The Gerald R. Cooper Laboratory Safety Award recognizes exceptional contributions that promote enhanced safety in the laboratory setting.
During his 53 years at CDC, Dr. Gerald Cooper was not only an outstanding CDC scientist, often called the “Father of Cholesterol,” but also an enthusiastic supporter of a strong safety program for both laboratory and non-laboratory staff. He recognized when safety concerns needed to be addressed and was a determined advocate for taking corrective action as soon as a safety problem surfaced. He served as chair of CDC’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee and was always engaged in laboratory safety issues.
When Dr. Cooper passed away in May 2009 at age 94, he was still challenging CDC to promote and implement safety programs, especially for the Division of Laboratory Science. Several groups recognized the important contributions Dr. Cooper had made to CDC’s laboratory safety activates and sought to promote a Gerald R. Cooper Laboratory Safety Award in his honor.
The award was established in 2010 with a generous gift from Battelle to create an endowed fund at the CDC Foundation. Each year, the Gerald R. Cooper Laboratory Safety Award is presented to a CDC employee who has made outstanding contributions to laboratory safety at the annual CDC and ATSDR Honor Awards program.
The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) trains disease detectives working on the public health front lines as they manage infectious disease investigations and conduct research both nationally and internationally. Donations to the EIS Fund support the EIS Alumni Association in their efforts to not only support the alumni of the program through the development of collaboration tools and hosting of networking events, but also in their efforts to help recruit and educate future disease detectives.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) EIS program is a unique 2-year post-graduate training program of service and on-the-job learning for health professionals interested in the practice of applied epidemiology. Since 1951, over 3,000 EIS officers have responded to requests for epidemiologic assistance within the United States and throughout the world.
The Epidemic Intelligence Service Alumni Association represents nearly 3,500 EIS graduates worldwide and provides the means for alumni to connect with the EIS program and other former EIS officers. Only former EIS graduates are eligible to join.
The EIS Alumni Association has been charged with raising awareness of the EIS program and its important and critical work in public health. It also helps foster a spirit of loyalty to the EIS program through its communications and award activities. Each year members are encouraged to nominate individuals for the Friend of EIS Award, which is awarded to a person who has made significant contributions to the EIS program and its participants. Additionally, the Association’s Executive Committee reviews submissions and selects a winner for the prestigious Alexander D. Langmuir Prize. This award is presented annually to an EIS officer who submits the most outstanding manuscript covering an epidemiologic investigation or study. Other activities include conducting the annual EIS Alumni Association business meeting to be held in conjunction with the EIS Annual Conference, as well as general support of the EIS Program Office.
The Pappaioanou Veterinary Public Health and Applied Epidemiology Award is made possible through a partnership between Marguerite Pappaioanou, DVM, MPVM, PhD, DACVPM. and the CDC Foundation. The fund originally supported the Pappaioanou Veterinary Public Health and Applied Epidemiology Fund which competitively selected veterinarians and third and fourth year veterinary medical students for opportunities in an applied hands-on training experience in epidemiology, public health, global health, or One Health (bridging human, animal and environmental health) in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff.
In 2020, the fellowship transitioned. Now called the Pappaoianou Veterinary Public Health and Applied Epidemiology Award (Pappaoianou Award), it provides a stipend for competitively selected veterinary students, residents or veterinarians, who successfully completed their 6- or 8-week Epidemiology Elective Program (EEP) rotation during the years of 2018–2022. The Pappaioanou Award is awarded annually to a minimum of one EEP graduate who is ready to take the next step of their journey to becoming leaders in the fields of public health, global health, and/or One Health and are interested in applying to the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) in the near future. The selected applicant(s) will receive a stipend of $1,300 each to support travel and hotel expenses to attend the 2023 Annual EIS Conference (Spring 2023 (Dates TBD)). Remaining stipend funds may be used for other public health training.
The 2023 Pappaioanou Award application will be open November 1-November 30, 2022. Please check back then. The 2023 Award winners are expected to attend the EIS conference and awardee events in person in Atlanta, Georgia in Spring 2023 (Dates TBD).
Since its inception in 1975, EEP has provided approximately 2,100 future physicians and veterinarians opportunities to gain experience in applied epidemiology and public health under the mentorship of subject matter experts from CDC; state, tribal, local and territorial health departments; and other federal agencies. 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 conduct surveillance, analyze data, assist with outbreak investigations and contribute to CDC publications and recommendations. Project assignments in global health support the CDC mission to protect domestic public health by helping other countries respond to global health threats. To learn more about the EEP application process, deadlines and available rotations, please visit the CDC web page.
Veterinarians who pursue public health careers apply their comparative medical educations to keep humans, animals, and the environment we all share, healthy.
