TB Notes Newsletter

No. 2, 2011

PERSONNEL NOTES

Recipients of 2011 NCHHSTP Honor Awards - The following individuals/groups were winners of 2011 NCHHSTP Honor Awards, and were honored at the NCHHSTP Honor Awards Ceremony on June 24.  This year, DTBE submitted an unprecedented number of nominations and had more award winners than ever before. They are listed in the order in which the awards were presented.

Excellence in Epidemiology (International): Brittany Moore

Excellence in Laboratory Research: Molecular Detection of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Working Group - James E. Posey, Beverly Metchock, R. David Sikes, Patricia H. Campbell, Denise Hartline, Glenn P. Morlock, Angela M. Starks, Lois Diem, Lauren S. Cowan, Jeffrey R. Driscoll, Allison J. Lentz, Tracy L. Dalton, Delaina Hooks

Excellence in Surveillance and Health Monitoring: TB GIMS Group - Lauren Cowan, Anne Marie France, Smita Ghosh, Juliana Grant, Maryam Haddad, Adam Langer, Patrick Moonan, Tom Navin, Lee Ann Ramsey

Excellence in Frontline Public Health Service: TB Outbreak Responders Group - Bisrat Abraham, Marissa Alexander, Ben Appenheimer, Brian Baker, Sapna Bamrah, Bruce Bradley, Lauren Cowan, Lois Diem, Derrick Felix, Anne Marie France, Smita Ghosh, Jennifer Giroux, Regina Gore, Gail Grant, Juliana Grant, Tiffany Groover, Vernard Green, Maryam Haddad, Bruce Heath, Shalom Hernandez, Christine Ho, Tony Holmes, Jennifer Horvath, John Jereb, Melissa Johnson, Jefferson Jones, Christina Khaokham, Lauren Lambert, Adam Langer, Beverly Metchock, Mark Miner, Roque Miramontes, Ted Misselbeck, Kiren Mitruka, Patrick Ndibe, Maureen O’Rourke-Futey, Farah Parvez, Krista Powell, Lee Ann Ramsey, John Redd, Kim Seechuk, Neha Shah, Melisa Thombley, Paul Tribble

Excellence in Emergency Response (International): Haiti Responders Group - Toye Brewer, Kenneth Castro, Heather Duncan, Alstead Forbes, Maria Fraire, Stefan Goldberg, Juliana Grant, Maryam Haddad, John Jereb, Bryan Kim, Lauren Lambert, Adam Langer, Eugene McCray, Roque Miramontes, Jorge (Miguel) Ocana, Germania Pinheiro, Cheryl Scott, Kassim Sidibe, Sean Toney, Paul Tribble, Andrew Vernon, Matthew Willis

Excellence in Administration: Resource Management Team - Warren Benson, Juanita Elder, Pat Farah, Brenda Furr, Gloria Gambale

Excellence in Human Capital Management (Workforce Diversity): Lee Ann Ramsey

Excellence in Public Health Service (Early Career): Angela Starks

Excellence in Leadership (Non Supervisor): Maryam Haddad

Excellence in Leadership (Supervisor): Gail Grant

Excellence in Leadership (Manager): Kevin Cain

Public Health Impact Award (International): Tuberculosis Trials Consortium (TBTC) Study 26 Team - Timothy R. Sterling, Richard E. Chaisson, Carol Dukes Hamilton, Fred Gordin, Judith Hackman, C. Robert Horsburgh, Jr., Amy Kerrigan, Richard I. Menzies, Andrew Vernon, Elsa Villarino, Lorna Bozeman, Andrey Borisov, Awal Khan, Nong Shang, Erin Bliven-Sizemore, Crystal Carter, Marie Hannett, Nigel Scott, Ruth Moro, Kimberly Chapman, Stefan Goldberg, Melissa Fagley, Margaret Jackson, Beverly Metchock, R. David Sikes, David Temporado, Lois Diem, Denise Hartline, Cindy Dougherty, Lori Hall, Chris Allen, Howard Davis, Sharon Burks, Kumar Batra, Silver Wang, Max Mirabito, Anil Sharma

