Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS)
The EIS Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a two-year, post-graduate training program in applied epidemiology. EIS Officers (EISO) who select NIOSH for their assignment will not only receive training in applied epidemiology but will also gain unique expertise in the discipline of occupational safety and health.
EIS Officers at NIOSH
NIOSH is the sole federal research agency focused on the study of worker safety and health. There are more than 1,300 employees from a diverse set of fields including epidemiology, medicine, nursing, industrial hygiene, safety, psychology, chemistry, statistics, economics, and engineering. NIOSH has over 40 EIS-trained researchers, many of whom currently serve in supervisory and leadership positions throughout the Institute.
NIOSH EISOs work on emerging issues in disease and injury prevention and health promotion in workplaces, while also taking part in all EIS activities, including CDC-wide emergency investigations of non-occupational disease and injury outbreaks in the United States and throughout the world.
Placements for NIOSH EISOs are available in the following divisions located in Cincinnati, OH, and Morgantown, WV.
Division of Field Studies and Engineering – Cincinnati, OH
EIS Experience at NIOSH
NIOSH EISOs work on emerging issues in disease and injury prevention and health promotion in workplaces. EISOs gain experience in:
- Designing and conducting epidemiologic, medical, and industrial hygiene evaluations at worksites throughout the country
- Analyzing large datasets from surveillance or worker populations to identify industries, occupations, and occupational exposures associated with increased disease and injury risk
- Applying principles of industrial hygiene and ergonomics
- Conducting public health surveillance
- Writing, publishing, and presenting scientific information
NIOSH EIS Officers have:
NIOSH EISO Miriam Siegel (EIS 2017) greets a goat living at a racetrack facility where she was helping investigate an occupational outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.
- Investigated respiratory hazards among workers at a rubber manufacturing facility
- Assessed exposures and long-term health effects in firefighters
- Investigated exposures to opioids in first responders and laboratory workers in multiple states
- Evaluated lead exposures in a bullet manufacturing plant
- Investigated a multi-drug resistant tuberculosis cluster affecting multiple workplaces
- Investigated an occupational outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease
- Analyzed surveillance data to drive revised federal standards to protect farmworkers from pesticide exposures
- Investigated lung disease in coffee processing workers
- Worked with partners to develop a new blood lead reference level for adults (5 μg/dL) to protect workers from health effects that can occur at blood lead levels once considered safe
- Investigated employees’ exposure to tuberculosis from elephants at a zoo
- Explored how parents’ occupations are linked to childhood health outcomes
- Investigated an epidemic of Black Lung among coal miners in Appalachia
NIOSH EISOs are also encouraged to develop or participate in projects that suit their interests.
Join Us!
Interested in joining us? Reach out to the NIOSH contacts below for more information about EIS placements at NIOSH.
NIOSH Division of Field Studies and Engineering
Cincinnati, OH
Jess Rinsky, PhD, MPH (EIS 2015)
YWC8@cdc.gov
NIOSH Division of Safety Research
Morgantown, WV
James W. Collins, PhD, MSM
JOC4@cdc.gov
NIOSH Respiratory Health Division
Morgantown, WV
Reid Harvey, DVM, MPH, DACVPM (EIS 2013)
IEZ1@cdc.gov
To learn more about the EIS program and the application process, including how to prepare your application, visit the CDC EIS webpage.