Speakers

The following is an example of past event speakers - 2008 details coming soon!

SWATI AVASHIA, M.D.
Presentation: “Beating Back the Devil” The CDC Epidemiology Intelligence Service

Drs. Avashia, Taylor, and Miller are current or former Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officers stationed at the Department of State Health Services here in Austin, Texas. They will share some of their experiences working as EIS Officers in Texas and how they came to apply to the EIS program. They will leave time at the end of their talk to address questions about the application process for prospective EIS Officers.

TOM BETZ, M.D., Texas Department of State Health Services
Presentation: Medical Epidemiology: Disease Detectives in Action!

Dr. Betz’s presentation will focus on an outbreak of rabies in Peru.

Biography: Dr. Tom Betz is currently the Manager of the Infectious Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology Branch, Texas Department of State Health Services. Recently, he also served as the acting state epidemiologist between June and December, 2005. Dr. Betz has held a variety of other positions at the TDSHS including Acting Regional Director, Public Health Region 6/5S (2004); Director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Division (2003-2004); Acting Regional Director, Public Health Region 1 (2003); State Epidemiologist (1987-89); Chief, Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and Epidemiology (1984-1989), and Director, Infectious Disease Epidemiology Division (1982-84).

From 1990-1997 Dr. Betz served as the Medical Director of the Communicable Disease Prevention Services at the Austin/Travis County Health Department.

Dr. Betz was a member of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), assigned to Field Services in Texas (1980-82). While with CDC, he also served as the Medical Director of the Parasitology Unit, San Juan Labs, San Juan Puerto Rico (1980) and as a Long-Term Consultant to the Peru Field Epidemiology Training Program, Lima, Peru (1989-1990).

Dr. Betz has worked in the international arena, serving as a Professor of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Eastern Venezuela Medical School (1996-1997). He also served with the Pan American Health Organization, assessing post-hurricane disease prevention and surveillance (following Hurricanes Mitch, Keith and Iris) for the Ministry of Health in Belize (1999-20001).

LINDA DOOLEY, M.D.
Presentation: Women in Medicine – Women in Public Health!

Biography: I went to medical school with a strong interest in public health after a Peace Corps stint in Dahomey (now Benin), West Africa, and an undergraduate degree from Rice University in cultural anthropology.  I did a residency in Internal Medicine since that was the most interesting to me in medical school and I enjoyed working in indigent health care here in Austin for 10 years before moving to be the tuberculosis doctor for Austin/Travis County. Currently I work with direct health care of HIV+ patients as well as serving as medical director for the Communicable Disease Unit of our local health department. In this case, communicable disease includes TB, HIV screening, STD's, and a little Hansen's Disease.

Allison Foster, MBA, CAE, Association of Schools of Public Health
Presentation: The Fantastic Field of Public Health!

Biography: Ms. Foster has been at the Association of Schools of Public Health for over ten years and is responsible for membership functions of the association, including working with schools of public health on student recruitment activities. Currently, one big project she is working on is developing a centralized application service for schools of public health. Ms. Foster’s background is in risk management and finance but she has spent the bulk of her career working in association management.

STEVEN HARRIS, M.D., M.Sc., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Presentation: The Monster at Our Shores: Quarantine and the Emerging Pandemic

Biography: Steven L. Harris, MD, MSc, received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St Louis. He received his MD Degree from the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio and his Master of Science Degree in Healthcare Management from California State University, Los Angeles. He completed residency training in emergency medicine and is Board-Certified in Emergency Medicine. Dr Harris currently serves as the Quarantine Medical Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Houston Quarantine Station, at IAH, which is in the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine with the CDC. Previously, he has served as the Health Authority for the City of Austin & Travis County (TX), and as Director of Preventive Medicine for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

FADAY JOUDAH, M.D., Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
Presentation: Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan: A Doctor Without Borders

Biography: Fady Joudah is a physician of Internal Medicine, received his training at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. A member of Doctors Without Borders since 2001, he has been on two six-month missions: in Zambia (2002) and, most recently, in Darfur (2005). He is also a poet and a translator. Currently, he is a staff physician at the VA hospital in Houston, TX.

KRISTY LILLIBRIDGE, D.V.M., University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston
Presentation: Veterinarian Disease Detectives: Emerging Threats from Animals to Humans

LINDA LLOYD, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S.W., University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston
Presentation: A Century of Challenges: Public Health Responds!

