What it does: Developing and applying disease control and prevention, focusing on infectious disease, environmental health, health promotions, and more, to improve United States citizens’ health.
Mission: Saving lives, protecting people.
Size and presence: More than 10.000 employees.
Best known for: One of the major operating components in public health area in the United States
The good bits: Offers a ton of training and programs for students and graduates to learn and career advancement. Has the brightest people in its workforce. Offers job security. Has a challenging and exciting workload.
The not-so-good bits: hard and competitive hiring process for some specific roles.
In its founding history, the CDC used to be a single agency that works independently to eradicate malaria. And as years passed, the agency absorbed another organization, creating a bigger public health service agency.
In its first year of operation, CDC was known as the Communicable Disease Center and was founded in July 1946. Its foundation is a result of the World War II Malaria Control in War Areas program, held by the Office of National Defense Malaria Control Activities. Its primary task at that time was to eradicate diseases carried out by mosquitoes. The agency was also collaborating with Rockefeller Foundation which supported malaria control. Sometime later, the agency expanded its task to other communicable diseases. And in 1957, the agency's primary task was again expanded, it was no longer handling malaria, but including sexually transmitted diseases. It was marked when The Veneral Disease Division of the U.S. Public Health Service was transferred to the agency. And shortly after, TBC Control was also transferred to the CDC.
The name Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was not officially effective until October 1992. For now, CDC offices are divided into centres, and the branch of divisions are Public Health Service and Implementation Science, Public Health Science and Surveillance, Non-infectious Diseases, Infectious Diseases, and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Many former and current employees testified to experiencing a terrific working environment in the CDC. The agency is committed to valuing diversity, inclusion, and equity in its workforce. Thus, many people claim that the agency succeeded in creating an ideal workplace. And since the agency is driven by the purpose to save lives, a lot of employees are also driven by the same purpose. You will mingle with the brightest, exceptional, and most dedicated professionals in the CDC.
The CDC takes internship and graduate programs seriously. The agency provides various programs to accommodate students and graduates who want to get the experience to work professionally or volunteer with them, such as; Pathways Program for Students and Recent Graduates (federal career), Federal Work-Study Program, Recent Graduate Program, Student Ambassador Program/Thurgood Marshall College Foundation, Student Worksite Experience Program.
The agency will announce the internship application opening and the closing date for each program on their websites. Once you receive a call to proceed to the next step, you may expect to take a screening test (phone call), background check, on-site interview, group interview, and drug test. The process may take several days up to a month or more. Some former employees claimed that community outreach experience will be a great advantage.
The CDC is a public health-based agency. Thus, it is a perfect place for students and graduates from medical school and the science department to get hands-on experience in any roles they’re applying for. However, the career path in the agency spreads beyond research and science or the medical/health division. Roles outside science and health offer equally invaluable experience to build your capacity.
Some popular roles you may want to consider if you are planning to apply here are; epidemiologist, microbiologist, chemist, biologist, physician, public health advisor, health communication specialist, research scientist, nurse (with various types of roles and specifications), information specialist, and many more.
The CDC has various categories and specific roles in its workforce, therefore, there will be plenty of positions available for interns and graduates. Some notable categories outside science and health you may want to keep an eye on, are; accounting, banking & finance, community & social service, education & instruction, administrative assistance, food preparation & service, IT operations, and child care, software designers, and many more.
With Pathways Program for Students and Recent Graduates, you will have the opportunity to explore your capability and start off your federal career. Once your internship is over and you may be eligible to work permanently.
Salary in the CDC is widely ranged in accordance to roles and divisions. Interns from various programs will receive $21.000 up to $80.000 annually. A biologist intern may be taking home $74.000-$81.000, research associate interns will take $46.000, undergraduate research interns will get $21.000-$24.000, health communication fellow interns will receive $50.000, while an epidemiologist intern will get $33.000 up to $60.000 annually.
The goals of the CDC task itself are socially driven. The agency works to provide public health protection 24/7. CDC creates strategic plans to advance science and health equity. The plan aims to advance its capabilities to serve a greater purpose; to develop and deploy world-class data and analytics, ensure its laboratories are the state-of-the-art in science, quality, and safety, and perform a rapid response to outbreaks at their source both domestic and abroad, building their current foundations for strong global health capacity and domestic preparedness.
From 1990-1999, the CDC succeeded to achieve outcomes that greatly impacted US public health quality in a positive way. Some of the most notable achievements were the improvement in motor-vehicle safety to make vehicles and highways safer, reducing almost 40% rate of fatal occupational injuries related to some high-risked jobs, reducing a major cause of illness and death in the early 20th century related to infections by improving sanitation, increasing the availability of antibiotics, health care access, technological advance in maternal and neonatal medicine which resulting in the decrease of infant mortality and maternal mortality each by 90% and 99%.
As a federal agency, the CDC is expected to work its best to meet US citizens' expectations. The agency undoubtedly will receive a lot of complaints and critics about the way they fulfil their tasks at some point. When the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread, in early 2020 it was reported that the CDC’s early virus test malfunctioned nationwide. The FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services stated that CDC had violated its protocols in developing the test kit. Though the former CDC director promised the issue would be solved quickly, it took approximately three weeks to sort out the failed test kits.