STEM Careers in Georgia: Erin Black, CDC Division of Scientific Education and Professional Development

On the path from education to professional career, internships and fellowships are one of the most critical steps. What and where are the options? Who qualifies? How does one apply?

Join the Georgia BioEd Institute in the second episode of STEM Careers in Georgia. Meet Ms. Erin Black, Associate Director for Policy, Partnerships, and Recruitment for the CDC Division of Scientific Education and Professional Development as she discusses several intern and fellowship options with the CDC.

Erin Black, is the Associate Director for Policy, Partnerships, and Recruitment for the CDC Division of Scientific Education and Professional Development.  Ms. Black has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology and a master’s of public health with a concentration in policy and community health.  She has worked at the CDC for twenty years. She began her CDC career as a microbiologist in the Division of Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response where she developed rapid high-confidence tests to detect biothreat agents and provided field support during the incidents of national significance. In 2004, capitalizing on her expertise in the laboratory, Ms. Black served as the partnership lead for the CDC Laboratory Response Network collaborating with other federal agencies, including EPA and FDA, on laboratory methods and responses.  In 2008, Ms. Black served as the Associate Director for Policy and Communications for the Division of Emergency Operations where she led policy analysis, congressional and legislative activities, issues management, internal and external communications, and strategic partnerships for numerous responses, including H1N1.  She also served as the Legislative, Strategy, and Partnerships Lead in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response.  From 2010-2014, she served as a Senior Issues Manager in the CDC Office of the Chief of Staff where she led efforts to improve coordination across the CDC Office of the Director, build issues management and regulatory capacity across the agency, and proactively communicate agency risks and opportunities.   From 2014-2017, Ms. Black served as the Policy and Partnerships Lead in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity where she led strategic planning, performance reporting and evaluation, and coordination of responses to the Department, other federal agencies, and the public.  From 2017-2018, Ms. Black has served as Associate Director for Policy, Partnerships, and Strategic Communications in the Division of Violence Prevention, where she supervised strategic plans for growth, policy analysis, and relationships with national partners to prevent multiple forms of violence. She provided assistance to grantees on federal funding anti-lobbying restrictions and permitted uses. Since Dec 2018, Ms. Black has worked diligently to build a robust public health workforce pipeline at the federal, state and local levels using policy and partnership to attract the best and brightest to public health service.