During the 20 th century, life expectancy improved dramatically in the United States. Today we live approximately 30 years longer than we did in the early 1900’s. Twenty five of these 30 years are the direct result of public health initiatives. The public health workforce is very diverse and includes professionals trained in a multitude of disciplines ranging from veterinary medicine to behavioral health and from epidemiology to sanitary engineering. In 1999, the CDC produced a series of reports highlighting the most notable advances in public health. This presentation will use the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements – United States, 1900 – 1999” as a framework to illustrate the contribution of several public health disciplines. For example, since 1990, infant mortality has decreased 90% and maternal mortality has decreased 99%. How did this happen? Improvements in hygiene and nutrition are the direct result of environmental health and behavioral health, greater access to health care has happened because of our policy analysts and bench scientists and epidemiologists have contributed through the development of new technologies, medications and procedures.

Biography: Dr.Linda Lloyd is Associate Professor, Management, Policy and Community Health and Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at the University of Texas School of Public Health. She received her M.S.W. at Wilfrid Laurier University ( Canada), her M.B.A. at Radford University ( Virginia) and her Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin. Linda has been in public health for more than twenty five years and has never been bored. Over a thirteen year period she had various positions with the Texas Department of Health including health planner, injury epidemiologist and cancer registry director. She spent six years with Drexel University School of Public Health as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs before relocating back to Texas. In her current position she is able to combine academics and public health practice. Her research interests include HIV interventions with positives, health disparities, injury prevention, cancer control, women’s health, and public health practice.

DAVID LURIE, M.B.A., Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department
Presentation: Public Health: Austin!

Biography: David Lurie, Director of the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department

This combined City/County Agency provides public health services, animal services, workforce development, day labor, youth development, child care, and services for the homeless; along with a comprehensive range of contracted community-based health and social services including basic needs, mental health and substance abuse services. David has served in various other community health leadership positions including Director of Public Health for Seattle/King County, and Commissioner of Health for the City of Minneapolis.

He is President-elect of the Texas Association Local Health Officials and serves on state and national public health committees focusing on health promotion, disease prevention, legislation, tobacco, and emergency preparedness. David is a former President of the U. S. Conference of Local Health Officers.

JOSEPH MCCORMICK, M.D., UT School of Public Health, Brownsville Regional Campus
Presentation: A Disease Detective Tackles Border Health

Biography: Dr. McCormick is Regional Dean and James H. Steele Professor, UT Houston School of Public Health, with responsibility for developing the new Brownsville campus. He took that position in January 2001. He was born in Tennessee in 1942 and raised in rural Indiana. He obtained a scholarship to Florida Southern College from which he graduated in 1964 with a double major in chemistry and mathematics, with Honors and with the outstanding awards in both subjects. Though he had been awarded a National Science Foundation grant in physics and accepted for the Peace Corps, he elected instead to attend the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, for a year to acquire sufficient French to enable him to take up a position teaching sciences and mathematics in a secondary school in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). The school was in a remote area of Zaire, and in the turbulence of immediate post independence in that country this period gave him the wider experience of life he was seeking. He worked in the local hospital, which gave him an introduction to medicine and particularly an interest in health issues in an international setting. With this in mind, he returned to the United States in 1967 and entered Duke Medical School from which he graduated in 1971, having also obtained an MS from Harvard School of Public Health in 1970, and receiving the Upjohn Award for Community Health. During his medical training he spent two summers, one in Guatemala, where he learnt and used Spanish and in Haiti, where he was able to use his French. His internship and residency were in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia under Dr. C. Everett Koop.