NCHHSTP Field Staff Honor Awards:
Outstanding Field Supervisor: Chrispin Kambili

Outstanding Field PHA: Bruce Bradley

Outstanding Field Program Management: Farah Parvez

Victor Balaban, PhD, has joined the Program Evaluation team in FSEB as a Health Scientist. His past experience at CDC includes serving in the International Emergency Refugee Health Branch, where he developed and conducted culturally sensitive assessment and screening tools for refugee and international populations in post-conflict settings such as East Timor, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone. Victor was an EIS Officer in the CDC Injury Center, where he conducted several investigations including youth suicides in Maine and accidental firearm injuries in Puerto Rico. After completing EIS in 2005, Victor worked as a program evaluator for Macro International, a public health consulting company, where he was involved in developing PEPFAR indicators and conducting trainings in countries such as Vietnam, Ghana, and Zambia to help build program monitoring and evaluation capacity. He returned to CDC in 2008 to take a position as a Behavioral Scientist in the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine where he carried out quantitative and qualitative research on international traveler, refugee, and migrant populations including travelers to the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. He also developed domestic and international surveys as part of the CDC response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Victor has a PhD in psychology from Emory University and an undergraduate degree in biology from Cornell University.

Kevin Cain, MD, began serving as DTBE’s Lead Scientist for the KEMRI/CDC Research and Public Health Collaboration, TB Research Branch in Kisumu, Kenya in May 2011. This new in-country position will expand DTBE’s field presence to include Kenya. DTBE has invested significant resources in working with the KEMRI/CDC office to set up various studies and the addition of an in-country medical officer will help to bridge and develop ongoing DTBE activities in Kenya.

Kevin joined the International Research and Programs Branch (IRPB) as an EIS officer in 2004. In 2008 he took on the role of TB/HIV Team Lead and has been the project officer for a variety of TB epidemiologic research and program-building efforts in Southeast Asia, Ethiopia, Botswana, and Latvia, mostly related to TB/HIV and drug-resistant TB.

Kevin has worked with DTBE and the Division of Global HIV/AIDS to implement a significant study in Southeast Asia of Intensified TB Case Finding in Adults with HIV. One major study in Kenya he is working on will measure the sensitivity and specificity of the algorithm identified in the Southeast Asian study, the new WHO-recommended algorithm, and the Kenya Ministry of Health algorithm, thus allowing for an informed decision about what approach is best to use in the Kenyan context.

He will also have a role in a Phase II, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of AERAS-402 in BCG-Vaccinated, HIV-uninfected Infants without Evidence of Tuberculosis. The study will be conducted in Uganda, South Africa, Mozambique, and Kenya. He’ll also help to coordinate the new drug trials activities conducted by KEMRI/CDC with CDC’s Tuberculosis Trials Consortium, as well as design and evaluate intensified TB case finding activities.

It’s worth noting that when Kevin and his family move to Kenya, he will be working with Dr. Kayla Laserson, Director of the KEMRI/CDC Field Research Center in Kisumu. Dr. Laserson was Kevin’s EIS supervisor in 2004.

Christina Dahlstrom, MPH, has joined the Program Evaluation Team of FSEB as a Public Health Prevention Service Fellow. Christina will be assisting with TB PEN Conference Planning, ARPE data management, NTIP evaluation, and development of a TB evaluation toolkit. Her past experience at CDC includes working at the National Center for Environmental Health on the Healthy Community Design Initiative, where she worked on developing indicators to monitor elements of community design with health implications and conducted an evaluation of a state capacity building grant. Before joining CDC, Christina coordinated the development of social marketing campaigns on preconception health and contraceptive care for the Oregon Public Health Division. Christina received her MPH from Portland State University and her BSW from Seattle University.

