>> I've known Sherif since I was an EIS officer way back in 1998. And even then, he was at the center of the whirlwind of what was CDC and all of the amazing outbreak investigations that were going on in the division of our own [inaudible] disease at that time. And over the 25 years I've worked at CDC, I got to know him a lot better. And I realized he's more than just sort of this mythical man, this amazing pathology person that was at the heart of everything. He was a lot feistier than people gave him credit for. He was humble and he was an incredibly caring individual; he cared deeply about the cases he worked on, the people whose lives he touched and his staff. But he was also someone who was willing to stand up when he felt maybe justice wasn't being done to a case. And I remember Sherif coming to yells across the table one time when he felt that a subject matter expert was steering CDC down a path that could harm people. He really cared passionately about what he did and the value of pathology to these amazing outbreak investigations. And I was very impressed to see that side of Sherif come out when CDC was under fire. And he got his way.

>> And so there was a lot of speculation at the time, you know, was it pesticides causing these birth defects? Or what? And it was really Sherif in looking at those specimens from those infants that really did nail it down. And I think that was one of Sherif's greatest legacies.

>> No one has been more impactful in leaving such a tremendous and profound legacy than Sherif Zaki. And for that, I think not only am I grateful and his colleagues at CDC are grateful, but I think the world has a tremendous debt of gratitude for this remarkable human being and the life he led.

>> He was widely known for his expertise and his contributions, you know, to human medicine and pathology. But what a lot of people don't know is that he also was an early champion of one health and one medicine. And he really believed in bringing human pathologists and veterinary pathologists and clinicians together at the microscope to study infectious diseases.

>> He was the groundbreaker that allowed, you know, pathology to become a part of public health and CDC's response to public health emergencies. And I think was, you know, always was looked to and played an invaluable role. In every emergency response that the agency has contributed to since he joined.

>> My early impressions of Sherif was during an investigation that involved cases of rabies that were happening in people who had received organ transplant. And Sherif, who had seen the pathology reports from these patients and knew that rabies infected organs had been transplanted into people and were potentially producing urine said "You cannot trust what you know as standard or typical rabies investigations in this case. And you have to pay attention to the fact that you may have transmission in different ways than you expect." And he was very adamant about that.

>> I know that many, many, many people will talk about Sherif's brilliance as a scientist and the fact that he was a natural teacher. But probably, well, I don't expect anyone else to be able to talk about how he assisted in a criminal case.

>> I got to see Sherif lead several high profile congressional visits and tours through the pathology lab. And the thing that always stood out to me the most was how much he cared about showing people the importance of science. And the importance of the work of CDC. No matter how busy he was or what he had going on, he took time to make people feel important and valued and really wanted to help people learn. Whether it was from helping us like look through the microscope, he would have us try to guess what we were seeing, give us clues. He was really interested in helping us to learn. And to really understand the science. He would let us ask questions, and he would spend a lot of time with us. And it really showed us the value of the work he was doing. And people really appreciated it. We got so many compliments about how this is one of the best experiences they've had. Coming to really see science in action.

>> I first met Dr. Zaki when he reached out to me as a resident and he was actively looking for people he knew were interested in infectious disease pathology like I was. And he told me all about his program. He was always actively recruiting and on the lookout for people that would be interested in an otherwise rather small branch of pathology. And I think that was really critical because we are a small branch. You have to be rather proactive in finding people to join your group. And he was-- he excelled at that.

>> Sherif's unassuming personality style and obvious brilliance engendered collaboration from colleagues worldwide. An example of how this collaboration paid off occurred when I was the incident manager for CDC's Zika virus response. At first, great speculation existed whether this emergent virus caused the unusual birth defects beginning to show up in Brazil. If this were true, it would be completely novel, since no mosquito borne virus was previously known to cause birth defects. And much to everyone's chagrin, Brazil would not let specimens out of the country. Well, regardless to this policy, one of Sherif's Brazilian colleagues sent the critical pathology specimens to Sherif. Sherif's group proved causality in one of CDC's biggest public health responses then ensued.

