Supporting Future Leaders in Public Health: The Hubert and Pappaioanou Awards

In 2023, the CDC Foundation proudly awarded seven CDC-Hubert Global Health Awards (Hubert Awards) and four Pappaioanou Veterinary Public Health and Applied Epidemiology Awards (Pappaioanou Awards). Recognizing that an increasingly connected world requires an equally robust public health workforce, the CDC Foundation worked with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the funds’ donors to help address this need by updating the scope of the Hubert and Pappaioanou Awards. Both awards now seek to increase medical and veterinary students’ and professionals’ connections to public health careers, expanding an existing pathway into public health service.

All awardees must be alumni of the CDC Epidemiology Elective Program (EEP) and must express readiness to take the next steps on their journey to becoming leaders in the fields of public health, global health and One Health through their interest in applying to the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) in the near future. Additionally, recipients of the Hubert Award must be medical or veterinary students, residents, physicians or veterinarians, while recipients of the Pappaioanou Award must be veterinary students, residents or veterinarians.

After a competitive selection process, the Hubert and Pappaioanou Awards provide awardees with a stipend to travel to CDC’s annual EIS Conference. The conference is the nation’s flagship applied epidemiology conference where EIS officers share their work in leading-edge investigations, scientific findings and forward-thinking strategies to inform improvements in public health.

Attending the EIS Conference helps Hubert and Pappaioanou Awardees maintain their ties to CDC, reinvigorating their passion for public health through learning about EIS officers’ innovative scientific work. Awardees are also provided with dedicated time and space to reconnect with their CDC network and form new connections with current EIS officers. Experiencing the EIS Conference is often the catalyst that encourages CDC EEP alumni to forge ahead on their path to a public health career—which often includes applying to EIS. The Hubert and Pappaioanou Awards make these formative career experiences more accessible for promising future leaders in public health.

The 2024 Hubert and Pappaioanou Awards application is available during the month of November. 

Hear from 2023 Hubert and Pappaioanou Awardees:

At the EIS conference, I got the chance to connect with and learn from a great number of compelling public health scientists. I was impressed by novel methods of tracking a polio outbreak outside New York City, entertained learning about cultural norms during a presentation on contaminated wedding cakes in Central Asia, and inspired by scientists working against the clock to find out why dozens of children were dying of kidney failure in Gambia (traced to contaminated cough syrup). I have a hard time imagining leaving clinical work completely, but my conference attendance confirmed my interest in seeking out a future EIS position.

- Michael Henry

Being able to speak with [EIS] officers about how they balance public health/epidemiology and clinical work helped me create a framework for how I would like to structure my career.

- Rachel Reindorf

As a resident physician in my second year of training, I’m starting to think about what I want to do afterwards. My heart has been set on public service but I’m trying to determine what that will look like. Hearing the different talks and seeing the different lectures helped me see what our EIS officers are doing in the field. It made abstract public health concepts and ideas more tangible and concrete. Having been to the EIS conference, I feel like being a part of EIS is the career trajectory I want to take.

- Maddie Sands

Attending [the] EIS conference gave me the unique opportunity to see into the world of public health at CDC. Being able to see the work of CDC EIS officers provided me perspective on how I can use my education and skills as a veterinarian to improve public health and positively impact the lives of both humans and animals and their shared environment.

- Hannah Seger