Kim Field, RN, MSN, TB Controller for the State of Washington, retired in May. Kim served as TB Controller for 17 years, and was with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) for a total of 22 years. She has now relocated to California and is employed as a home health nurse for Providence Home Health and Hospice in Torrance, California. Her last day working with the Washington DOH was May 13, and she started in her new position on May 23. Her work and focus in her new position is case management in home health nursing. The following is excerpted from a faculty profile of Kim from the Curry International TB Center newsletter.

Kim was born in Orange County, California, and earned her BSN at San Diego State University in 1971. She served in a variety of nursing positions in California, including primary care nurse, occupational health nurse, and public health nurse at the San Diego County Health Department. As a public health nurse in rural San Diego County, she worked with American Indian populations, as well as migrant farmers from Mexico. She recalls entering avocado orchards to provide TB treatment, including streptomycin, and performing hearing tests in farm buildings on ranches.

In the 1980s, Kim relocated to the Pacific Northwest, where she subsequently held several nursing positions. In 1989, she began her association with the Washington State Health Department, starting as a program specialist in vaccine preventable diseases, then serving as a public health advisor administering and directing the Department's statewide ambient air program. In 1993, she became State TB Control Officer, overseeing a busy, multifaceted program.

She and her staff handled diverse issues and populations, from controlling outbreaks among the homeless and immigrant communities in the populous metro King County, to providing services to geographically isolated Native Americans in the state's rural counties. Among her program’s achievements was implementation of statewide cohort reviews in 2004. Quarterly cohort review has engaged the staff of the local health departments to improve TB case management outcomes based on statewide goals.

Kim has held numerous leadership and professional positions, including past president of the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA); member of the NTCA Executive Committee, representing a "medium incidence" jurisdiction; consultant to the National Tuberculosis Curriculum Consortium; and board member for the Washington State Public Health Association, the American Lung Association of Washington, and Service Employees International Union. Also, as a clinical instructor for the University of Washington's School of Nursing, Kim lectured to BSN and MSN students annually and mentored students working on projects in the state TB program to meet requirements in community health practice.

In addition, Kim has served as a faculty member for Curry International TB Center case management courses and as a consultant for the "Regional Capacity-Building in Low-Incidence Areas" project in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. She played an instrumental role in developing and implementing the highly successful "Nurse-to-Nurse" collaborative training project in several jurisdictions in the Curry center’s Western Region. She was also the lead co-consultant in developing the TB Program Manual Template as part of the Regional Capacity-Building research project.

Kim is known throughout the “TB world” as a supportive colleague and collaborator. She will be missed, not only for her enormous skill and knowledge, but also for her kindness and generosity of spirit. Best of luck to Kim in her new position!

Maria E. Galvis, BA, joined the FSEB Field Operations Team II on June 22, 2011, as a Public Health Advisor assigned to the TB program in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The Las Vegas metropolitan area includes the Las Vegas Valley (a 600-square-mile basin) and surrounding areas in southern Nevada. The area is currently the fastest growing metropolitan area in the nation, with a population rise of nearly 25% from 2006 to 2010, and has a current population of approximately 2 million. One of Maria’s most important duties will be to maintain and enhance the partnerships that have been established between the local health department and the detention centers, jails, and prisons in the county.  These facilities have been the foci of TB transmission in the past.

Maria has previous experience working in the TB programs in Miami, Florida, and in New York City, New York.  Her duties included collecting and analyzing surveillance data, case management, active disease surveillance, and program management as well as planning, developing, and implementing TB-related training for health care workers.

Maria received a BA degree in Psychology at Hunter College in New York City and is currently working on completing requirements for a Master of Public Health degree from Florida International University.

