CDC Prevention Specialist - Epilogue

I had previously written about the ongoing process of recruiting an early career public health practitioner to come work for APCA through the CDC Prevention Specialist program. A few weeks ago, I traveled to Atlanta to interview one such Prevention Specialist. We had a nice discussion but I sensed that we were not her highest priority. I was right. In the end, she selected a different assignment. It was a game try on our part. APCA was one of a very few non-profit organizations in the running for one of the 25 Prevention Specialists. Almost all eventually chose to be placed at a state or local health department. I believe one chose a placement with a university, and another chose to be placed with a national health policy organization. We’ll give it some more thought before deciding to pursue this again next year.

- Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director