More orientation

[Samantha Kantrowitz]

Today was the last day of orientation-type activities for the SUPEH and CLEH interns. (I am one of the SUPEHs. The CLEH program is for non-EH majors to get experience in environmental health). Our first activity in the morning was a presentation by Dr. Henry Falk. He is the director of the Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention. Most of his lecture was providing background information on the Coordinating Centers (which actually may go away soon if the new Director reorganizes) and some CDC history. There was also some conversation about why the CDC is not a regulatory agency—it actually has very little power compared to many others, like the EPA and the FDA. He said the reasoning was that it allows the CDC to focus on the science more than the politics and because that way people are more likely to come to them with concerns, where they might fear an organization with more power. There are cons as well—some things could get accomplished faster if they were regulatory—but I thought that was an interesting viewpoint.
After that, we went on a tour of a few of the NCEH laboratories with Dr. Pirkle, the Deputy Director for Science. He gave us an overview of why the laboratory work at the CDC is important and his take on where it fits into the “epidemiologic triangle” of host, agent, environment. A lot of sections were very interesting, like the National Biomonitoring Program (which appealed to my toxicology side) and the Emergency Response and Air Toxicants Branch. He also gave us a history of the tobacco research done at the CDC—especially important due to yesterday’s ruling that the FDA can regulate cigarettes. He told us about the many ways that the tobacco companies have manipulated their product to make it even more addictive, and some of the politics that he has been involved with; I’m actually not allowed to repeat a lot of it, but it was frightening and intriguing at the same time. Dr. Pirkle actually took us into the tobacco research lab where they have a smoking machine that can run multiple cigarettes at one time and measure the toxins that the body would absorb. We also went through the metals lab.
In the afternoon, Robert Blake, the chief of my branch, gave a presentation called Environmental Health 101. For the SUPEH students with an EH background, everything was review but his perspective was definitely unique—he had worked as a health inspector in England as well as on the county level in Michigan and Georgia and the state level in Georgia prior to starting at the CDC. Then, Dr. Steve Thacker gave a decade-by-decade presentation on the history of the CDC. Most interesting was his experience with Legionnaire’s Disease—he was actually one of the first responders to the original outbreak and very much involved with the identification of the disease.
I also found out what long-term projects I will be working on! My primary project is “Norovirus in Shelters” with CAPT Mark Miller. We will be developing materials for emergency response personnel showing how to prevent and respond to a Norwalk outbreak in temporary shelters—this is a major threat when a lot of people are crammed together in a small space, often in less-than-sanitary conditions. I am secondary on a project with Laura Miller called “Analyze data from foodborne outbreak investigations and practices.” Also, I will be assisting CAPT Charles Otto in “Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week Summary and Analysis.” This will be interesting because of my experience working with the recreational water team in Salt Lake County last summer.