Captain Michael Iademarco, USPHS, has received two awards from the Government of Vietnam for his contributions to the country. For 4 years he served as the Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. In that position, he coordinated policy for U.S. Government health-related activities and was the in-country representative for the Office of the Secretary of HHS (see TB Notes 2, 2010). On June 14, 2010, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Trieu, the Vietnamese Minister of Health, presented Dr. Iademarco an “insignia for the People's Health,” the highest award the Ministry can grant. In a speech before assembled colleagues, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien spoke highly of Dr. Iademarco's contributions to protecting the people’s health, referring to his role in coordinating and facilitating the U.S. health program in Vietnam. She detailed his efforts on TB, HIV/AIDS, food safety, avian influenza, and ethical policy development for human subject research. On influenza, she cited his contributions to viral research, human vaccine development, the national action plan, and the first national surveillance network for influenza. She commended his focus on health system strengthening and on the Global Fund process. She also cited his leadership during negotiations on bilateral agreements such as the Memorandum of Agreement on product safety that was signed in 2008, and the partnership framework for HIV/AIDS prevention and control, under PEPFAR, signed by Secretary Clinton in July 2010.
In January 2011, he was further recognized with an award that is given by the Prime Minister of Vietnam and which is one of the highest awards that the Government of Vietnam presents to foreign officials. It commends him for his accomplishments contributing to the achievement of social development and protection of the country’s health. The period of recognition, from 2000 to 2010, reflects not only his work in-country, but also his years of providing technical support while working in DTBE. Dr. Iademarco currently serves as Chief of DTBE's Laboratory Branch.

Adam J. Langer, DVM, MPH, EIS class of 2006 and staff epidemiologist in SEOIB, won the James H. Steele Veterinary Public Health Award for contributions over the past decade in the field of veterinary public health, not only as a CDC employee but also through his strong professional affiliation and additional volunteer work in veterinary medicine.

Brandy Peterson, MPH, MCHES, Health Scientist with FSEB, is the recipient of the DTBE Director’s Recognition Award for the second quarter of 2011. Brandy was selected to receive this honor because of her extraordinary effort in reinstating OMB clearance for the Aggregate Reports for Tuberculosis (TB) Program Evaluation (ARPE) and for her leadership in coordinating the TB Program Evaluation Network (TB PEN) and Steering Committee.

Brandy joined DTBE/FSEB in January 2010 and immediately made a positive impression. In February 2010, Brandy was given the task of developing an OMB clearance packet to reinstate ARPE data collection. She quickly identified resources, guidelines, and requirements for the submission process, and maintained appropriate and effective communication links with NCHHSTP and DTBE staff involved in this process. She closely monitored and tracked the progress of the OMB clearance packet by providing regular feedback to DTBE staff. The collection of ARPE data was approved and reinstated by OMB in October 2010.

Her involvement in the TB Program Evaluation Network (TB PEN) is an additional noteworthy achievement, and thus she is also being recognized for her outstanding commitment and work in serving as the FSEB representative for the TB PEN Steering Committee. The administrative and programmatic support she provided to the TB PEN is commendable. Brandy is recognized for maintaining ongoing formal and informal relationships with the TB PEN Steering Committee and Program Consultants. Her contributions have gone above and beyond regular duties, completing her tasks with exceptionally high quality while working under tight deadlines. Congratulations to Brandy for this well-deserved honor!

Angela Starks, PhD, has been selected as the leader for the Laboratory Capacity Team within the Laboratory Branch. As team leader, she will direct the oversight of the laboratory enhancement component of the TB cooperative agreements with U.S. jurisdictions and other laboratory systems partners. In addition, she will provide leadership in activities to formulate, plan, and perform operational and translational public health research focused on laboratory systems. This research analysis will provide the basis for recommendations and policy for development of national and local laboratory systems.

In June 2005, Angela came to DTBE in what was then the Mycobacteriology Laboratory Branch through the Fellowship in Research and Science Teaching program at Emory University. On completion of her postdoctoral fellowship, she joined the laboratory as a Title 42 Senior Service Fellow. She conducted research on the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and served as a co-instructor and guest lecturer at Spelman College.  Since December 2008, Angela has served as the leader of the Laboratory Capacity Activity under the mentorship of Beverly Metchock, DrPH. The transition of the activity to a team is a positive reflection of the team’s expansion of work and responsibility, driven by public health need to accelerate our path to elimination in the United States.

