What's the best thing about working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the world's top public health organizations?
For Hilda Shepeard, a team leader and senior health communications specialist at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, it's not the prestige or pay: "There's an enormous opportunity to really do something meaningful -- you're touching people's lives."
Here's a closer look at what these public health protectors do and how they got where they are.
Infectious Disease Containment and More
The CDC's 8,500 employees have plenty to do. The agency's current priorities include stemming the spread of infectious diseases, such as pandemic influenza, and increasing the nation's preparedness for bioterrorism, natural disasters and other potential public health emergencies.
Most CDC job opportunities are typically for medical officers, epidemiologists, microbiologists and public health advisors/analysts. Their main activities range from researching health problems and disease-control programs to identifying epidemics, carrying out lab science, and advising state, local and foreign governments on public health matters.
But the CDC isn't just about detecting and stopping infectious diseases. For example, in response to increasing violence in society, the agency created the Division of Violence Prevention to help curb youth violence, child mistreatment and other forms of abuse.
Also playing key roles in fulfilling the CDC's mission are business disciplines such as program management, information technology and communications. Says Shepeard of her department: "We develop health communications strategies regarding sexually transmitted diseases to try to influence individual and community behaviors. It doesn't matter how good the science is; if we don't communicate it, we haven't done anything."
For Hilda Shepeard, a team leader and senior health communications specialist at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, it's not the prestige or pay: "There's an enormous opportunity to really do something meaningful -- you're touching people's lives."
Here's a closer look at what these public health protectors do and how they got where they are.
Infectious Disease Containment and More
The CDC's 8,500 employees have plenty to do. The agency's current priorities include stemming the spread of infectious diseases, such as pandemic influenza, and increasing the nation's preparedness for bioterrorism, natural disasters and other potential public health emergencies.
Most CDC job opportunities are typically for medical officers, epidemiologists, microbiologists and public health advisors/analysts. Their main activities range from researching health problems and disease-control programs to identifying epidemics, carrying out lab science, and advising state, local and foreign governments on public health matters.
But the CDC isn't just about detecting and stopping infectious diseases. For example, in response to increasing violence in society, the agency created the Division of Violence Prevention to help curb youth violence, child mistreatment and other forms of abuse.
Also playing key roles in fulfilling the CDC's mission are business disciplines such as program management, information technology and communications. Says Shepeard of her department: "We develop health communications strategies regarding sexually transmitted diseases to try to influence individual and community behaviors. It doesn't matter how good the science is; if we don't communicate it, we haven't done anything."
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