintained his affiliation with UCSD, acting as medical
director of the medical center’s Chest Clinic from 1997
through 2003. In February 2004, Phil transferred to DTBE
headquarters in Atlanta to serve as team leader for the
Medical Consultation Team in FSEB. His duties included
providing medical and technical consultation to local
and state TB programs in conjunction with FSEB program
consultants, overseeing activities of DTBE’s field
medical officers, and acting as technical advisor to
DTBE’s four Regional Training and Medical Consultation
Centers. He also contributed to several national TB
guidelines including those covering correctional
facilities, contact investigation, and QuantiFERON
TB-Gold. An active member of the American Thoracic
Society (ATS), Phil has also represented the Division in
several joint projects between CDC and ATS, and is
presently the lead point of contact for the planned
update of TB diagnostic standards by ATS, CDC, and the
Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Allan Locke has been selected for the Public
Health Advisor (PHA) position in the Fort Wayne,
Indiana, TB program. He began this new assignment on
October 15, 2006. Allan comes to DTBE with an extensive
background in field work, starting in 1988 with an
assignment as a PHA in Miami, Florida. He worked there
as a Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) for 2.5 years
performing sexually transmitted disease (STD) and HIV
interviews; case management activities, including
interviews; field investigations; and community
screenings, including performing phlebotomy activities
in the field and in various corrections settings. He was
then assigned to the City of New Orleans STD program,
where he worked for 2 years before being transferred to
the City of Houston, Texas. He served there in a
supervisory role for the next 5.5 years. As a
supervisor, he routinely conducted performance audits
and trained a continuously revolving group of PHAs in
disease intervention skills. He also worked on CDC’s
pilot version of the Sexually Transmitted Disease
Management Information System (STD*MIS), which has
evolved from a basic morbidity reporting system to an
expanded system that includes multiple features ranging
from a client registration system to a medical records
database. In 1998, he transferred to Madison, Wisconsin,
to work as the STD surveillance coordinator. Beginning
in early 2000 he performed the duties of a database
manager, supporting five remote sites and the central
database, located in Madison, Wisconsin. He routinely
performed ad hoc training, IT support, and data
cleaning; produced routine and ad hoc reports;
reconciled case counts; and ensured completeness and
timeliness of data reporting.
Allison Maiuri, MPH, has joined the
Communications, Education, and Behavioral Studies Branch
(CEBSB) as an Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH)
fellow. She completed her BS degree in psychology at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has an
MPH degree in behavioral sciences and health education
from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
Prior to entering Rollins, Allison worked as a
consultant for the Public Health Foundation on workforce
development. During her time at Rollins, she worked with
Emory researchers on issues related to adolescent health
and Internet exposure. While she is with CEBSB, she will
be working with the Education, Training, and Behavioral
Studies team in planning, developing, revising,
implementing, and evaluating education materials.
Brandii Mayes, MPH, has completed her second
CIO fellowship assignment in the Public Health
Prevention Service (PHPS) program, which she served in
DTBE. During her 6-month assignment here, Brandii worked
with staff of the Field Services and Evaluation Branch
and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Outbreak
Investigations Branch to develop a systematic process
for evaluating the effectiveness of outbreak response
activities. Brandii received her undergraduate degree in
biology from Clark Atlanta University and her masters
degree in public health from the University of Texas -
Houston School of Public Health with a concentration in
community health practice. On October 9, 2006, Brandii
will be starting her 2-year field placement at the City
of St. Louis Department of Health under the supervision
of Pamela Rice Walker, BS, MPA, Bureau Chief of CDC
Prevention and Bioterrorism Preparedness. There she will
coordinate implementation of the Comprehensive Community
STD strategic goals and plan; develop action plans for
areas of concern such as youth, Hepatitis C, and HIV;
and develop an evaluation tool of programmatic success.
William Mac Kenzie, MD, has joined DTBE in the
International Research and Programs Branch. Bill
graduated from medical school at the University of
California, San Francisco, in 1984. He completed a
combined internal medicine and pediatric residency at
the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and is
board certified in both specialties. After residency, he
worked for a year as an ER physician and then completed
a 2-year fellowship in infectious diseases at Stanford
University. In 1991, Bill joined CDC as an EIS officer
assigned to the Wisconsin Division of Health where he
was involved in the Langmuir Prize–winning investigation
of the 1993 Milwaukee waterborne outbreak of
cryptosporidiosis. After EIS, Bill joined the Division
of Field Epidemiology, EPO. While in that position, he
supervised over 30 state-based EIS officers and was the
recipient of the 1997 Brachman Award for his
contributions to EIS officer education. In 1997, he
moved to the Division of Parasitic Diseases where his
major projects included the Cyclospora outbreaks
associated with Guatemalan raspberries and a
collaborative effort with EPA in calculating a national
estimate of waterborne disease. In 1999, Bill left CDC
to work as an epidemiology consultant with the
International Rescue Committee in Kosovo assisting
nationals and WHO in the rebuilding of their public
health system. In 2000, Bill returned home to
California, where he worked until 2005 as a clinical
infectious disease consultant, a primary care internist,
and a private epidemiology consultant. In 2005, he
rejoined CDC as the Quarantine Medical Officer assigned
to the CDC Quarantine Station in Los Angeles. In that
position he made significant contributions to local and
national plans for responding to pandemic influenza at
ports of entry. Over the course of his public health
career, Bill has worked in Russia, Armenia, Kosovo, and
China. As an epidemiologist, his major interests are in
study design and training.
