November 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the end of one of the most notorious public health and medical ethics violations in U.S. history: the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Study of Untreated Syphilis at Tuskegee and Macon County, Alabama, 1932-1972. In this study, 625 Black men were denied treatment while being observed as their illness progressed, despite curative medical therapy being readily available and the standard of care. In recognition of the gravity of this anniversary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborated with Voices For Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit membership organization comprised of descendants of the individuals in the study; renowned historians and senior government officials to present: Recognition, Remembrance, and Reflection: The Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee and Macon County. The program examined the pervasive and ongoing effects of the study and CDC’s continuing role in addressing racism as a public health threat.

To honor the memory and lives of the victims of the study, the CDC Foundation aims to raise $5 million for the Voices Today for Change Tomorrow Scholarship Fund. This fund will provide annual merit scholarships to the descendants of the study participants and offer administrative support to the Voices For Our Fathers Legacy Foundation. Recipients of the scholarships will be encouraged, but not required, to attend historically Black colleges or universities. With this fund, the CDC Foundation honors the legacy of the men in the USPHS Study of Untreated Syphilis and supports their descendants in building change. These scholarships are intended to amplify the voices of the next generation, allowing them to honor the life experiences of their ancestors while pursuing innovative solutions across their fields of study.

The CDC Foundation welcomes individuals and funding partners to join us in building an endowed fund to support future generations of study descendants. To make a gift online, visit our donation page to support this important work. Please contact Helene Erenberg to discuss ways we can partner together on this important legacy scholarship program. 

In 1984, Drs. Bob Chen and Katy Irwin learned that a physician from a low-income country who had been accepted to the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) was at risk of losing her financial support for this two-year program in applied public health and epidemiology. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was not authorized at the time to provide financial assistance to foreign nationals for this applied public health training, the two young physicians decided to address this gap by establishing the Atlanta International Health Fellowship (AIHF).

With help from other EIS Officers, employees and retirees of CDC and Emory University employees and Atlanta residents, they raised funds and formed partnerships with Emory University, CDC and Villa International Atlanta for tuition and lodging support, respectively.

Since the first fellowships were awarded in 1991, over 60 individuals from over 34 countries have received stipends to help cover some of their costs (e.g., tuition, lodging, medical insurance and/or transportation) to complete applied public health courses sponsored by CDC or Emory University.

Today, funds are awarded for both remote online and in-person course formats and the AIHF collaborates with other international fellowship programs, such as the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship. In 1997, the Tull Charitable Foundation made a major grant to enable the AIHF to become the first endowed fund at the CDC Foundation.

For further information, please contact Susanne Salehi at ssalehi@cdcfoundation.org or via phone at 901.907.4224.

The CDC-Hubert Global Health Award, endowed by the O.C. Hubert Charitable Trust is designed to encourage students to think of public health in a global context. Established in 1999, the original fellowship provided an opportunity for third- and fourth-year medical and veterinary students to gain public health experience in an international setting. Hubert fellows spent six to twelve weeks in a developing country working on a priority health problem in conjunction with CDC staff.

In 2020, the fellowship transitioned. Now called the CDC-Hubert Global Health Award (Hubert Award), it provides a stipend for competitively selected medical or veterinary students, residents, physicians, or veterinarians who successfully completed their 6 or 8-week EEP rotation during the past five years (2019–2023). The Hubert Award is awarded annually to up to 12 EEP graduates per year who are ready to take the next steps on their journey to becoming leaders in the fields of public health, global health, and One Health and are interested in applying to the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) in the near future. Selected applicants will receive a stipend of $1,300 each to support travel and hotel expenses to attend the 2024 EIS conference (April 23–26, 2024) and any additional public health training of their choice.

Since its inception in 1975, EEP has provided approximately 2,100 future physicians and veterinarians opportunities to gain experience with applied epidemiology and public health under the mentorship of CDC subject matter experts. EEP students have helped investigate domestic and global public health problems such as infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters, chronic diseases and limited access to health care. Students often participate in surveillance, analyze data, assist with outbreak investigations and contribute to CDC publications and recommendations. Project assignments in global health have largely supported CDC’s mission to protect domestic public health by helping other countries respond to global health threats. This competitive program offers 6- or 8-week rotations largely based at CDC headquarters. 

The 2024 Hubert Award application has closed. 2024 Award winners will be notified in January 2024 and are expected to attend the EIS conference and awardee events in Atlanta, Georgia from April 23–26, 2024. The 2025 Hubert Award application will open in November 2024.

For questions about the Epidemiology Elective Program, please visit the CDC page.