For the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program, the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder that it is now more important than ever to build the global health workforce. We are proud to share that 25 of our Fellows have contributed to the work of CDC’s Emergency Operations Center, which “brings together highly trained experts and state-of-the-art technology to coordinate resources, information, and crisis and emergency risk communication to strengthen our nation’s ability to detect and respond to public health threats” (CDC, 2020). 33 of our 34 overseas based Fellows have relocated back to the U.S. and have shown great flexibility and adaptability to jump in and assist where needed on the response.
We are proud to share that 25 of our Fellows have contributed to the work of CDC’s Emergency Operations Center, which “brings together highly trained experts and state-of-the-art technology to coordinate resources, information, and crisis and emergency risk communication to strengthen our nation’s ability to detect and respond to public health threats” (CDC, 2020).
Our Fellows responding to COVID-19 are teleworking while serving on various Task Force Teams, with detail assignments ranging from 30-60 days. 11 Task Force Teams include Fellows, with the majority serving on the COVID/19 International Task Force: Information Management Team:
While tasks vary according to team, some assignments have included monitoring global mitigation measures and analytics to support CDC country offices, tracking requests that come into CDC Headquarters from country offices, and developing health communication measures and health education materials. Here are a few examples of Fellow’s recent contributions:
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- Robyn Bernstein, MPH
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- Greg Chang, MPH
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- Riley Wagner, MPH
Robyn Bernstein, MPH, recently gave a presentation on community mitigation in Africa to the COVID-19 International Task Force. Robyn is a first year Surveillance Fellow for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch in the Division of Global HIV & Tuberculosis at CDC Zambia.
Greg Chang, MPH, who assisted the International Epidemiology Team, has focused on tracking the disease in priority countries: “We pull case data on each country and track it… From there, others extract the data and clean it and create proper variables that will be analyzed.” Greg is a second year Surveillance Fellow for the Epidemiology & Surveillance Branch, in the Division of Global HIV & Tuberculosis at CDC’s Center for Global Health, Atlanta, Georgia.
Riley Wagner, MPH, was the first guest on our new podcast, the PHI/CDC Global Health Podcast, and discussed her experience responding to COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships around the world. CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Riley contributed to is also accessible online: “Public Health Responses to COVID-19 Outbreaks on Cruise Ships — Worldwide, February–March 2020”. Riley is a second year Program Management Fellow for CDC’s Center for Global Health Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
As PHI/CDC Global Health Fellow, Ayayi Ayite, MPH, MBA commented recently, “Our current pandemic we are having is actually proof that we can never have enough people in public health.” We are inspired by our Fellows’ adaptability, hard work and varied contributions to the COVID-19 response during this challenging time.
“Our current pandemic we are having is actually proof that we can never have enough people in public health.” -Ayayi Ayite, MPH, MBA
-Whitney Hall, Administration & Communications Specialist
