How We Serve

EIS officers protect the public’s health by serving CDC, other public health agencies and partners.

While working in their assignments and deployments, they perform the following Core Activities of Learning:

  • Conduct or participate in field investigations
  • Design, conduct, and interpret epidemiological analyses
  • Evaluate public health surveillance systems
  • Give public health talks about their work
  • Give oral presentations to scientific audiences
  • Write scientific manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals
  • Write concise public health updates communicating timely information
  • Write abstracts
  • Communicate complex scientific concepts to lay audiences

Victoria Hal performing tick surv in northern Minnesota
EIS officers performing suspect urine culture
EIS officer Neil Vora testing for small pox like virus in Georgian cattle
EIS officers investigating Laney building
presentation given in small compute lab
EIS officer recording data from field location
Fun Fact

Approximately 97% of recent EIS graduates continue in public health-related positions.

Service Highlights

EIS officers have responded to many major health threats since 1951, including

  • Investigating biological warfare during the Korean war
  • Participating in the worldwide Smallpox Eradication Program in the 1960s and 1970s
  • Discovering the microbes that cause Legionnaires’ disease, Lassa fever, and HIV/AIDS
  • Investigating and responding to outbreaks and incidents related to Anthrax, SARS, and flu subtypes H1N1 and H5N1
  • Providing disaster relief following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Katrina, and 9/11
  • Providing on-the-ground support for Ebola, Zika, COVID-19, and mpox responses
Learn More