I remember West Nile Virus hit the US, especially in NYC. I was a summer trainee working at @nycHealthy’s mosquito and bird sentinel surveillance program, when @DrTomFrieden was at the helm of NYCDOHMH. Chased down lots of mosquito 🦟 larvae in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.
2) It was the best summer of my life. NYC health Dept gave us HRTP interns working in the field unmarked blue Ford Crown Victoria with NYC city officials plates—identical to many unmarked police cars. Bonus: We never got any parking tickets.
3) I was studying public health at @JohnsHopkins at the time. @JohnsHopkinsPHS sponsored part of my summer cost of living. We learned so much about field epidemiology—and how it is a shoe leather science, not some abstract computer modeling of infectious disease. Opened my eyes.
4) I was already curious about pursuing epidemiology before then, but the chasing West Nile Virus at NYC and hearing @DrTomFrieden speak to our intern team in middle of 2003 WNV outbreak, inspired me to postpone med school and pursue my Harvard doctorate in epidemiology first.
