PHI/CDC Global Health Podcast

Jerome Bronson, MS currently works in CDC’s Office of the Deputy Director for Public Health Service and Implementation Science, serving as a PHI/CDC Global Health Fellow focused on health equity and data modernization. He is also a DrPH candidate at Jackson State University, concentrating in Health, Policy, and Management. Jerome discusses his path to the fellowship and his work in health equity. To learn more about Jerome, you can access his website at jeromebronson.com.

Mayuko Takamiya, MPH currently works for the World Heath Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Previously, she was an Epidemiology Fellow for two years for CDC in Zimbabwe, which is part of CDC’s Center for Global Health. She discusses her path that lead her to the fellowship, her assignment as a fellow and what she’s working on now.

In July 2022, the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program invited fellows to highlight their work throughout the year in a virtual event called the Fellows’ Showcase. Fellows and CDC mentors and CDC host office staff from the US and all over the world tuned in to hear what our fellows had been working on. Fellows based in the US and the country of Georgia are highlighted in this episode. Topics included capacity building, operations and relationships. Thank you to our guests Mike Sage MPH, Will Jardell MPH, Sarah Legare MPH, CPHQ, Caleb Ward MPH, Dr. Nessa Ryan, and Malavika Divakaran MPH for contributing to this episode.

Lucy Ellis is Program Architect and Advisor of the Unnamed Road, part of Designing for Systems Innovation and Leadership (DSIL). She spent several years working on leadership development and organizational design in CDC's Center for Global Health, both internally and with health systems around the world. She now works with The Ready helping organizations and leaders from all sorts of sectors cut through bureaucracy and hierarchy that are holding them back in order to meet the complexity and uncertainty in which we all work today.

Gareth Durrant is a Designer and Facilitator for the Unnamed Road, part of Designing for Systems Innovation and Leadership (DSIL). He is an expert in ensuring successful projects can merge private sector innovation and development. He uses human-centered design tools matched with bold facilitation skills to leverage public health strengths and apply those to evolving challenges in the social impact world.

Learn more about the Unnamed Road at https://www.theunnamedroad.io

Learn more about DSIL at https://www.dsilglobal.com/

Dr. Alinune Kabaghe is a medical doctor and an Epidemiologist for the Epidemiology and Strategic Information Branch at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Malawi. At the time of recording this interview, Dr. Kabaghe was in a rural area of Malawi responding to the polio outbreak. He discusses his past work addressing malaria, and current work in global health on HIV, COVID-19 and the polio response. Thank you to current fellow, Reno Stephens, MPH, who also contributed to this episode.

Tigest Mekonnen, MPH is a current PhD student at Emory University and a former Surveillance Fellow for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch for CDC Malawi, which is part of CDC’s Center for Global Health. Tigest discusses her path to the fellowship, her work as a fellow before and after the pandemic began, and lessons learned along the way. Thank you to current fellow, Mallory Michalak, MPH, who also contributed to this episode.

Dr. Janell Wright is the Regional Director of the Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis for CDC Central America, which is part of CDC’s Center for Global Health. Janell started at CDC as a fellow and is now a mentor for the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program. She is based in Guatemala and previously worked for CDC in Vietnam and Kazakhstan. Thank you to her fellow, Cristine Gutierrez, MPH, who contributed to this episode.

Evan Pye, MPH is a Program Management Fellow for CDC’s Center for Global Health based in Washington D.C.. Evan discusses global health policy, his work responding to COVID-19 within the Emergency Operations Center at CDC and his previous work experience with WHO and various organizations in Uganda.

Danielle is a Global Health Surveillance Fellow with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, part of the Division of Global HIV and TB at CDC’s Center for Global Health. Danielle discusses her previous work in outbreak investigation, including Ebola and Zika. She elaborates on her work on HIV case surveillance with CDC in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, along with COVID-19 with CDC.

Courtney Sciarratta, MPH, is a PHI/CDC Global Epidemiology Fellow with the Global Immunization Safety Team in the Global Immunization Division at CDC’s Center for Global Health. Courtney discusses her time spent working in global health in Latin America and Uganda, and her work on global immunization and the COVID-19 response with CDC. To learn more about Courtney, check out the recorded CUGH Satellite Session: “Resiliency in the Global Health Workforce During the COVID-19 Pandemic” here: https://bit.ly/33w1yct or read about the event in our blog: https://bit.ly/3tt0HUy This episode is hosted by Whitney Hall and Jasdeep Dulay.