Dr. Marguerite Pappaioanou, a senior epidemiologist and veterinarian, currently serves as CDC’s Liaison to the Food and Drug Administration for Food Safety. She has over 30 years of experience working on domestic and global public issues, including 22 plus years as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Beginning in 1983 at CDC, Dr. Pappaioanou assessed the effectiveness of malaria drugs in African national malaria control programs; led in the design and implementation of the family of HIV seroprevalence surveys; directed a USAID funded global capacity building Data for Decision Making Project to strengthen evidence based policies and programs in Africa, Asia, and South America; actively supported field epidemiology training programs and launched CDC’s support of the Guide to Community Preventive Services—What Works to Promote Health. As associate director for science and policy in CDC’s Office of Global Health, she coordinated many of CDC’s international programs and co-coordinated CDC’s international response to the SARS and avian influenza outbreaks in 2003.
Upon retiring from the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service in 2005, she moved to the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, as professor of infectious disease epidemiology, with a joint appointment in the College of Veterinary Medicine. There she led NIH- and CDC- funded research programs focused on surveillance for emerging zoonotic infectious diseases at the human-animal interface. In 2007, she joined the Association of American Veterinary Colleges for four years as executive director. Just prior to rejoining CDC in 2013, she served as senior One Health technical advisor to the USAID funded Emerging Pandemic Threats/RESPOND Project at the global development company, DAI, Inc. in Bethesda, MD.
Throughout her career, Dr. Pappaioanou has studied and applied the interconnectedness of human and animal health to improve global health. Dr. Pappaioanou recognizes that veterinarians are uniquely equipped to work at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health, and she enthusiastically encourages aspiring veterinarians to pursue exciting and rewarding careers in public health—both domestically and globally.
I am thrilled that through this fund veterinarians will have support to pursue exciting opportunities at CDC to improve human health and well being, and the environment in which we all live.
On an annual basis, the Thomas A. Bartenfeld III Award for Public Health Practice will recognize an individual who reflects excellence in public health practice—that rare combination of perspective grounded in front-line, day-to-day public health work and constant drive toward meaningful program measurement and outcomes.
Dr. Tom Bartenfeld passed away on September 5, 2013. Tom was the Associate Director for Public Health Practice in CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
Tom began his 35 year career at CDC as a Public Health Advisor with STD field assignments that included Chicago and New York City. He joined the newly created Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in 1986 where he worked in emergency response. In the early 1990s, Tom established CDC’s injury and violence extramural research program as the Agency’s injury and violence work transitioned from a Division to a Center. He also contributed to CDC’s mission through various assignments in the Coordinating Center for Health Promotion.
As a health scientist, Tom demonstrated his rare ability to promote real-world program improvement based on evaluation theory and practice. His expertise and approach was often in demand by programs and teams outside his own, leading him to serve in advisory and consultative roles. The generosity Dr. Bartenfeld showed in sharing his knowledge, expertise and advice in this way has been unmatched at CDC. Mentoring was the foundation of how he worked. He was genuinely interested in enhancing the professional growth, knowledge and practice of others.
Excellence in public health practice is both an art and a science and Dr. Tom Bartenfeld modeled this unique blend of practical and academic perspectives throughout his career. Dr. Bartenfeld’s clarity of thinking and leadership in evaluation and public health practice has been pivotal in directing the work of the organizations where he worked. His exceptional leadership in translating the ambitious strategic plan for CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities into day-to-day projects, decisions and funding allocations resulted in the Center seeing real progress towards achieving their goals. His outstanding interpersonal skills and ability to clearly convey his vision will have a lasting impact for the Center, its programs and its constituents.
The Linda Saltzman New Investigator Award recognizes an outstanding new investigator with 2-10 years of experience working in the field of the prevention of intimate partner violence, domestic violence, sexual violence or dating violence. Futures Without Violence, CDC and a committee of experts selects an outstanding individual to receive the award every other year. The recipient receives passage to the National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence and a stipend.
Senior Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Linda Saltzman, PhD, connected research to policy and science to advocacy in ways that broke new ground, challenging the research community to explore violence and helping advocates base their work on science.
Dr. Saltzman worked at the CDC from 1984 until her death in 2005. While there, she initiated numerous studies that built understanding about the causes and consequences of domestic and sexual violence. Much of her work focused on public health surveillance of violence against women, and violence as it relates to pregnancy and other reproductive health issues. She helped develop and test uniform definitions for intimate partner and sexual violence, which have made data collection more effective. She became one of the CDC’s top experts on violence, and one of the violence prevention movement’s most trusted allies. A highly regarded expert, Dr. Saltzman authored and co-authored several groundbreaking studies including Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance: Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements.
The William C. Watson Jr. Medal of Excellence is the highest honor bestowed by CDC.
This award was originally called the CDC Medal of Excellence and was renamed when Bill Watson retired from his post as CDC’s deputy director. It recognizes extraordinary employees who consistently strive for and achieve superior scientific and technical results.
Bill Watson, who passed away in 2013, served CDC for 36 years and embodied the leadership and problem-solving qualities that are hallmarks of the agency today. The award honors scientific research and activities that have affected the past, present, and future enhancement of CDC and its mission.
Bill and his wife, Marge, who passed away in 2007, were so passionate about public health and recognizing the notable achievements of CDC employees that they established the Marge and Bill Watson Endowment at the CDC Foundation to support the activities of this award.
