Ferguson Fellowship Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Over 200 CDC staff members, fellows, and friends gathered together on July 15, 2009 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program.

The Fellowship Program

The Ferguson Fellowship Program was established in 1989 at the National Center for Infectious Diseases through efforts supported by Director Fred Murphy, DVM, PhD, and was later expanded under the leadership of Directors James Hughes, MD, and Rima Khabbaz, MD. Today, the Ferguson Fellowship is one of three training programs housed within the National Center for Preparedness, Detection and Control of Infectious Diseases (NCPDCID), currently led by Acting Director Tom Hearn, PhD.

The James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program provides opportunities for racial and ethnic minority graduate students in medical, dental, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, and public health schools to engage in a rigorous eight-week program of public health research or intervention at CDC facilities. NCPDCID partners with the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools (AMHPS) to identify and support each year’s Ferguson fellows. Originally, the fellowship program worked with two institutions, Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine. The program has since been expanded to include racial and ethnic minority students from schools and programs of public health, as well as the health professions schools at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Hampton University, Howard University, Meharry Medical College, Texas Southern University, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Since the inception of the program, over 400 Ferguson fellows from African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander communities in all parts of the country have worked at CDC.

The fellowship program was named in honor of James A. Ferguson, DVM, PhD in 1999. The late Dr. Ferguson was the fourth dean of Tuskegee University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, and the first Tuskegee alumnus to serve in that capacity. During his tenure at Tuskegee, Dr. Ferguson was instrumental in encouraging the summer fellowship program at CDC, where he served as a member of NCID’s Board of Scientific Counselors. Dr. Murphy, who left CDC to become dean of the Veterinary School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis, and is now a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, remembers the dinners he shared with Dr. Ferguson in the early 1990s. “Our discussions over dinner roamed over many issues, me serving as dean of the largest vet school in the country, Jim serving as dean of the most fiscally austere school in the country – but what we were trying to do was the same: to ensure that veterinarians of the future would remain as key players in the world of public health and biomedical research.”

20th Anniversary Celebration

The 20th Anniversary Celebration of the James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program began with a welcome from Walter Williams, MPH, MD, the associate director for minority health at CDC, followed by opening remarks from Dr. Khabbaz (recently appointed as CDC’s Acting Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases). The keynote speaker, Joan Reede, MD, MPH, MBA was introduced by Stephanie Miles-Richardson, DVM, PhD from the Morehouse School of Medicine, a former CDC researcher as well as a former student of Dr. Ferguson.

Dr. Reede is dean for Diversity and Community Partnership and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She was appointed by former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, PhD, to the HHS Advisory Committee on Minority Health. At Harvard, Dr. Reede has been responsible for the development and management of a comprehensive program to promote increased recruitment, retention, and advancement of underrepresented minority students, faculty, and staff at the medical school.

In her remarks at the 20th Anniversary Celebration, Dr. Reede spoke of the people who had influenced her life and career, especially her family, and the lessons she had learned about seizing and creating opportunities. Dr. Reede congratulated the current class of Ferguson fellows at CDC on “taking the time to make a difference.” She emphasized that these positive differences would be felt not only by individual patients, but also by local communities and the world. Dr. Reede cited the three fundamental principles of medical professionalism as articulated by the Medical Professionalism Project:

• The principle of primacy of patient welfare,
• The principle of patient autonomy, and
• The principle of social justice.

Embedded within these three principles are a set of professional responsibilities. Dr. Reede emphasized the responsibilities of professional competence, honesty with patients, improving the quality of care, and improving the access to care. She encouraged the Ferguson fellows to choose their own direction and path to effect change. She reminded them that personal histories are not limitations and that everyone has the ability to make a difference. Dr. Reede charged all of the members of the audience, but especially the fellows, “to share our gifts in ways that make the world better.”

Honoring Dr. Ferguson

Following Dr. Reede’s remarks, Dr. Miles-Richardson recalled her many positive interactions with Dr. Ferguson when she was a student at Tuskegee University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She then called on the family of Dr. Ferguson to be recognized by the audience, and she presented a memento of the occasion, a framed portrait of Dr. Ferguson, to his widow, Barbara Ferguson, PhD.

The James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program Alumni Award

The 20th anniversary celebration concluded with the presentation of the James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program Alumni Award. Nominees for the alumni award must have an outstanding record of post-fellowship activities that exemplify the spirit and goals of the Ferguson Fellowship Program. These activities include:

• A demonstrated effort to continue academic and professional training;
• Continued work in, and contributions to, the fields of public health or infectious diseases; and
• Contributions to addressing health disparities, promoting health equity, or developing a culturally diverse public health workforce.

The winner of the James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program Alumni Award for 2009 is Anika Foster, MPH. Ms. Foster is a doctoral student in the Behavioral Sciences and Health Education program at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. She participated as a fellow in the Ferguson Fellowship Program in the summer of 1995 and was later selected as a Prevention Research Fellow at CDC. Ms. Foster has conducted research in the fields of antimicrobial resistance among children, alcohol use as it relates to risky sexual behavior among minority students, and the effects of toxic waste sites along the Mississippi River.

Used courtesy of CDC Connects