On Oct. 26, 2012 the Sam Nunn Security Program (SNSP) Fellows visited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a day to explore how the American public health policy process works and the role of science in that process.

The SNSP Fellows were lucky to visit CDC on the day of Dr. Hans Rosling's lecture on "An evidence based view of public health."  Dr. Rosling used a revolutionary way of visualizing data and statistics to deconstruct many conventional assumptions about the relationship between wealth and health.

Though CDC is a US government organization under the Department of Health and Human Services, it plays a major role in building global capacity to support disease eradication of scourges such as polio. It is also in the center of the battle against AIDs.  Public health analyst Andre Verani in the CDC Center for Global Health laid out for the Fellows the immense effort that the US government has aimed at the AIDs tragedy.  

It was clear to the Fellows that CDC epidemiologists are always very cognizant of policy goals as they develop programs.  Cathleen Walsh, Director of the CDC Policy Research, Analysis and Development Office gave an excellent presentation on how the policy process worked at the CDC.

The Fellows also learned about some of the key CDC institutions such as EIS Officers, Public Health Officers, and programs to develop State and community leadership on health issues.  The Fellows were very interested in how CDC uses information technology to support its mission and how epidemiologists are constantly in a situation of pushing the envelope created by the tension between what the technology makes possible and what policy allows.

The CDC is set up to respond to massive crises domestically and abroad.  The Fellows received special permission to visit CDC's $10 million situation room where they were shown how CDC can mobilize to face any public health threat within a number of hours.

In the Spring of 2013, the Fellows will visit various government agencies in Washington, DC to study the relationship between policy making and science.  Their day at CDC will give them a yardstick to measure an institution's ability to apply science to the public good.