Public Health professional looks back on her experience as a CDC fellow
Meet Dionne Mitcham
While completing the final semester of her Master of Public Health (MPH) at the University of Georgia, Dionne Mitcham decided to apply for an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With a degree concentration in disaster management and a career passion for emergency management and public health, her placement within the Division of Global Migration Health (DGMH) was a perfect fit. Within CDC, DGMH focuses on the spread of communicable diseases through the global movement of people, animals and things, including a regulatory responsibility to prevent the introduction and spread of communicable diseases into and within the United States.
Dionne Mitcham, MPH, let her passion for public health and emergency management lead her to a fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leaving her with an invaluable experience and connections. (Photo: Dionne Mitcham)
The CDC Research Participation Programs are educational and training programs designed to provide students, recent graduates and university faculty opportunities to participate in project-specific CDC research, current public health research and developmental activities.
Mitcham’s team focused on preparedness and response activities for their division as well as the Global Migration Task Force (GMTF). The role of GMTF during a response is to develop evidence-based international and domestic travel recommendations and to protect the health of US-bound travelers and migrants arriving at U.S. air, sea and land ports of entry. During her appointment, Mitcham participated in five public health responses including COVID-19, Ebola and Mpox responses. Each response required her to contribute to the assessment of data that would help guide response efforts, be featured in reports and provide evidence for the development of the evidence-based travel recommendations. Additionally, Mitcham had the opportunity to engage with other research projects within the division with varying focuses such as program implementation, evaluation and data monitoring. Mitcham and her team published their investigation of air passengers’ behaviors related to a SARS-CoV-2 testing requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2023 in the Immunity, Inflammation and Disease journal.
“I was able to further develop my skills in both qualitative and quantitative research and see the importance that research has in informing recommendations and decisions,” she said. “My fellowship also offered such a unique experience as I was actively able to assist with multiple public health responses, which had been one of my professional career goals.”
Mitcham wants to share her experience and advice to hopefully encourage other students to participate in an internship at a federal research facility. She believes that her mentor, division and day-to-day tasks aligning with her professional interests were the foundation of her enriching and fulfilling experience. The support from her mentor and the compatibility with her co-investigators were integral to continue to build Mitcham’s confidence and inspiration to make an impact in her field.
“During my time at the host site, I encountered many folks who started their public health careers as ORISE fellows,” she said. “I also encountered several colleagues who took the time to teach me a new skill or give me professional advice because they genuinely wanted to help support me to achieve my goals and help make a positive impact in our field.”
The fellowship provided improvement for Mitcham’s communication, professional writing and collaboration skills. It also provided the opportunity to apply her pre-existing key skills in preparedness activities, plan writing and program implementation. Mitcham believes that her involvement allowed for her interest in research to grow and she hopes to develop health security focused research that can assist decision makers with evidence-based decisions for future public health and pandemic responses.
“I recommend taking advantage, with the permission of your mentor, of projects and opportunities that might be different than your day-to-day activities to diversify your skills and your exposure to different roles within your division,” Mitcham said. “With the blessing of my mentor, I was able to assist with different projects within my division that ultimately benefited my training as a public professional and researcher, while also expanding my professional network.”
Since the completion of her appointment, Mitcham has been inspired to pursue a doctoral degree in Health Security at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering. In April, she received the Halloran Scholarship to attend three modules at the Summer Institute in Statistics and Modeling in Infectious Diseases (SISMID) hosted at Emory University.
“I now look back at my time as a fellow with fond memories, the lessons learned and memories made during the fellowship with stick with me and shape my career as a public health professional,” she said. “It has been a year since my fellowship, and I can already see how the experience as a fellow influenced and equipped me to pursue a doctoral degree in health security!”
The CDC Research Participation Program is managed by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) under an agreement between CDC and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). ORISE is managed for DOE by ORAU.