>> I had the pleasure of working with Sherif on CDC's public health grand rounds. His topic was transplant associated infections. He was a pleasure to work with. He was so passionate about his work and that passion came across in everything that he said. And the more he talked, the more fascinating he became.

>> As a person, I think he was somebody who always just had a boundless curiosity.

>> I started working with Sherif shortly after I came over to the division in July of 2018. Sherif was very warm and inviting, I got to go onto labs, the Path lab, pretty early on. And the first thing that came across is how passionate he is. His office has all the table and the coasters and everything like that. Showed the different pathogens, he has [inaudible] walls and he kind of takes you on this journey, he's telling a story about how the Path lab had these amazing discoveries, findings, and how they kind of impacted public health. But he does it in a way that totally brought you in the conversation. He made you feel like that the tour was for you.

>> And he really sets up the field to be able to investigate these outbreaks of infectious diseases that we're going to see so much of in the coming years. So he really laid the foundation for those studies.

>> As a colleague, I can tell you he has done just phenomenal work. He's been a trailblazer, bringing pathology to CDC and public health and great molecular technologies that did not exist next to chemistry. And it's just taken our work to understand disease and solve medical mysteries to a new level altogether.

>> It was his passion that was able to shine through. All of us were just riveted when he spoke about his work. And about why he wanted to do this session. So that pathologists across the country would understand why someone who had never been exposed to a certain organism became exposed to it when they had a kidney transplant or a liver transplant.

>> From start to finish, he could tell a story about a case he saw. Something unique, something interesting. And then not tell us how it ended but give us clues and let congressional staff and members try to guess and really try to learn a lot of the process. And it really helped us to show the complexity of the work that he's doing, the work that we do here at CDC. And really help people to learn and feel like they were an active part of it. And so that was always really fun. And he took time to meet with visitors. He even took time afterwards to take pictures with us and to get to know us and show us.

>> He developed the tests to be able to look for West Nile and Zika in tissues. And you know, that experience with West Nile and arboviruses really paid off when Zika came. Because that was really the big mystery, you know, whether this novel mosquito borne virus can be the first arbovirus known to man that caused birth defects in humans.

>> You know, I think Sherif's loss is a major, major loss for CDC. He was, you know, one of these kind and gentle and excellent leaders. He was humble. He was a true scientist. There was a lot of fear about prion diseases. And he, with Dr. Shay, who worked closely with him, played a big role in documenting the very first case of variant CJD in the United States.

>> So I believe that one of Sherif's proudest diagnoses was of the anthrax in 2001. And you may recall that there was a death from anthrax in Florida. And about two to three weeks before. And Shay went down to Florida to-- and brought back autopsy tissues so that they were able to use those to work out all the variables for the anthrax antibodies. And the pathologists were able to make a diagnosis of anthrax, about 2 or 3 in the morning. And Sherif called Dr. Hughes to let him know.

>> For Sherif, he cared deeply about the program that he had built from the ground up at CDC. There wasn't a pathology program at CDC before Sherif. He was the pathology program. He has left behind him now wonderfully trained people, not only within CDC, but all over the world. And I think that that is really going to be his legacy. People who care deeply about infectious disease pathology, about the role that that particular science can play in public health. Which, I don't think had been realized fully before Sherif brought it to CDC. And the people that are still there mentoring new staff coming in, that is his legacy.

>> And the one thing that struck me about Sherif was that he was always willing to be there to help. And never complained, always was there. If we wanted to look at slides, he'd dig out the microscope and we'd look at slides. He was-- and really a wealth of knowledge. And really helped us along and published a lot of papers together on West Nile. And then of course, 15 years earlier. So then later, and it was the same story. You know? Does this really cause birth defects, does, you know, what percentage of the babies are affected? And all of that. And Sherif, again, jumped to it and through his worldwide network of collaborators, we were able to get specimens. He looked it up. He developed tests for it. And pathology tests for it. And of course, figured out that Zika in fact did cause birth defects.