Scott McNabb, PhD, left DTBE on July 21. A
short write-up in the last TB Notes described Scott’s
new position but did not touch on his DTBE
accomplishments. We hope to make amends with this second
attempt. In his 6 years with the Division, Scott made
contributions to TB prevention and control that are
likely to have a lasting impact. He initiated,
implemented, and published scientific manuscripts for an
impressive number of projects, both domestic and
international. He conceived of and led the effort to
establish the Tuberculosis Epidemiologic Studies
Consortium (TBESC). The consortium consists of 21 sites
across the United States and Canada whose purpose is to
conduct programmatically relevant research that will
contribute to the control and ultimate elimination of TB
in the United States. He was the Principal Investigator
for a large multiyear, multisite study that developed a
new TB surveillance and action evaluation tool that
measures both the performance and cost of public health
surveillance and action. This tool is critical for
providing state and local TB programs with simple,
user-friendly, and sustainable self-evaluation tools. As
part of this work, Scott established strong
collaborations with partners in local and state public
health departments and academic institutions. Scott was
also the Division’s scientific lead on the analysis of
data from the National Genotyping and Surveillance
Network (NTGSN) database, a 5-year, $10 million project.
He formed and led the “Gene Team,” a group of experts in
genotyping and statistical analysis, to study and
develop national guidelines for interpreting TB
genotyping data. This work contributes to our ambitious
nationwide effort to build genotyping capacity at the
state and local levels. Internationally, Scott will
continue as the lead US scientist on a project in
Armenia and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia that
is funded by the Biotechnology Engagement Program (BTEP).
The project establishes a surveillance system for
Armenia and supports the development of key TB
prevention and control activities countrywide. This
information will be critical for improving TB prevention
and control efforts in these two countries. Finally, his
strong commitment to TB prevention and control and to
the development of our future public health
professionals is evident by the large number of students
and fellows he has mentored and trained, including
Public Health Prevention Service (PHPS) fellows, local
health department personnel, and a number of masters of
public health (MPH) students from the Rollins School of
Public Health. He now turns to a new, exciting public
health challenge that builds on the work he has done in
surveillance. He has been named the new Director,
Division of Integrated Surveillance Systems and Services
(DISSS), National Center for Public Health Informatics (NCPHI),
Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service (CoCHIS).
As Director of DISSS, he will lead CDC’s efforts to
identify, assess, and pursue national and international
solutions to integrated surveillance and response
efforts. He will also lead CDC’s efforts to develop,
implement, and maintain common platforms, agency-wide
systems, and applications for integrated solutions,
including those for integrated surveillance, lab
reporting, and response. He will lead the existing NEDSS,
NNDSS/NETSS/NNDSS-link, and Epi Info activities, as well
as the LRN Real Time Laboratory Information Exchange,
the Specimen Tracking and Results Reporting System (STARRS),
and the Coordinating Systems for Managing Outbreaks ad
Health Events (OMS). Since many of these efforts
directly impact DTBE, we are happy to have someone who
knows about tuberculosis in this leadership position.
Please join us in wishing him the best of luck.
Heather R. Morrow-Almeida, MPH, has joined
DTBE for her first headquarters-based fellowship
assignment in the Public Health Prevention Service (PHPS)
program. During her 6-month assignment with DTBE,
Heather will be working with staff of the Field Services
and Evaluation Branch and the Surveillance,
Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investigations Branch on the
pilot of the National Tuberculosis Indicators Project,
an evaluation of its usefulness for state partners, and
other short-term projects as they arise. Heather
received her undergraduate degree in Latin American
Studies from Appalachian State University in North
Carolina and an MPH degree from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Maternal and Child Health
Department in May 2006. During and just after graduate
school, Heather worked on a research team with the
Carolina Population Center conducting a study of
nutrition and physical activity among first-time
African-American mothers in a five-county region of
North Carolina. During her graduate degree program,
Heather worked with the North Carolina Farmworker Health
Program to assess, design, and implement a series of
health education modules for farmworkers and their
families. Prior to entering graduate school, Heather was
employed as a health educator on topics varying from
maternal and child health issues to HIV and sexually
transmitted diseases. While in North Carolina, Heather
was involved with numerous volunteer engagements,
including working as a doula (supporting women during
labor and childbirth), volunteering with farmworker
outreach, coordinating health education for SHAC (a
student-run health clinic in Carrboro), and working with
mothers and children in the local WIC program. She is
currently looking for a volunteer engagement here, and
is open to suggestions. She entered the PHPS program
with an interest in learning and practicing evaluation
skills, and is very pleased to have the opportunity to
work with the evaluation team in DTBE.
