[ Music ]
>> 70, it's the new 50.
Hip-hip, you say for EIS.
Make the world better, give it your best in plain clothes or service dress.
You helped us bid farewell smallpox.
You welcomed Twitter and TikTok.
You spread the health, not just by docs.
The greatest silent, boomers too, Gen X and Y.
And whatever is you, look for that whole bottom of the shoe.
>> By mid-2019.
CDC activated its EOC.
>> Ebola virus disease was spreading overseas.
>> Many officers took up the call, ready to give it their all.
Their work, they had to forego to head to the Congo.
>> At first they were scared, they did not feel prepared.
>> New skills they had to obtain, some of them while on the plane.
>> Their French wasn't great, on that they could relate.
But their hearts were pure and hardships they could endure.
>> They supported the local staff on our government's behalf, and grew together as a team working
toward a shared dream, where Ebola was in the rear view and we all bid Ebola adieu.
>> It really has been all throughout my career a very important network that I have.
But more than that, just friends that I see over and over again.
And it's just been wonderful.
I should sing or I should say a poem, but I'm not that kind of person.
So I'm just telling you straight, EIS was really fun and it's really been wonderful,
the subsequent 40 years of work to have the colleagues I have.
And the stories that we could tell if we had more than 30 seconds.
>> EIS was the most fun I've ever had of any job.
I recommend it so highly.
I remember walking out of the health department building in the first months thinking, "I
can't believe they pay me to do this.
It's so much fun."
I traveled all over the city.
I learned about a wide range of diseases.
I learned to be able to write a scientific article, present something to the mayor, hold
a press conference, figure out how to design a program.
EIS has been foundational to everything I've done since.
>> EIS really was a transformative experience for me.
I came in not knowing anything about public health.
All of my experience to date had been as a clinician.
But it was really after a few months of starting EIS that I realized that I wanted a career
in public health.
The combination of the real-world, hands-on experience in applied epidemiology and public
health, and that coupled with great supervision that I got from both Gus and Dale, really,
you know, changed my life.
The close personal and professional relationships that we developed with our classmates, I'd
like to give a shout out to the EIS class of 1991.
Of course, we're the best class.
I think every class says that about themselves.
But it really was so terrific to come in and feel like, you know, you had so much in common
with your classmates.
And we all bonded very quickly.
And those professional and personal relationships have stood the test of time.
I remain close to many of my classmates and over the years have worked with many of them
as well.
So that was really another unexpected but wonderful aspect of the EIS experience for
me.
>> And really, it's not just the work, but the people that you work with, from supervisors
and fellow EIS officers and people who are friends for life and counterparts inside and
outside the government.
The opportunity that you have to make an impact is really unparalleled.
And I'm most grateful to the people I've worked with, from EIS classmates who have been with
me and lifelong friends for the past 23 years, and helped me every day in navigating my career,
to supervisors in, you know, field investigations, and mentors.
>> I joined a cohort of talented and bright EIS classmates in 1996, the summer of the
Olympics in Atlanta.
We had fun and we learned from one another.
At first I thought, "I'll do my two years and then move on."
But what EIS solidified for me was how much epidemiology matters, how it matters for science,
how it matters for impact and how it matters for justice.
>> Training EIS officers, I've now been involved with at least 25 assigned here to the state
health department in Tennessee.
It's been a wonderful ride and a profoundly satisfying experience.
>> I've had the good fortune to work closely with the most talented, dedicated, selfless
and persistent people working in public health today -- the EIS officers and EIS alumni.
And for those experiences, I will forever be grateful.
Thank you.
>> I will never forget how EIS started for the class of 2014.
Crisp new passports in hand, we boarded planes for West Africa as newly minted Ebola warriors.
It was one of the most exhausting, heartbreaking and rewarding experiences of my life.
I learned how dedicated our CDC colleagues are to mentoring us to be effective public
health professionals.
And I quickly learned to trust my EIS classmates as we braved unknown territory and provided
each other emotional support, even without the much-needed hug.
Later in my career, these lessons on the importance of mentorship and camaraderie have served
me well.
>> I've experienced firsthand the extent to which EIS isn't just a training program.
It's truly a network of epidemiologists in service to the nation.
Whether working on an outbreak investigation across the state lines, or getting advice
about responding to COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, I'm so grateful
to my fellow officers who have always gladly shared their time and knowledge.
It's this collaborative spirit that to me makes EIS so special.
We really are greater than the sum of our parts.
So thank you all.
>> I spent three months as a smallpox fighter in India, and had Lawrence of Arabia-like
experiences, which are briefly described in the book, Inside the Outbreaks.
EIS ranks at the top of best years of my career.
>> I had finished my Tuesday Morning Seminar presentation, and the moderator interrupted
the Q&A, directing everyone to the screen behind me where we saw live footage of the
9/11 attacks.
I just wanted to get home to Jersey, so the next day Doug Hamilton got me on a Cessna.
And circling over Lower Manhattan, the sky was clear and blue, starkly contrasting with
plumes of gray debris enveloping the Twin Tower footprints.
9/11 foreshadowed the anthrax bioterrorism investigations a month later.
And this was the start of my public health career.
>> And so they did a skit on one slide and one presentation, and it was a period.
It was just a period [laughing] on the screen.
[laughing] And somebody said, "Oh, well I guess you could call it a period.
But isn't it really a dot?"
[ Laughing ]
And so the skit went to, you know, people revising it and going back and forth and going
back and forth until, at the end, yeah, it was just a period.
>> EIS was a fabulous experience.
It laid the foundation for what I know now in terms of epidemiology and public health
practice, and really determined the life that I've led for years after and will continue
to look forward to leading and working in professionally for years to come.
>> When I came to Atlanta as a first-year EIS officer, I was so excited.
I'd met people who'd been in the program, but I didn't realize how transformational
this experience could be for me.
It was transformational in terms of the science I learned, public health science, epidemiology.
But it also transformed my thinking in terms of the power of government and the value that
I got from working at a mission-based institution.
It's something that I didn't always have throughout my career.
But I got that love for public service through my time in EIS.
>> Hi and happy 70th from Thailand.
Yay for EIS.
It gave me some of the best experiences of my life.
The mentorship I received from Steve Redd and the hard work and trials and tribulations
and fun that I've had with colleagues through responses around the world.
>> Thank you, EIS program, not only for the two fabulous years, but for positioning me
for all the meaningful years that followed.
Go EIS!
>> Under the tutelage and the mentorship of Bill Foege and Stan Foster and a host of public
health advisors, I got to do interesting things that I could never have imagined I'd be doing
at that time.
Working in Bangladesh, helping eradicate a disease, learning a new language, Bengali,
doing a randomized control trial.
All of these things were part of those first two EIS years.
And so at the end of that, I had developed some practical skills.
And more importantly, I developed the pathway and the support that led me to a great career
in public health, from my own perspective.
And a way of life actually, from my mentors who I had during EIS and at CDC.
Happy 70th anniversary to all of us.
>> Happy 70th, EIS!