In 1974 Dr. McCormick joined the US Public Health Commissioned Corps and became an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer (EIS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, Ga, with he Special Pathogens Branch, Division of Bacterial Diseases, and became acting chief in his second year. He was also a fellow in the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the Centers for Disease Control. He was involved at this stage with meningococcal meningitis in particular, spending extensive time over two years in Brazil, where he learnt sufficient Portuguese to communicate fluently. On completion of his epidemiology training, he stayed with CDC, moving to the Division of Viral Diseases. He was sent to West Africa, to found the CDC Lassa Fever Research Project, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Just as he was setting up this project, he was called to go to the Republic of Congo (then Zaire) to join the team investigating the Ebola epidemic of 1976, the very first epidemic that introduced Ebola virus to the world. His knowledge of this country and of the French language allowed him to undertake the difficult task of traveling through remote areas of northern Zaire to reach Sudan in an attempt to establish a connection with a second, concurrent outbreak in Sudan. Again in 1979, he was called on by WHO to lead the investigation of a second Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Sudan He returned after this investigation to Sierra Leone, living and working for three years in the Eastern Province, conducting extensive and definitive studies of the epidemiology and treatment of Lassa hemorrhagic fever. Data from these years were published in landmark reports in the New England Journal of Medicine in the form of a definitive effective treatment for this disease, and in the Journal of Infectious Diseases which ran a series of four papers discussing the clinical disease, laboratory characteristics, epidemiology and pathophysiology all in the same issue. More than 1500 patients with laboratory confirmed Lassa fever were treated over 13 years, and the Project generated a number of other major publications. The Project is unfortunately no longer functional since rebels from Liberia have now overrun most of Sierra Leone, and the Eastern Province is particularly badly affected.

On his return to Atlanta in 1982 Dr. McCormick became Chief, Special Pathogens Branch, Division of Viral Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control, and rapidly attained the rank of Medical Director (Navy Captain 06). He was director of the Biosafety level 4 laboratory at CDC for 8 years, and oversaw the design and inaugurated the current BSL 4 facility at CDC. He was also director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers. In 1982 he identified the virus, now called Hantavirus, that causes a worldwide hemorrhagic disease, and causes the Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in the Americas. During this time he became involved in AIDS and led the original team that did the first AIDS investigation in Africa and established the Project SIDA in Kinshasa, Zaire, and later the Project Retro-Ci in Abidjan, Ivory Coast He co-authored numerous papers in major journals, including Science, and established a key point in the natural history of HIV infection in Africa, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, by testing specimens saved in his laboratory from the 1976 Ebola outbreak including isolation of the oldest HIV virus. Dr. McCormick was the principle founder in 1983 of the Projet SIDA in Kinshasa, Zaire, the earliest and best-established prospective study of AIDS in Africa. and subsequently a similar project (Projet RetroCi) in Abidjan. In 1988 he was given sabbatical leave, to attend Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, Ca. where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Oldstone on the molecular virology and immunology of arenaviruses and HIV. In 1990-91, Dr. McCormick elected to consolidate his work in HIV by moving to be assistant to the Director, Division of HIV/AIDS at CDC. He widened the scope of his interests and experience by taking a position in the Malaria Branch as Chief, Immunobiology Activity, Malaria Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases, CDC. During this period he established a cohort study of malaria in infants and young children, with a cellular and molecular biology oriented field laboratory facility in Kisumu, Kenya. This study has generated seminal data on the natural history of immunity to malaria in young children, and has now also become a major site for HIV research (currently directed by Dr. Kevin DeCock who was an EIS with Dr. McCormick in 1985-1987 and together they founded the program in Abidjan, Ivory Coast). In 1993 Dr. McCormick was recruited to take up the post of Chairman, Community Health Sciences Department, at the Aga Khan University Medical School (AKU). His brief was to reorganize and reorient this large department toward a stronger scientific public health base, particularly the application of epidemiology and biostatistics to a variety of health problems. With additional recruitment of a CDC trained epidemiologist, and a biostatistician he established an epidemiology program, resembling the CDC Field Epidemiology Training Programs, but built on an academic private university model, with a Masters' degree in Epidemiology. The existing programs in urban and rural health and women and child health were broadened and brought under more rigorous scientific methodology. Several young Pakistanis have now completed studies on a variety of issues including infectious disease, maternal and child health care, vaccination studies, nutrition, urban health, occupational health, violence and women's rights. In collaboration with his wife, Dr. Susan Fisher-Hoch, a molecular epidemiology laboratory has been established to support field studies. Major funding was obtained (6 grants totaling 2.5 million dollars over 2 years). At least 45 peer reviewed scientific papers have now been published from this period. Dr. McCormick has also gained experience in teaching both undergraduate medical students and faculty at AKU. He left Pakistan in early 1997 and moved to France where he was Professor at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the Creator and Director of the Corporate Department of Epidemiology for Aventis Pasteur, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. He and his wife decided, after 8 years abroad, to return to the US in late 2000, and on January 1st. 2001, he took up the position of Regional Dean, University of Texas School of Public Health, with responsibility for the new Brownsville campus. In the first 2 years of his tenure there he has worked with colleagues to establish the first Hispanic Health Research Center, funded by the NIH and focused on the health issues of Hispanic people. He has built a faculty of 10 and supported the development of a strong research program focused on the health issues of the Lower Rio Grande Valley people. He has also been instrumental in developing a major focus of TB research with NIH funding in the LRGV. Over the past 2 1/2 years he has raised over $8 million in research funds from the NIH.

