Captain Djenaba A. Joseph, MD, MPH

Djenaba A. Joseph, MD, MPH, is board certified in internal medicine and is a Captain in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. She joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) from 2005 to 2007. She remained in DCPC as a medical officer from 2007 to 2009, and was the Medical Director of CDC’s Colorectal Cancer Control Program from 2019 to 2021. She was the Chief Medical Officer at the Arcadia Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in the Atlanta VA Medical System from 2021 to 2022. She returned to CDC and is currently the Branch Chief of DCPC’s Program Services Branch.

Dr. Joseph completed her undergraduate education at the University of Michigan, earned her medical degree from the University of Michigan’s Medical School, and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. She completed her residency in general internal medicine at St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The most recent articles Dr. Joseph has first-authored include—

• 2020 Vital Signs: Colorectal cancer screening test use—United States, 2018.
• 2019 The CDC Colorectal Cancer Control Program, 2009–2015.
• 2018 Use of colorectal cancer screening tests by state.
• 2017 Rectal cancer survival in the United States by race and stage, 2001 to 2009: findings from the CONCORD-2 study.
• 2016 Colorectal cancer screening: Estimated future colonoscopy need and current volume and capacity.
• 2016 Use of evidence-based interventions to address disparities in colorectal cancer screening.
• 2013 Vital Signs: colorectal cancer screening test use—United States, 2012.
• 2012 Prevalence of colorectal cancer screening among adults—Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, United States, 2010.
• 2011 The Colorectal Cancer Control Program: partnering to increase population-level screening.
• 2009 Association between glomerular filtration rate, free, total, and percent free prostate-specific antigen.
• 2008 Understanding the burden of human papillomavirus-associated anal cancers in the U.S.
• 2008 Use of colorectal cancer tests—United States, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
• 2007 Use of state cancer surveillance data to estimate the cancer burden in disaster-affected areas—Hurricane Katrina, 2005.

In this Medscape video, Dr. Joseph explains how doctors can increase colorectal cancer screening rates.