From the CDC: orientation

I guess I've been here long enough that I can talk a little bit about the CDC.

The first 2 weeks was an orientation. It was 8am-5pm. The mornings were mainly lectures. Some of them were a review of epidemiology, the methods of how we are going to do studies on various diseases. Some were on how outbreak investigations were done. Others were done by famous epidemiologists that told stories of how they discovered now well-known diseases (e.g. Legionnaire's Disease) or investigated swine flu when there was an outbreak in 1the 1970's. One speaker is advising president Obama on swine flu.

The afternoons were case studies, or we would would slowly be given real evidence step by step and work through problems. For example, we were given the actual evidence when physicians were first trying to prove that smoking caused lung cancer. These were always really fun, like you were the first people to see this data and make the discovery.

One of the best parts was getting to know the other fellows. I have definitely noticed that public health is generally full of people who are extremely nice. All the fellows have something in common and I’ve found it quite easy to make friends. There are 9 of us. We are from all over the country, every one a different medical school.

Just from hearing all the amazing stories and feeling "I'm at the CDC!" made me really excited about it all. If that feeling continues the whole year, there is a good chance I could end up here again.