Dr. McCormick speaks and reads fluently in French, and also has some fluency in Spanish, Portuguese, German and Krio. His many awards include Exceptional Capability Promotion, Meritorious Service Medal, 3 PHS Citations, a unit commendation and the Foreign Service award of the USPHS, and the Friends of Public Health Award from the Texas Department of Health, and in 2005 University of Texas Chancellor's Health Fellow in Public Health. He was awarded Humanitarian Awards from his undergraduate Alma Mater, Florida Southern College in 2000, and from his Medical School, Duke University, in 2001. Prior to his current academic position he held several university appointments including Visiting Professor at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, Adjunct Professor at Emory University and at University of North Carolina, and Member of the Group d'Etudes de Virologie de L'Institut Pasteur, and now full professor at the Aga Khan University. He has conducted more than 30 consultations with organizations such as the Pan American Health Organization, the US.-Japan Panel on Leprosy, and the Institut Pasteur Outre-Mer, and has been an invited speaker and chairman at many symposia and meetings, including the 2nd International Conference on AIDS, the Meetings of the Japanese NIH and the 7th. International Congress of Virology, Berlin. He has served as consultant to WHO in viral hemorrhagic fevers, smallpox eradication, antiviral agents and AIDS. In 1985 he organized and co-chaired the first WHO meeting on AIDS in Africa on the African Continent. He has acted as reviewer for many journals. His publications number over 200 and include many seminal papers in AIDS and viral hemorrhagic fevers, and a number of review articles and textbook chapters.

Dr. McCormick came to Texas in January 2001 to start the new regional campus of the UT Houston School of Public Health in Brownsville. Shortly after his arrival he was given an endowed Professorship (James H. Steele professor). He has rapidly built a strong research program with over $8 million in research grants raised over the past 2 years. He has initiated a vigorous research program addressing important issues in the Hispanic Community such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and tuberculosis. He has grown the program in Brownsville from 1 staff and 2 faculty in 2001 to 10 faculty and nearly 60 staff members working on population based research programs, including some translational research programs on both sides of the border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. In 2005 he was named the fist University of Texas Chancellor's Fellow in Public Health that will provide an opportunity to address public health issues across the entire UT system of medical centers and universities.

His activities in viral hemorrhagic fevers and major contributions to the science and epidemiology of emerging pathogens has been aired on television, including programs by CNN and BBC, newspapers and periodicals and in several books for the lay reader. He recently participated in a new TV documentary on the beginning of the AIDS epidemic that will be aired in 2006. Dr. McCormick is a member of several scientific organizations and has published over 200 scientific publications involving co-authors from over 20 different countries. McCormick and his wife Susan raised 3 children who are pursuing professional careers. They also published an account of their adventures as virus hunters in: Level 4, Virus Hunters of the CDC (Barnes and Noble). This book has now been published in 8 languages. Joseph McCormick is an accomplished amateur pianist, and enjoys outdoor activities such as running, back packing, skiing and fly fishing.

ERIC MILLER, Ph.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Presentation: “Beating Back the Devil” The CDC Epidemiology Intelligence Service

Drs. Avashia, Taylor, and Miller are current or former Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officers stationed at the Department of State Health Services here in Austin, Texas. They will share some of their experiences working as EIS Officers in Texas and how they came to apply to the EIS program. They will leave time at the end of their talk to address questions about the application process for prospective EIS Officers.

Biography: LT Eric A. Miller is currently an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and serving in the United States Public Health Service. He is currently stationed in the Chronic Disease Prevention Branch of the Texas Department of State Health Services and has conducted wide-ranging investigations during EIS, including racial/ethnic disparities in tobacco use and disparities in complications from diabetes along the Texas-Mexico border as well as non-chronic disease investigations such as foodborne outbreaks and post-hurricane surveillance.

