Before we get started on our applied epi journey, I want to give honor to a great epidemiologist. Today is the second anniversary of his death, Dr. Bill Jenkins. At one point, it was said that 50% of Black US epis could track their career back to him. I'm one of those.
If Bill has had a positive impact on your career or life, I'd love to hear your #BecauseOfBill story.
Dr. Bill Jenkins started as a statistician in the United States Public Health Service in the 60s. Within 1 yr of working there, he learned of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. He brought it to the attention of his supervisors and was told to drop it.
He didn't. He worked as whistleblower, collating information and alerting the media. He didn't get very far with this approach, so he decided to go back to school for a PhD in epi, hoping he could make change that way. Tuskegee study ultimately ended in 1972,
when info Dr. Jenkins originally help collate was published in newspapers across the county. At that time, only 74 Black men were still alive. Dr. Jenkins ultimately went back work at the CDC as an epi, & ran the program providing long-term healthcare & support to the survivors.
He also advocated for the program's expansion to include the wives and children of the participants. Every year, Dr. Jenkins made a trip back to Tuskegee to check on the survivors. I joined him on one of those trips. Lifechanging. The last survivor died in Jan 2004. Currently
there's 11 of their decedents still receiving governmental benefits as a result of the expanded program Dr. Jenkins championed (last data I could find). He was also pivotal in the US government apologizing to the Black men and their families in 1997.
Dr. Jenkins taught me that a governmental epidemiologists are brave, we speak up for injustices, we use science to make our case, and we fight for reparations. I am #becauseOfBill #BlackHistoryIsAmericanHistory
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