>> He was so kind and tolerant of the rigor that was required to produce a grand rounds session. And he was very grateful that he had the opportunity to showcase his work. And especially the work of this team.

>> He was a very well respected scientist, physician, and pathologist. Across the United States and globally.

>> Diseases, infectious diseases, were the leading cause of death. Then that went down and was replaced by heart disease and stroke, other noninfectious entities. Well, we're seeing that change. And now we're seeing outbreaks of infections occurring every few years. And he was involved with all of them from SARS , the first SARS outbreak, Ebola, Hantavirus, anthrax, you name it. And that's going to be one of our biggest challenges going forward in the coming years is infectious diseases. Especially with widespread antimicrobial resistance. We're losing antibiotics. And we're going to get to the point where there aren't antibiotics to treat some of these diseases with.

>> So one of the things that Sherif's group was well-known for was the room where everybody would come and sit everyday at 2 o'clock for sign-out. And they would sit around this really interesting microscope that Sherif was in charge, and he was zooming in and zooming out on slides. And everybody else was looking through the viewfinder at the same thing that Sherif was seeing. It was a multi-headed microscope. And you could fit six or more people around that table, all looking in and all giving their own opinions. And insights into what they were looking at. And that happened, I think, every day in pathology. Sign-out was a time when all of the pathologists came together to share the interesting cases they were working with. And Sherif definitely used it as a teaching tool where he could point out things that only his eagle eye was seeing and the rest of us would get a tutorial along with him. I'll never forget the one time he pulled out a brain. And he set it out on the counter. And it was jiggling, and he was talking about the process of how you go from tissue to slides to fixing them and staining them and looking at them under the microscope. And I turned around and looked at Donovan Newton, who's our associate director for policy and that was his first time coming into Sherif's lab. And he was as pale as a ghost. And he was like backed up against the wall. And that's when I learned that you had to warn people that you might actually see things like that when you go in the lab. It's not just going to be looking at a microscope.

>> Not being a scientist myself, his contribution really was in helping connect audiences that didn't necessarily get-- that would have a lot of trouble accessing it. With Sherif, he actually walked you through the process and helped you really understand what was happening and show you the tissues, he's show you how the tissues are prepped, he would show you how they're stained. And the whole process beginning to end.

>> Sherif Zaki represented the best in public health. He was such a wonderful man. I want to share three stories. One, when Bill Gates came to CDC, Sherif showed him how to look under the microscope and what to see for a series of outbreaks. It was very memorable and Bill Gates remembered that, referred to it later on after the visit. Second, a terrible moment when Zika hit. It was Sherif who showed me the devastating impact on fetal development in images that he had identified and analyzed that were unforgettable and tragic. And third, when a staff member was ill and needed a complex investigation, Sherif Zaki himself walked over to Emory, insisted that the examination be done correctly, collected specimens to repeat it in his laboratory as a service to a CDC employee. And that was the kind of person Sherif was. He was a friend, he was wise, we would chat, we would laugh. He was humble, he represented what so many at CDC do day in and day out - the desire simply to serve. The desire to understand and use that understanding to save lives. And in fact, Sherif saved many lives by doing that. We miss him, we wish his family, his friends, his colleagues well. And we commit to continuing in that tradition of humble service.

>> You know, he's so humble, and he gave everybody credit for what, you know, they would do. People enjoyed working with him or working for him. It was just a real pleasure. And he was so good! He solved one problem after another. You know, and I wonder now who's going to sleuth those solutions, you know? For the future. He was very important to the United States, quite frankly. He was a national treasure.

>> He loved to bring food in, like he constantly would bring bagels in for the group. He knew we loved bagels. Nadia and he cooked a lot at home and he would bring in food and share. And he forever was trying to get me to cook his rice and lentils. And I tried several times but they never turned out like his.

>> I remember once he made lattes for everyone, everyone in the branch. And was happy to do so, smiled the entire time.