He received his undergraduate degree in biology with emphasis on genetics and cell biology from the University of Minnesota. He then attended the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received a masters degree and doctorate in epidemiology.

SUSAN NEILL, Ph.D., M.B.A., TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
Presentation: Become A Disease Detective: Discover Laboratory Science!

Biography: Susan Neill received her BA in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin, her MS and PhD from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and her MBA from St. Edwards University in Austin. After three years in private industry developing diagnostic kits for infectious agents, she joined the Department of State Health Services. She has served as the Section Chief of the Rabies-Arbovirus Section, Branch Supervisor of the Medical Virology Branch, Division Director of the Biochemistry and Genetics Branch, and now serves as the Director of the Laboratory Services Section.

BEVERLEE NIX, D.V.M., TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
Presentation: Veterinarian Disease Detectives: Emerging Threats from Animals to Humans

Human rabies cases investigations are typically complex, but in 2004 Texas documented the first-ever cases of rabies transmitted through solid organ tissue transplantations. The investigation spanned multiple states and involved local, regional, state, and federal public health officials. Dr. Nix’s discussion will review the donor’s illness, recipients’ outcomes, and postexposure prophylaxis measures for caregivers and family exposed to the patients.

Biography: Dr. Nix currently serves as a Zoonosis Control Veterinarian for Health Services Region 7 ( Central Texas) of the Texas Department of State Health Service. In this position she deals issues regarding diseases shared between animals and humans. She received her DVM Degree from Texas A & M University. After a few years in a rural small animal practice, she completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. She found her career niche when she joined the Texas Department of Health in Houston. She earned a Master of Public Health Degree in 2000 from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.

KATHY PARKER, Texas Department of State Health Services
Presentation: Medical Epidemiology: Disease Detectives in Action!

“Tularemia in West Texas: 2006!”
A rabbit and rodent die-off in West Texas is not unusual. Plague is endemic in the area and sporadic outbreaks are not uncommon. This year, however, plague did not kill hundreds, perhaps thousands, of rabbits and rodents, it was Tularemia.

Tularemia is a zoonotic bacterial disease surrounded by mystery. It presents many questions and few answers regarding its maintenance in the West Texas environment.

Biography: Kathy Parker, BS, received her undergraduate degree from Texas State University/Southwest Texas State University in Biogeography. She currently serves as a Zoonosis Control Specialist for the Department of State Health Services in Midland, TX.

SUSAN PENFIELD, M.D., Texas Department of State Health Services
Presentation: Women in Medicine – Women in Public Health!

Women wear many hats in public health and in medicine-not to mention real life. This presentation offers an opportunity to explore some of those roles, share experiences, and talk about public health and medicine as careers.

Biography: Dr. Penfield is currently manager of the Infectious Disease Control Unit in the Community Preparedness Section of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and serves as the Texas TB Controller. She has the privilege of working with amazing colleagues in zoonosis control, tuberculosis control and prevention, infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance, pandemic influenza planning, all hazards preparedness, and the odd hurricane. Previously she served as director of the Children with Special Health Care Needs Division at the Texas Department of Health (now DSHS); as faculty member in the Austin Pediatric Education Program; and as a pediatrician in Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department community clinics. She earned a B.A. in Biochemistry from Rice University and an M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine; and completed a pediatrics residency in Austin with the Central Texas Medical Foundation.

"New challenges, old diseases, constant change, great partners, and more good information than one could ever learn -- public health is never boring!"

Biography: Ms. Perlman has over 20 years of experience in public health and non-profit association management, with a concentration on training and continuing education. Currently she serves as Senior Director of Professional Development for the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). She provides leadership, guidance and oversight in the operations, administration and coordination of APHL sponsored workforce development, training and continuing education initiatives, including the National Center for Public Health Laboratory Leadership (NCPHLL), the National Laboratory Training Network (NLTN); and, the Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship and Traineeship Programs. She is Project Director on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored project to strengthen the capacity and performance of the nation’s public health laboratories by developing short and long range strategies to resolve the public health laboratory leadership crisis.

Ms. Perlman serves on the Exhibitors Advisory Council for the American Public Health Association.

Ms. Perlman received her MPH at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, and her BA at Case Western Reserve University.

