Review Salary and Benefits Information

Civil Service

Upon initial appointment, the Title-42 fellowship entry grade will be set comparable to the federal government General Schedule (GS) base pay rate for GS-12, step 3 regardless of previous experience and compensation. An additional locality pay is based on the location of the official duty station. Physicians may also receive an additional $20,000 per year with an active, unrestricted U.S. clinical license.

Additional incentives include:

• Thrift Savings Plan
• Federal Employees Retirement System Benefit Plan
• Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan
• Federal Employees Group Life Insurance
• Federal Employees Vision and Dental Insurance Program
• 4 hours of annual leave and 4 hours of sick leave every 2 weeks (13 days total of each per year)

U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps (U.S. citizens Only)

The USPHS is one of the eight uniformed services. It is a specialized career system designed to attract, develop, and retain health professionals to accomplish its mission.

Incoming EIS officers must meet eligibility criteria for the Commissioned Corps:

• Be a U.S. citizen
• Be less than 44 years of age (at date of entry into EIS)
• Have a degree in an appropriate health-related discipline
• Meet medical standards

Student Loan Repayment

EIS officers may be eligible to receive up to $50K a year in student loan repayment for a 2-year service agreement, based on availability of funding. To be eligible for this student loan repayment recruitment incentive, candidates must:

1. Have qualifying student loans that are federally made, insured, or guaranteed. Primary care loans (PCLs) and consolidated loans with a spouse are not eligible. Loan repayments are limited to those participants with a substantial amount of educational loans relative to income, which is defined as educational loans that are more than 20% of the participant’s annual CDC base salary.
2. Be a U.S. citizen.
3. Have a degree from an accredited institution.
4. Be accepted into one of five CDC fellowship programs:
   1. Epidemic Intelligence Service,
   2. Laboratory Leadership Service,
   3. Public Heath Informatics Fellowship,
   4. Prevention Effectiveness Fellowship, or the
   5. Future Leaders in Infections and Global Health Threats Fellowship

Once accepted into EIS, program staff will communicate the process to apply for loan repayment to those who are eligible. Visit the Educational Loan Repayment Program for Health Professionals page for more information about loan repayment.

J-1 Exchange Visitor Status (J-1 Visas)

CDC sponsors J-1 Exchange Visitor status for EIS officers who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Upon initial appointment, the fellowship entry grade will be set comparable to the Federal Government General Schedule (GS) base pay rate equivalent of GS-12, step 3 regardless of previous experience and compensation. An additional locality pay is based on the location of the official duty station. Physicians are allowed up to an additional $20,000 special pay per year with an active, U.S. unrestricted license.

Additional incentives include:

• Reimbursement for health insurance coverage up to $900 per month
• 4 hours of annual leave and 4 hours of sick leave every 2 weeks (13 days total of each per year)

Joint ID/EIS fellows are hired and paid through each respective institution during the four-year program. For their first two years, fellows will participate in an infectious disease (ID) fellowship with pay and benefits provided by the ID fellowship program. For their second two years, fellows will participate in the EIS fellowship with pay and benefits provided by CDC (as noted above). Please send specific salary and benefits questions to the relevant institution. Learn more about the Joint ID/EIS Fellowship program.