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, COVID19, 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 policy makers must confront in building a response. The course will include a 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 stages and developments in the next outbreak.

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 26^th to allow time for student list information to be provided to CDC for tour.

Suggested background reading

These books are not required to participate in the course, but reading any of them will enrich participants’ understanding of key issues.

Polio: An American Story. David M. Oshinsky (2005)

Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. James H. Jones (1981, 1993)

Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and of the Outbreaks to Come. Richard Preston (2019)

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic. Randy Shilts (1987)

Lessons from the COVID War: An Investigative Report. The COVID Crisis Group (2023)

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. John M. Barry (2005)

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Jared Diamond (1999)

Course Outline

Course Outline Summary

Session 1          What is public health?

CDC Museum tour.  Overview of the history and role of public health illustrated by actual cases that have shaped the field, from malaria in Atlanta through smallpox, AIDS and COVID 19.

Please note: This first session will be about 1 ½ hours. All other sessions will be one hour. Please allow an extra 15-20 minutes before the tour to go through security at the CDC main gate. For information on location, free parking and the welcome process, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/museum/directions.htm (Paid parking without a vehicle search is available at Emory Point shopping center across Clifton Rd. from CDC.)

Session 2          Working together to find the truth

The public and private organizations involved in disease prevention and response. How we build a picture of the spread of disease. Ethical quandaries in public health, illustrated by the Tuskegee Experiment and the way we choose priorities.

Session 3          Reality and perception

Communicating information in times of fear and outrage. The power of social forces in responding to disease as illustrated by AIDS, polio, and COVID 19. How the threat of bioterrorism has helped shape public health.

Session 4          Outbreak: where plans meet real life

How the United States has responded to actual emergencies. Examples include the Great Influenza (“Spanish Flu”) of 1918, Swine Flu, Ebola, and COVID 19. What are implications for the next epidemic?