C.J. PETERS, M.D., University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Keynote Presentation:

DENNIS PERROTTA, Ph.D., C.I.C., University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston
Presentation: The Fantastic Field of Public Health!

In his presentation, Dr Perrotta will provide a capsule look at the rewarding fields that make up public health and the kinds of backgrounds that can lead you to succeed in this discipline.

Biography: Dr. Perrotta, is Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biosecurity at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.  Until 2005, he was the Texas State Epidemiologist, and Scientific Director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response, Texas Department of Health.  He is doctorally trained in epidemiology, board certified in infection control, and has worked in public health for more than 22 years spanning a wide range of subject areas from bioterrorism, asthma, influenza, environmental health to infectious disease epidemiology.  He has served as President of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and as President of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board.  He served on the 1997-99 Institute of Medicine Committee to Improve Civilian Medical Response to Chemical and Biological Terrorism and is facilitating state health department efforts regarding bioterrorism preparedness. He is Adjunct Associate Professor of Community Health Nursing at the University of Texas School of Nursing where he teaches graduate level epidemiology.  Dr Perrotta currently serves on the CDC Healthcare Infections Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC).  He was the principal investigator on two major bioterrorism grants as well as a CDC Emerging Infections Program grant.

JANET PICHETTE, M.P.H, Austin Travis County Health and Human Services Department
Presentation: Epidemiologists: Outbreaks Are Our Business!

EDUARDO SANCHEZ, M.D., M.P.H, Texas Department of State Health Services
Presentation: in the Keynote Session: Discover Public Health!

Biography: Dr. Sanchez, is commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). As commissioner and chief health officer for the State of Texas, Dr. Sanchez oversees programs that address prevention and treatment of mental illness and substance abuse, disease prevention and bioterrorism preparedness, family and community health services, environmental and consumer safety, and regulatory services.

The Texas Department of State Health Services combines the former Texas Department of Health, the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the Texas Health Care Information Council, and the mental health component of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation into a department of more than 11,500 employees with an annual budget of approximately $2.3 billion.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita presented enormous challenges to DSHS employees, who staffed emergency preparedness and response activities 24 hours a day for weeks in the aftermath of the storms. More than 250,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees arrived in Texas needing food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. In the midst of ramped-up efforts to meet these needs, DSHS joined with other state and local government agencies to help manage the evacuation of 2.5 million residents from a 17-county region along the Gulf coast of Texas. Dr. Sanchez considers this sustained and collective effort to be one of the most outstanding chapters in the more than 100 years of Texas public health service.

The American Academy of Family Physicians presented Dr. Sanchez with the 2005 Public Health Award for his contributions to public health in Texas and beyond. The commissioner also received the Louis B. Russell Memorial Award in 2004, from the American Heart Association for outstanding service to minority populations.

Dr. Sanchez became commissioner of health on Nov. 5, 2001. He is a board-certified family practice physician, actively practicing in Austin from 1992 to 2001. Dr. Sanchez also served as health authority and chief medical officer for the Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department from 1994 to 1998.

Dr. Sanchez received his medical degree in 1988 from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and holds master’s degrees in public health from the UT School of Public Health, and in biomedical engineering from Duke University. He also has bachelor’s degrees from Boston University in biomedical engineering and chemistry. Dr. Sanchez grew up in Corpus Christi, where he graduated from Mary Carroll High School. He is married to Katherine Sanchez and has four children.

FREDERIC SHAW, M.D., J.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Law Program
Presentation: Doctor Interrupted: A Career in Public Health Law

The SARS epidemic of 2003 marked the first time that the use of mass quarantine had been contemplated in the United States since the mid 20 th century.  Fortunately for the people of the United States, SARS did not make significant inroads in this country, and mass quarantine was not needed.  However, if SARS had spread widely in the United States, public health officials would have been forced to use quarantine laws that, in many cases, had gradually become outmoded and inadequate to the task.  These laws were written in the early 20 th century, at a time when typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and other quarantinable diseases were the main concern of public health officials.  Would these laws work effectively in 2006 to help control pandemic influenza, SARS, or smallpox?  The answer is unknown. 

This is the arena of public health law.  The public health lawyer is concerned with laws governing quarantine, emergency response, immunization, injuries, and many other of society’s gravest health problems.  Public health law is a miniscule branch of a larger discipline called administrative law.  Yet the challenges presented by public health law are distinct in many ways from general administrative law, and, some would argue, much more interesting.  

