Category: Emma

As the on-site portion of my practicum with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dengue Branch has come to an end, I am reflecting on an experience that has exceeded my expectations. Saying my goodbyes in San Juan, Puerto Rico was bittersweet. Time flew by exploring the island, but I was also missing my 6-month old puppy. While I returned to Chapel Hill, my practicum is not quite over yet. Thanks to Microsoft Teams, I have been continuing to work on my practicum projects remotely, while staying connected to the branch. From finalizing an evaluation plan and data collection tool to better assess the Communities Organized to Prevent Arboviruses (COPA) project’s community engagement events and activities, to conducting exploratory analyses to improve the multi-year prospective cohort’s participant retention, I have been keeping busy! 

The ability to travel around Puerto Rico and immerse myself into a different culture has been one of the many delights of this practicum experience. I have learned throughout this experience how to be more perceptive and accommodating of cultural differences as well as how to receive and use constructive criticism to refine my projects. An unfamiliar component of this opportunity was the ability to give feedback on my experiences for future practicum students, which I learned to do so humbly and respectfully. Throughout this experience, my personal and professional growth were astounding! To no surprise, working as an epidemiologist was never monotonous. Opportunities and needs evolve, and no two days are the same. The chance to work in a federal office and attend meetings, as well as to work in a field project and attend community engagement activities has allowed me to see the diverse responsibilities and skills needed of an epidemiologist. It has also allowed me to observe firsthand the importance and codependency of these roles and the collaboration of professionals from different backgrounds and perspectives: you cannot have a team conducting community education and data collection without individuals to develop data collection tools and education materials, analyze the data, and evaluate and plan field activities (and vice versa).

All in all, this summer has been a very memorable –(snorkeling with sea turtles and paddling through the bioluminescent bays is a tough experience to beat!) and a thought-provoking one. The experience challenged me to grow as a person, a student, a public health professional, and a global citizen. I have been granted lessons that I intend to utilize as I continue into my second year of my MPH program at Gillings and begin my professional career as an aspiring epidemiologist. Fortunately, my time with the CDC Dengue Branch will continue into the fall, as I hope to publish the findings from my cohort retention analysis to help inform future community-based research studies in the region. 

-Emma

I knew as an aspiring epidemiologist that I wanted to travel to different communities around the world to better understand communicable disease outbreaks and what public health infrastructures do to prevent and aid in these occurrences. As a first generation college student, I didn’t think this dream career was feasible, especially after living amidst a global pandemic. However, the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill granted me the opportunity to explore my interests and pursue a practicum that allowed me move one step closer in obtaining my dream career. My practicum is working alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dengue Branch in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD) is a sector of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). The DVBD’s mission is to reduce illness and death from vector-borne illnesses by identifying and detecting vector- borne pathogens that cause disease in people, understanding when, where, how often, and how people are exposed to vector-borne pathogens, preventing exposure and mitigating consequences of infection, and implementing vector-borne disease diagnostics, surveillance, control, and prevention programs. The DVBD leads worldwide in research, prevention, and control in viruses and bacteria spread by vectors including mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. Within the DVBD are four branches, including the Dengue Branch, which focuses on the four dengue viruses spread by mosquitoes. The Dengue Branch provides global guidance in risk assessment, research, and effective public health practices.

The Dengue Branch implemented a project, the Communities Organized to Prevent Arboviruses (COPA), which is a multi-year prospective cohort study that prioritizes identifying leaders, mobilizing communities, monitoring arboviral (dengue, Zika, and chikungunya) diseases, and controlling Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The CDC, Ponce Research Institute (PRI), Puerto Rico Vector Control Unit (PRVCU), and Ponce Health Science University (PHSU) collaborate to conduct surveillance of arboviral diseases through annual interviews and blood collection for COPA participants, vector surveillance through mosquito traps, and implementation and evaluation of vector control interventions, including Wolbachia suppression. The CDC and their partners designed COPA to provide a platform for measuring the community acceptability and effectiveness of a novel vector control intervention in reducing Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and, subsequently, the transmission of dengue and other circulating arboviruses. The project serves the DVBD’s goal by providing a community-based platform for assessing acceptability and uptake of other arbovirus prevention measures (i.e., Dengvaxia dengue vaccine) and for investigating emerging public health threats (i.e., SARS-COV-2).

My practicum consists of working alongside the Epidemiology Team at the CDC Dengue Branch and assisting in their 4th year of the COPA project. Not only will I have the opportunity to view how a federal government organization functions, but I will also have the opportunity to collaborate with groups internal and external to the CDC in Puerto Rico and observe and, where possible, participate in surveillance and outbreak response activities. My goals for the practicum experience are aligned with the DVBD’s vision in creating a future where vector-borne diseases no longer threaten public health. More specifically, I anticipate active participation in COPA fieldwork, community outreach, and an evaluation involving cleaning and analyses of qualitative and quantitative data to be used to develop recommendations for improving participant retention and engagement activities for the COPA project and for future community-based observational research studies in the region. With my graduate-level knowledge, I am prepared to apply my expertise to real-world circumstances and further build my public health comprehension. I hope to gain from this practicum experience the knowledge and skills necessary for an aspiring epidemiologist, which include international community engagement, evaluation of data collection and study protocols, as well as data management of large datasets.

-Emma