3461 - The Next Epidemic (Steve Richardson)
Course Description
Instructor: Steve Richardson
Disease outbreaks are inevitable, but we have choices on how to respond. This course introduces public health methods used to predict and prevent epidemics or to minimize the damage they cause. We will use case studies of actual pandemics like polio, AIDS, COVID-19, the Great Influenza of 1918, and others to show the factors that help or hinder efforts to fight disease. Each session will include group discussion of key practical and ethical questions that staff and policymakers must confront in building a response. The course will include a docent-guided visit to the museum at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters. Participants will be able to help friends and colleagues better understand the steps and stages of the next outbreak.
Bio: Steve Richardson, MPH, retired from CDC after over 40 years in public health and health communications. After service in the Peace Corps, he worked as a health educator in a state health department, a university healthcare system, and finally at CDC where he joined colleagues in the agency-wide response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak. He has a special interest in clear communication techniques and biomedical ethics applied to public health. He is currently a Docent at the David J. Senser Museum at CDC.
Registrations close May 26th to allow time for student list information to be provided to CDC for tour.
Course Outline
Instructor: Steve Richardson
Disease outbreaks are inevitable, but we have choices on how to respond. This course introduces public health methods used to predict and prevent epidemics or to minimize the damage they cause. We will use case studies of actual pandemics like polio, AIDS, COVID-19, the Great Influenza of 1918, and others to show the factors that help or hinder efforts to fight disease. Each session will include group discussion of key practical and ethical questions that staff and policymakers must confront in building a response. The course will include a docent-guided visit to the museum at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters. Participants will be able to help friends and colleagues better understand the steps and stages of the next outbreak.
Bio: Steve Richardson, MPH, retired from CDC after over 40 years in public health and health communications. After service in the Peace Corps, he worked as a health educator in a state health department, a university healthcare system, and finally at CDC where he joined colleagues in the agency-wide response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak. He has a special interest in clear communication techniques and biomedical ethics applied to public health. He is currently a Docent at the David J. Senser Museum at CDC.
Registrations close May 26th to allow time for student list information to be provided to CDC for tour.