Dr. Frederic Shaw had a childhood ambition to become a doctor.  He finished medical school and subspecialty training in internal medicine.  A series of serendipitous events led him to the fabled “path less traveled” – for him, a career in public health law.  In this presentation, he will describe his winding career path and the series of chance events that led him to his present work.  Shaw says, “I did not find my career.  It found me.”

Biography:Frederic E. Shaw, M.D., J.D. serves as medical officer in the CDC Public Health Law Program. Dr. Shaw was born and reared in Nashua, New Hampshire. He received his medical training at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, the State University of New York-Downstate, New York City, and the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont. He studied law at the Columbia and Harvard law schools and is a member of the New Hampshire Bar. Dr. Shaw is dual board-certified in internal medicine and preventive medicine. He was a member of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service class of 1983, and later served as a staff epidemiologist at the Hepatitis Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC. Prior to returning to CDC in 2001, he served as the New Hampshire State Epidemiologist, New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services, Concord; Staff Counsel to the U. S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Washington, D.C.; and Assistant Health Commissioner for Policy and Planning at the Texas Department of Health, Austin. He has also worked in Washington, D.C. as a private consultant on managed care, immunization, food safety, and infection control policy. Recently, he has worked on global and domestic immunization issues and on the law of public health. His writings include articles on hepatitis control, public health, and law.

ED SHERWOOD, M.D., Williamson County and Cities Health District
Presentation: Pandemic Influenza

The impact of the 1918 flu pandemic and the various ways in which we responded to it will be reviewed. Influenza A will be compared to its first cousins, B and C, to show why influenza A constitutes the greatest threat. Microbial virulence factors, the prerequisites for pandemic disease, and the specific threat of H5N1 avian influenza will be discussed before examining options for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. The presentation will conclude with practical steps to decrease personal risk and to harden the critical public health infrastructure in the face of pandemic disease.

Biography:As Health Authority for the Williamson County and Cities Health District, Dr. Ed Sherwood works to improve local defenses against bioterrorism. Recognizing that microbial pathogens do not respect jurisdictional boundaries, he has promoted collaboration among local health departments throughout the area.

After serving in Viet Nam with the U.S. Marines, Dr. Sherwood received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Boston University and completed his postgraduate training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Boston City Hospital. His career has included academic practice and senior management positions in hospital administration, biotechnology and managed care. He is an Advanced Disaster Life Support (ADLS) instructor, board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Registered Maine Whitewater Guide.

TOM SIDWA, D.V.M., Texas Department of State Health Services
Presentation: Medical Epidemiology: Disease Detectives in Action!

Biography: Tom J. Sidwa, DVM received his undergraduate and veterinary degrees from Texas A&M University. Dr Sidwa practiced clinical veterinary medicine in Texas for 20 years. His public health career has been entirely with the Texas Department of State Health Services. He is currently headquartered in Austin and serves as Manager of the Zoonosis Control Branch of the Infectious Control Unit. Previously, he has served as a Regional Zoonosis Control Veterinarian; Assistant Director of the Meat Safety Assurance Division; Director of the Oral Rabies Vaccination Program; and Manager of the Meat Safety Assurance Unit.

“Public health has provided me with a stimulating and rewarding “second phase” to my career as a veterinarian.”

JEFF TAYLOR, M.P.H., Texas Department of State Health Services
Presentation: Epidemiologists: Outbreaks Are Our Business!

RICHARD TAYLOR, Ph.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Presentation: “Beating Back the Devil” The CDC Epidemiology Intelligence Service

Drs. Avashia, Taylor, and Miller are current or former Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officers stationed at the Department of State Health Services here in Austin, Texas. They will share some of their experiences working as EIS Officers in Texas and how they came to apply to the EIS program. They will leave time at the end of their talk to address questions about the application process for prospective EIS Officers.

Biography: LCDR Richard Taylor is a Commissioned Officer in the United States Public Health Service. He is an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since July 2004, he has been stationed at the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin, Texas in the Infectious Disease Control Unit where he assists in conducting outbreak investigations for a variety of infectious diseases.

He received his Ph.D. at University of South Florida. He has taught courses in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and has lectured on a variety of public health topics both nationally and internationally.

