Who Fellows Are

For Public Health

Key points

  • Since the program started in 2011, more than 250 fellows have completed the Evaluation Fellowship Program (EFP).
  • After completing the program, fellows find jobs at a variety of organizations and sectors.

Who the Evaluation Fellows are

More than 250 fellows have completed CDC's Evaluation Fellowship Program (EFP), which began with a cohort of 5 fellows in 2011. Since then, the program has expanded to include an average cohort of 20 fellows per year. All participants enter the program with advanced degrees, either master's- or doctoral-level, in areas such as program evaluation, health promotion, behavioral science, global health, policy, epidemiology, psychology, sociology, education, and life and health sciences. About two-thirds of fellows have master's degrees, with most having a Master of Public Health (MPH).

Eva Trinh and Elisha Hall
Eva Trinh and Elisha Hall (Evaluation Fellows 2017–2019) presenting at the American Evaluation Association Conference, 2018

Where fellows work

Fellows are matched with CDC programs that have applied to host fellows, so the available topic areas (e.g., preparedness or infectious disease) will vary each year based on which CDC programs apply. The list of host sites will be available to applicants who advance to the candidate stage of the selection process.

After the interview period, candidates are matched with host sites based on mutual interest. Candidates rank their preferred programs but are not guaranteed a specific placement.

Types of projects that fellows have completed:

  • Support national, comprehensive evaluations of CDC-funded programs
  • Contribute mixed-methods expertise to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of evaluation research projects
  • Evaluate qualitative community engagement tools adapted for a public health emergency context
  • Manage qualitative data for a large project on community perceptions of and experiences with a public health topic area
  • Support strategic planning and evaluation of team processes, and division priority prevention topic
  • Conduct needs assessment of state health and agricultural departments to prevent and respond to outbreaks
  • Create a plan for and implement the evaluation of COVID-19 projects
  • Evaluate process and impact of CDC program tools, technical assistance, and resources
  • Design and implement performance monitoring system for CDC-funded programs
  • Create training manual and resources for conducting economic evaluation
2024 Evaluation Fellowship Class
2024 Evaluation Fellowship Class
Content Source
Public Health Infrastructure Center; Division of Workforce Development
About This Page
Published: May 15, 2024
Updated: September 29, 2026

This page was last updated on this date. Updates may include minor edits, image changes, or other modifications to page content.

Reviewed: December 4, 2025

The information on this page was last reviewed by subject matter experts to ensure accuracy.