#IAmHHS: At the Intersection of Health and the Environment

I am an epidemiologist with CDC’s Center of Global Health concentrating on combatting Tuberculosis, the world’s top infectious killer.

Recently, I was in East Africa, working with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and other partners to implement a national survey in order to estimate the prevalence of anti-TB drug resistance.

My job is to help strengthen public health surveillance systems in order to control and ultimately end TB. Through surveys and data-driven evidence we can help figure out which interventions are the most effective, literally saving lives.

Fighting TB and other infectious diseases in other countries helps protect our health here in the United States. Infectious diseases don’t recognize national borders. We ultimately want a TB-free world.

I've actually only been in this job for a short time. But that just shows how there are many opportunities here at HHS that allow you take on new challenges. Working at HHS, you get to serve the public, while also getting opportunities to learn and grow in your career. And I enjoy learning new things.

The intersection of environment and human health has always been my passion. I'm from Raleigh and went to college and graduate school at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where I co-founded a company, an outgrowth of my studies, that lets anyone test for E.coli in their drinking water.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hired me after graduate school, and I was honored to be part of the federal response to the lead contamination of Flint, Michigan's water supply. I deployed to Flint three times in 2016, doing case management for children with elevated lead levels and rashes and assessing community response to the man-made disaster. Helping to rebuild trust and being a small part of that effort was really gratifying.

So while I've shifted from water to TB, I'm still learning, serving the public and vulnerable populations, and improving the health of people in the United States and all over world.

I'm Alice Wang and I am an epidemiologist with CDC’s Center of Global Health -- and I am HHS.

Alice is one of more than 79,000 people who make HHS run every day. You can share her story and see others on Twitter and Facebook using #IAmHHS.