He comes from a background in health behavior and health promotion. He served for several years as an Assistant Director of Health and Wellness at Florida International University in Miami. He enjoys teaching and is coauthor of Biostatistics for the Health Sciences, an introductory biostatistics textbook for graduate students.

JOHN WALKER, M.D., Texas Department of State Health Services
Presentation: Medical Epidemiology: Disease Detectives in Action!

Biography: Dr. Walker graduated from Williams College in 1976 and received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1982. Following ten years of clinical experience as a residency-trained, board-certified emergency physician in Austin, Texas, he received additional post-graduate training in public health and preventive medicine from the University of Texas School of Public Health at the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Health Promotion, Research and Development. From 1992 to 2000 he helped launch the Texas Youth Commission Office of Prevention, and worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente on the largest-scale study to date of the incidence and effects of childhood trauma. In 2000, as Medical Director of the Bureau of Children’s Health with the Texas Department of Health, he continued his epidemiological research on the childhood origins of behavioral public health problems, and helped to advance our understanding that adverse childhood experiences have a profound effect on adult health and well-being a half century later, and are a prime determinant of adult health status in the United States. Since 2000, he has been a member of the state physician on-call team for public health emergencies, and beginning in 2003, has served as Assistant Medical Director for the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Division, and Assistant Medical Director for the Infectious Disease Control Unit. He is a member of the Department of State Health Services Medical Council, Institutional Review Board, Emergency First Responder Team, and serves as Chairman of the Continuing Education Committee. In 2005, Dr. Walker received his commission as a Colonel in the Texas State Guard Medical Reserve Corps and was appointed by the Governor as the Infectious Disease Advisor to the Texas State Military Forces. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Texas School of Nursing. Dr. Walker currently serves as Preparedness Medical Director for the Department of State Health Services, Community Preparedness Section.

ADOLFO VALADEZ, M.D., M.P.H., Austin Travis County Health and Human Services Department
Presentation: Public Health: Austin!

Biography:Dr. Valadez received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed a residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Later, Dr. Valadez completed the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and received a Masters of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Valadez served as an Instructor in Clinical Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and as Adjunct Faculty in the Division of Public Health Practice at the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to his arrival in Austin, Dr. Valadez served as a primary care physician and medical director for the Martha Eliot Health Center, a community health center in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Dr. Valadez has served on peer review committees for the HRSA Centers of Excellence grants, as a member of a CDC Expert Panel on Physical Activity and Nutrition and a Special Emphasis Panel on community-based participatory research methodologies, and on numerous professional societies’ advisory committees. Dr. Valadez also serves as a consultant to the Texas Medical Association’s Public Health Committee and as a member of the American Heart Association’s National Committee on Women and Minority Leadership.

Dr. Valadez currently serves as the Medical Director and Health Authority for the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department (ATCHHSD). In his role, Dr. Valadez is responsible for the quality of care of all clinical programs throughout ATCHHSD, and is responsible for developing quality assurance programs for the department. In addition, Dr. Valadez serves as the health authority for Austin/Travis County, and in this role, he provides leadership for responding to disease outbreaks; establishes, maintains, and enforces quarantine; collaborates with various local, state, and federal agencies to coordinate and implement effective public health programs; and develops proposed legislation, health codes, ordinances, and laws and recommends their adoption before legislative bodies and advisory committees.

Recently, Dr. Valadez was the principal investigator responsible for the successful application to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention program entitled, Steps to a Healthier US. This cooperative agreement was one of 12 awarded nationally that will seek to reduce the burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and obesity by improving nutrition, increasing physical activity, and reducing exposure and use of tobacco products. This multi-level intervention grant will work with various community partners to improve the health of Austin and Travis County. Additionally, Dr. Valadez serves as the principal investigator in a new program from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, Information Links: Linking Public Health to Health Information Exchanges, a competitive national program that will seek to link local health departments to health information exchanges in order to improve clinical care, reduce health disparities, and improve the overall health of the community.

Sponsors:
College of Natural Sciences: School of Biological Sciences, Career Services and Health Professions Office;University of Texas Libraries; The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Scientific Education and Professional Development Program Office; The Association of Schools of Public Health; The Association of Public Health Laboratories; Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department; The University of Texas School of Public Health.

This conference is generously supported under a cooperative agreement from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH).