Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Report on CDC-Hosted Scientific Meeting Spending

About the Report

CDC works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety, and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable, or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.

CDC increases the health security of our nation. As the nation’s health protection agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health threats. To accomplish our mission, CDC conducts critical science and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats and responds when these arise. Effective outreach to our partners, grantees, and the public is central to our mission. Our success is also contingent on our ability to collaborate with tens of thousands of healthcare and human services providers, scientific researchers, clinicians, advocates, and other key non-government partners across the country and internationally. Our support and attendance at conferences and other related meetings are critical for our researchers to leverage and advance the biomedical, scientific, and public health mission of CDC.

This report is submitted as required by the 21st Century Cures Act, which requires federal agencies to report publicly on all scientific meetings[1] where expenses exceed $30,000. This report includes all CDC-hosted scientific meetings held in FY 2023 where the expenses associated with the scientific meeting exceeded $30,000.

Description of the Report

In compliance with the 21st Century Cures Act, this report includes:

• Information about CDC scientific meeting expenses for FY 2023, as well as general information about scientific meeting activities throughout the year.
• A description of all CDC-hosted scientific meetings for FY 2023 where expenses associated with the scientific meeting exceeded $30,000, including:
  • The date of the scientific meeting
  • The location of the scientific meeting
  • A brief explanation of how the scientific meeting advanced the mission of the agency
  • A description of exceptional circumstances for scientific meeting where expenses exceeded $150,000
  • The total scientific meeting expenses incurred by the agency for the scientific meeting and
  • The total number of individuals whose travel expenses or other scientific meeting expenses were paid by the agency

Fiscal Year 2023 Summary

CDC continues to take positive steps in support of the agency’s initiatives to gain efficiencies in the use of appropriated funds for conferences and meetings (as prescribed in HHS Policy on Promoting Efficient Spending.) At the forefront of these efforts is CDC’s work to implement improvements to conference management practices through the release of updated training materials and resources.

The following summarizes information about CDC-hosted scientific meetings in FY 2023 that exceeded $30,000[2].

Learn more in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Report on CDC-Hosted Scientific Meetings.

[1]Total estimated costs are based on readily identifiable and known costs for contractor support, venue, and audio-visual related expenses, as well as registration fees, travel, and other miscellaneous costs.
[2]Total estimated costs are based on readily identifiable and known costs for contractor support, venue, and audio-visual related expenses, as well as registration fees, travel, and other miscellaneous costs.

Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS)

2023 70th Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference (EIS)

Dates: April 24-27, 2023

Venue, City, State, or Country: Crown Plaza Ravinia Perimeter Hotel – Atlanta, GA

How the Meeting Advanced the Mission of the Agency:  The primary mission for the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services (CSELS) is to provide scientific service, expertise, skills, and tools in support of CDC’s national efforts to promote health; prevent disease, injury, and disability; and prepare for emerging health threats. The Division of Scientific Education and Professional Development (DSEPD) has a strategic priority to prepare the public health workforce for 21st Century public health challenges. The Epidemiology Workforce Branch (EWB) is the entity responsible for implementing a major part of that strategic goal by annually training a class of approximately 80 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers who will provide service to CDC and state and local health agencies as part of their two-year training program.

The EIS Officer training program consists of several Core Activities of Learning (CALS) in which officers must complete within two years to successfully graduate from the program. The EIS Conference was a public forum to showcase the research that the officers had done and gave them an opportunity to complete one of the CALS, presenting their work to a large audience of scientific and public health communities.

Description of Exceptional Circumstances:  The EIS Conference ties directly to the mission of CDC as an agency and is regarded as a priority event by the CDC Office of the Director. It highlights the elite scientific and epidemiological activities at CDC, and it also serves as a vital continuing education opportunity for the nation’s public health professionals, health scientists, and epidemiologists. This annual event is an important forum for improving health security and fostering collaboration among public health care workers. Additionally, without the conference, many of the attendees would not meet their continuing education requirements.

Total Estimated Cost: $2,117,991

Total Attendees: 3,928

Total Feds on Travel: 1,510

Total Non-Feds on Travel: 98

Center for Preparedness and Response (CPR)

2023 Career Epidemiology Field Officers (CEFO) Training Meeting

Dates: August 1-4, 2023

Venue, City, State, or Country: CDC Roybal Global Communications Center – Atlanta, Georgia

How the Meeting Advanced the Mission of the Agency: CDC’s Center for Preparedness and Response (CPR) Field Assignee Services Branch (FASB) enhances public health preparedness of state, local, and territorial health departments through assignment of field-based staff, including Career Epidemiology Field Officers (CEFOs) and Preparedness Field Assignees (PFAs). FASB also provides the management, technical, and programmatic support to maximize the impact of field staff. Through direct interaction with health departments, FASB accomplishes Division of State and Local Readiness (DSLR) mission and informs Center for Preparedness and Response’s (CPR) science agenda and strategies.

The purpose of the four and one-half day 2023 Career Epidemiology Field Officers (CEFOs) Training Meeting is to advance CEFO’s knowledge, abilities, and practices within their assignments to enhance the mission of the Division of State and Local Readiness (DSLR). CEFOs unique positions and perspectives based on frontline work and experiences provide unique opportunities for CDC leadership to further inform agency efforts. As a result, CEFOs will further strengthen CDC surveillance and epidemiology support of public health emergency capacity in state and local health departments. Multi-directional communication during this meeting between CEFOs and their CDC leadership will include descriptions of ground-truth efforts to enhance public health emergency preparedness through the application of scientific information about public health emergency preparedness and responses in real-world settings. In addition, CEFOs will attend advanced training sessions in leadership, surveillance, and epidemiological tools. While not the primary reason for the meeting, attendees will also be able to complete CDC staff requirements that are challenging or impossible to meet without travel to CDC headquarters in Atlanta. These requirements include pre-deployment medical clearance examinations, respiratory protection program training and fit-testing, Common Access Card (CAC) and ID badge binding and renewals, and consultations with IT staff. Senior CEFOs will also provide direct mentorship to more junior personnel. All CEFOs will directly meet with their CEFO program leadership.

Total Estimated Cost: $91,533 

Total Attendees: 113 

Total Feds on Travel: 57 

Total Non-Feds on Travel: 0

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)

CDC Guideline Development Meeting: Updating CDC’s Contraception Guidelines

Dates: January 25-27, 2023 

Venue, City, State, or Country:  CDC Roybal Global Communications Center – Atlanta, Georgia 

How the Meeting Advanced the Mission of the Agency: CDC’s contraception guidelines, US Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, 2016 (US MEC) and US Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use, 2016 (US SPR), provide evidence-based recommendations to assist health care providers when counseling people on contraceptive choice and use. We held this event in January 2023 as part of our process to update these guidelines. It is important to hold an in-person meeting for this update to ensure limited outside distractions, to have effective presentations on the scientific evidence, and to facilitate gathering individual perspectives on the scientific evidence and potential recommendations. Inclusion of a diverse array of individuals and subject matter experts in this meeting is necessary to improve the US MEC/SPR guideline implementation and quality of care by increasing transparency in the development process, developing more patient-centered recommendations, and building trust in the guidelines. This event presents evidence and discusses recommendations to update CDC’s contraception guidelines.

Total Estimated Cost: $64,574

Total Attendees: 69

Total Feds on Travel: 6

Total Non-Feds on Travel: 41