Angela received her PhD in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Florida, and is currently pursuing an MPH in Public Health Practice from the University of South Florida, Gainesville.

Paul Tribble will retire July 31, 2011, after more than 23 years of federal service. Prior to joining CDC, Paul worked for 1981–1984 as Refugee Resettlement Officer in Malaysia and Thailand, and during 1985–1988 as the Oklahoma State Refugee Coordinator. In 1988 he joined CDC/DTBE. Unfortunately the only open position in DTBE at the time was as the Sr. PHA to the State TB Program in Hawaii. After 6 grueling years in Paradise, he was assigned to a newly developed position at the State TB Program in Arizona. After 2 years in Arizona, Paul felt the need to return to his refugee roots and took a position and promotion with DGMQ HQ Atlanta in 1996. In 2000 DTBE once again came out ahead and Paul rejoined us at HQ as a Program Consultant. Beyond being a stellar Program Consultant, Paul was also the Principal Investigator for Task Order 6, which focused on the “regional-based approach” to TB prevention and control in low-incidence areas. In 2008, because of his many years as an outstanding and distinguished Program Consultant, Paul was selected for the position in FSEB as lead for outbreaks and co-chair for the DTBE Outbreak Evaluation Unit (OEU). In his role as co-chair for OEU, Paul provided guidance and direction to this highly visible unit with a high level of professionalism and a solid management style. He has been instrumental in the recruitment of Public Health Advisors and Medical Officers for TDY assignments related to Epi Aids and post-Epi Aids. Additionally Paul has been on numerous TDYs both domestically and internationally—American Samoa, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Thailand.

Paul will be truly missed by all this friends and colleagues here at DTBE and most certainly by all the state and big city projects he has closely worked with over the past 23 years.

Matthew Willis, MD, MPH, second-year EIS officer in IRPB, won the J. Virgil Peavy Memorial Award with his presentation, "Seasonality of Tuberculosis — United States, 1993–2008.” The Peavy Award recognizes the effective and innovative application of statistics and epidemiologic methods to a study or investigation.

Jessie Wing, MD, MPH, medical officer with the Field Services and Evaluation Branch (FSEB), has left DTBE after 12 years to take a position with CDC’s Immunization Service Division. Jessie came to CDC as an EIS Officer (1987 to 1989), and completed a preventive medicine residency in 1992. She worked as a medical epidemiologist in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and in the National Immunization Program. During that time, she began to describe the epidemiology of asthma in the United States (she authored the first chapter on asthma epidemiology for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s first National Asthma Education Guidelines) and worked in several domestic and international immunization activities. She worked extensively in Asia and was assigned to Beijing, People's Republic of China, for the polio eradication initiative with the World Health Organization through the National Immunization Program.

In 1999, Jessie joined FSEB and was assigned as chief of the TB Program in Hawaii, where she supervised nearly 50 staff statewide and managed a busy program that provided services for screening, radiology, diagnosis, treatment, DOT, contact Investigation, as well as surveillance, and other programmatic services at the state and local levels. During her nearly 10-year tenure in Hawaii, she oversaw a major renovation of the TB clinic into a state-of-the art clinic, with new digital radiographic equipment that provided service in over 65,000 annual patient visits where she gained extensive experience working on Asian/Pacific Islander issues. She also provided numerous lectures to the Department of Defense, university and other students, and she initiated research as the Principal Investigator of Hawaii’s TBESC site.  As TB Controller and chief, she updated targeted testing, contact investigation and handled several high profile legal challenges, many administrative and personnel details, and secured additional resources for the program.

In 2009 Jessie returned to FSEB headquarters in Atlanta, where she worked on TBESC Task Order 21 (acquired rifamycin-resistant TB), continued work on TBESC Task Orders 9, 12, 13, the MDR TB case studies book project, the decline in reported TB cases, and other projects. She was detailed to the EOC for 3 months for the CDC H1N1 response during which time she helped to develop adult and pediatric clinical algorithms with HHS and professional organizations and updated the CDC antiviral recommendations for clinicians. Jessie served as acting FSEB Branch Chief in 2010. In mid-2010, Dr. Castro designated Jessie as DTBE’s lead for activities related to the Affordable Care Act. In conjunction with the National TB Controllers Association, she developed a special consultation with partners for October 7, 2010, to explore how TB prevention and control can be advanced in the context of health reform. She continued to be the DTBE point person for all ACA related activities in 2011 and had begun work on a partnership survey and health reform in the context of uninsured TB patients.

Jessie has officially begun her new role as the Deputy Director of the Immunization Service Division where she is assuming a leadership role in the new Prevention and Public Health Fund’s FOA, a major new multi-million dollar initiative in six program areas. We will miss Jessie, and we wish her great success in her new role and congratulate her on her numerous accomplishments.

In Memoriam

Dr. David J. Sencer, the longest serving director of CDC (1966 to 1977), died May 3, 2011, at Emory University Hospital at the age of 86. Dr. Sencer had been a giant of public health since he became assistant director of CDC in 1960. He became deputy director in 1963 and director in 1966. Under his leadership, CDC programs expanded dramatically with the addition of programs in malaria, smallpox, nutrition, tobacco control, health education, environmental and occupational safety and health, surveillance of non-infectious diseases, and more.

He entered the United States Public Health Service (PHS) in 1955 after being an intern and resident in internal medicine at the University Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sencer’s first assignment was at the Idaho State Health Department, where he conducted a survey of health problems of migrant workers. Sencer’s next assignment was at the Muscogee County Health Department in Georgia to head the PHS’s field research in tuberculosis.

Two of his major contributions were to the eradication of smallpox and the founding of the school of public health at Emory University. He took the risk of finding from within CDC's budget resources the funding to provide staff and support that were the key to the eradication of smallpox. He took a strong lead in the conceptualization and establishment of the new school at Emory, providing people to develop the curriculum and initially staff the school.

Dr. Sencer was especially proud of the recognition he received as an honorary member of the Epidemic Intelligence Service and an honorary public health advisor. He remained a strong supporter of these two core career series at CDC.

After leaving CDC, Dr. Sencer served as a vice president for medical affairs of Becton Dickinson and Company. He loved public health and returned as commissioner of the New York City Department of Health. The department developed a model surveillance program that helped delineate risk groups for HIV/AIDS, defined the risk of tuberculosis in HIV-infected persons, fought to establish a needle exchange program, and worked to preserve the rights of HIV-infected individuals.

He remained active in public health and was a valued advisor to the subsequent directors of CDC. Dr. Sencer provided astute, helpful, frank, and constructive insights and advice that emanated from his deep love for and boundless knowledge of CDC. His most recent contributions have been in the area of chronicling global disease eradication. Global Health Chronicles were established with the involvement of the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory’s Woodruff Library, and CDC. The eradication of smallpox has been chronicled, and Dr. Sencer had already started the chronicles on the eradication of Guinea worm, with others planned.

Dr. Sencer was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and attended Wesleyan University until he left for military service. He got his medical degree from Michigan University and an MPH from Harvard long before he was accorded an honorary college degree from Wesleyan.

He is survived by Jane, his wife of almost 60 years; three children: Susan, a pediatric oncologist in Minneapolis; Ann, an oncologist nurse practitioner in Atlanta; and Steve, General Counsel, Emory University; and six grandchildren. Those who know Dr. Sencer well will agree that his first love clearly was family; his second love was CDC.  Both families will miss him dearly, but his influence will continue to be felt by millions of people, both in this country and around the world.