During the weekend, the Trump administration seemed to be reversing plans for devastating cuts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). It was the right decision. As a former requirement officer, I believe that the purely proposal to dismantle such a crucial program, underlines a disturbing reality: the already weak infrastructure and the response capacity of our country are alarmingly susceptible to political grilling and the risk of becoming without distinction cut.
For more than seven decades, the EIS program Has been a cornerstone of the capacity of the CDC to investigate and control medical expenses. Founded in 1951 in response to concern about biological warfare, since then, has trained thousands of epidemiologists who have played a crucial role in tackling some of the most important threats of our time of our time. From the extermination of smallpox to the reaction to Ebola, COVID-19 and countless other outbreaks, EIS officers have been in the front line, so that their own safety has often been endangered to protect the public.
The fate of future classes of EIS officers, as planned to start their two-year stints in June, remains unclear from this letter. The incoming EIS class (usually around 60-75 people) is in the making for almost a year. It is the product of a very competitive process to identify some of the most qualified, talented and promising future leaders in applied epidemiology and public health practice for experiential training and capacity buildings. It is important that the impact of the EIS program extends much further than the CDC head office in Atlanta. Graduates from the program are CDC directors and cover other leadership positions on the CDC, FDA, NIH, State and Local Health Department, health organizations around the world such as WHO and the pharmaceutical industry. Their expertise in VeldePidemiology, outbreak response and supervision of public health has formed policy, saved lives and strengthened worldwide.
For me, the requirement experience was transforming. It was more than just training – it was a call to serve, a rigorous immersion in crises for public health and a lifelong professional network.
During my stint with a requirement in 1999, I was deeply involved with one Exit research of encephalitis in New York City That was determined as the first rise of the West -Nijl virus in the western hemisphere. What we learned from it research Changed the level of vigilance around the prevention of mosquito brothers and performing monitoring for viral disease transferred by mosquitoes throughout the country. Although it was only 59 cases of Honenso -encephalitis and seven deaths caused in 1999, our investigation helped to prepare the nation for and the impact of what could have been much worse in the following years when the West -Nijl virus spread like one Golf through the US, which caused thousands, causing thousands of cases of encephalitis and deaths. What I learned from that research – largely of former demand officers who were dedicated, seasoned professionals based on the NYC Health Department – were invaluable lessons about how to supervise threats of infectious diseases and respond to outbreaks that are the health of the public to threaten.
Later my commitment in Nigeria for the Guinea Worm Eradication Program and HIV supervisory efforts in Africa strengthened Saharan my dedication to global control of infectious diseases. After a requirement I worked for six years on the Emergency Plan of the President for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) and I worked with partners in the country in more than a dozen African countries of Sahara, which was most affected by HIV/AIDS for the impact of to help and optimize treatment access. These experiences, rooted in my requirement training, continue to shape my research and mentorship of future epidemiologists, many of whom have pursued a career themselves.
I am just one of the approximately 3000 EIS alumni that had similar forming experiences that influence career trajectories of dedicated professionals to the under -occupied areas of applied epidemiology and public health. Firming or effectively cutting off the pipeline of future requirement officers would have been the end of a vital institution that helps ensure that the readyness of our nation for infectious diseases and other threats in public health. It would represent an erosion of CDC’s future scientific workforce and leadership, and a retreat from the public health infrastructure that the US has been protecting for generations.
This recent threat to the EIS program reflects a broader trend of politicizing decisions about public health, the non -informed cut of public health and scientific jobs, and ultimately endangering the systems that are designed to protect us. Although the requirement program was probably saved this time, the fact that its existence was in danger emphasizes the precariousness of our infrastructure for public health. Indeed, the random dismantling of our public health infrastructure would be a deep loss for everyone in the US, who now has to maintain a fast, coordinated and scientific response to emerging health threats more than ever. Any political erosion of this infrastructure that is in store for us can be felt immediately or not, but it will certainly be felt in the coming years, when the absence of dedicated epidemiologists and other public health professionals will certainly lead to more slow answers , missed or delayed outbreak detection, and a considerably weakened worldwide status in the leadership of public health.
What happens at CDC, NIH, FDA and other American agencies with public health missions should not go unnoticed. Public Health professionals, policy makers and the general public must acknowledge what is at stake. It not only represents a setback for public health today, but also to protect future generations against the threats that we cannot see yet. In order to guarantee the continuous safety and well -being of our nation, we must remain vocal and proactive in defending the integrity of our public health authorities and systems.
Denis Nash, Ph.D., MPH, is a distinguished professor of epidemiology at the Graduate School of Public Health from the City University of New York. He is also the executive director of the Cuny Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health And a former Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.