Alan Schley, who provided superb
administrative assistance to the Surveillance,
Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investigations Branch (SEOIB)
for 4 years, has left DTBE. He accepted a position in
the Office of the Director, Division of Integrated
Surveillance Systems and Services, National Center for
Public Health Informatics, Coordinating Center for
Health Information and Service. He started there on
September 3. Alan joined SEOIB in December 2002 after a
successful and well-decorated career as an
administrative specialist with the US Army. Alan earned
his bachelor of science degree in Management from Park
College in Missouri in 1997.
Susan Spieldenner, RN, BS, left DTBE’s Field
Services and Evaluation Branch (FSEB) on October 15,
2006, to take a position as a Public Health Quarantine
Officer with the Division of Global Migration and
Quarantine (DGMQ). In her new position, Susan will be
stationed at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. For the
past year, Susan has been assigned to the California
Department of Human Services Tuberculosis Control
Branch, where she has worked in the Resource Management
and Planning Section. During this time she was involved
in California’s local assistance award process, provided
budget planning support to the two counties most heavily
impacted by the TB outbreak among recently arrived Hmong
refugees. She also developed agreements providing for
the care of TB patients under civil detention. Susan
came to DTBE from the State of Michigan, where she had
worked as the TB Program Coordinator since 2001. In this
position, she provided technical advice and guidance to
the local health departments on standards of care and
reporting requirements, and addressed issues of patient
noncompliance, among other duties, throughout the state.
Before this, Susan used her skills as a public health
nurse for the Calhoun County (Michigan) Health
Department in Battle Creek, Michigan, working in the
community. In this position, she worked on contact
investigations and managed patient care and follow-up.
Phil Spradling, MD, left DTBE in May 2006 for
a position with the Division of Viral Hepatitis of
NCHHSTP. Phil joined DTBE in 1999 as an Epidemic
Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in the Surveillance,
Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investigations Branch (SEOIB).
During his 2 years as an EIS Officer, Phil provided
excellent advice on the diagnosis and treatment of TB
and on the management of several outbreaks. He headed
the investigation of a large TB outbreak in a South
Carolina prison, and in 2000 he traveled to Russia to
conduct a survey of TB drug resistance. He played a key
role in numerous other outbreak investigations. In 2002
he left DTBE for a position with CDC’s National
Immunization Program, returning to the division in late
2002 to serve as a Medical Officer in the Clinical and
Health Systems Research Branch (CHSRB), TDS, and work
with the TB Trials Consortium. During his second tenure
at DTBE, Phil worked again with SEOIB on several
important projects. He assisted with the writing and
editing of Reported Tuberculosis in the United States,
2004, and also collaborated with the Surveillance Team
in preparing a national TB surveillance data sharing
policy as well as other documents. Lastly, Phil worked
on reactivating the revision process on the RVCT (Report
of Verified Case of Tuberculosis). We wish him the best
of luck in his new position.
Zach Taylor, MD, MS, left DTBE in November
2006, having been selected for the position of Regional
Health Administrator, HHS Region VIII. He currently
holds the rank of Captain (0-6) in the Commissioned
Corps, USPHS. This new position gives him the potential
for promotion to Flag Rank (0-7). Zach served with
outstanding leadership as chief of the Field Services
and Evaluation Branch in DTBE over the past 6 years, and
prior to that, as medical officer and Team Leader in the
Prevention Effectiveness Unit, from 1993 until 2000. We
will all miss his unwavering commitment and public
health advocacy to secure the necessary infrastructure
for TB services at local and state health departments
throughout the country. Among his various contributions,
Zach is responsible for initiating the evaluation unit
to more consistently and systematically assess the
outcomes of programmatic interventions in TB. At a time
of continued flat funding for national TB programs, Zach
had the vision and foresight to plan for the
redistribution of resources in collaboration with
national TB controllers, in a manner consistent with
changes in the epidemiology in our country.
Additionally, he saw the immense unmet needs in the
Pacific region and developed a team to improve
laboratory services, medical care, case management of
patients, and surveillance of cases. We have witnessed
remarkable improvements in all these areas by TB
programs in American Samoa, the Federated Sates of
Micronesia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the
Republic of Palau. Zach moved to Denver, Colorado, at
the end of November 2006. We wish him the best of luck
in his new position.
Carla Winston, PhD, joined DTBE in the
Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investigations
Branch on August 21, 2006. Carla received her masters
degree in medical anthropology from Stanford University
and her PhD degree in epidemiology from Emory
University. She has worked at CDC since 1999, and has
published analyses of clinical trials, genetic
polymorphisms, adult immunization surveillance, and
racial/ethnic disparities in health. She teaches a
course on data management and SAS at Emory University,
and enjoys working with others to think through study
design and analysis questions. Please join us in
welcoming Carla! |