>> Sherif was someone who definitely brought food to meetings. Sometimes at unexpected times. And I think part of it was his way of bringing everybody together like family. Food was part of how his family met and talked through issues. And I think he brought that touch to CDC as well. So I think food was sort of always in the back of his mind.

>> Every time we had a division meeting, walk into the room. If there are donuts, coffee, or bagels, most likely it's Sherif who brought it to share with everybody.

>> Another thing, he loved bringing sweets back from his trips. And any time he would travel, he would bring back a variety of treats, candies, from Egypt or wherever he had been. And this is something that my family has adopted as a new tradition ourselves.

>> Sherif loved to feed people. I think that's what he liked as much as pathology was feeding people. So he was an amazing cook. Another thing he was really good at, especially recently, he was great at making sandwiches. And I always talk about his gourmet sandwiches. So he would, during the pandemic, he would call some of us in the mornings, you know, 6.30 in the morning. And say are you going to be in today? I'm making sandwiches. So that would sometimes influence whether or not we came into the office if we were going to get his sandwiches.

>> He was a great cook! And baker. And like I said, I've, you know, known him and interacted with him socially. And he would always, you know, be making something extraordinary. Extraordinary food.

>> He also introduced me to this delicious Middle Eastern breakfast food called foul, which is this fava bean based porridge served with warm pita bread and it's now one of my favorites. So you could see I've learned a lot from Dr. Zaki. Mostly in the realm of pathology, but also a little bit about life in general. I will really miss his friendship and support. He was renowned as a mentor and he's mentored many, many pathologists. I'm just one of many that's been able to learn from him over the years.

>> Sherif, he was an extraordinary balance of intelligence and humility. He was brilliant, extremely approachable, kind, supportive, inclusive. He was really the best, if not one of the best, if not the best supervisor.

>> He was a natural teacher. He would patiently educate us non-scientists on pathology matters that we needed to understand for legal reasons. In addition to being a brilliant scientist, Sherif also somehow found time to help ensure that justice was served in litigation related to CDC.

>> So I heard from a colleague who had traveled with him in West Africa and said amazing how he connected with people there. And you know, that that it was very, very special. Just his humanity, the way he cared about people, the way his curiosity about people came across. And so, people really-- it echoed with people and it was-- when she commented what a treat it was to get to know him as a person and travel with him. And the loss.

>> So as a mentor, Sherif really couldn't help mentoring everybody. Whether you were a member of his staff, whether you were in his professional sphere, or even if you were in a supervisory level over him, he was going to mentor him.

>> I came to know Dr. Zaki in 2016 when he visited our department. During the launching of [inaudible]. He has been instrumental in my career. Great man has left us, but his memories remains forever. We condole with the family with our deepest, heartfelt condolences.

>> We had a lot of international guests. I mean, we had a lot of like Emory rotation students come to do their residencies, a lot of international guests. He always opened up his home. He always had everyone over to eat. Any time we would have someone visiting, you know, it would be the weekend. We'd all get together, make them feel welcome.

>> Sherif was a master at translating his science into something all of us could understand even if we didn't come from a scientific background. And there's such value in that for those of us that work in communications. To be able to take what he worked on everyday and turn it into something that would fascinate people who previously had no real interest in the topic. I think that was part of his magic. His passion was contagious.

>> But what Sherif taught all of us was that in the circle of all of life, including in the process of being very ill or dying from an unknown illness, and this was Sherif's specialty to tease out the mystery of an unknown death.

>> We were fact-gathering. We were in the role of his students. We were his students, he was our teacher. We needed facts from him.

>> Dr. Zaki was a legend in the field of infectious disease pathology and I am just one of many pathologists he's mentored over the years. I've been learning from him since I was a resident. He reached out to me several times throughout my training and career to offer support and guidance. He helped me with a lot of challenging cases. And I noticed that he seemed to prefer to call people directly. I think he wanted that opportunity to have an actual conversation rather than just a few exchanges over email.

>> And I always approached, when I joined their sign-outs in the multi-headed scope room, with a little bit of trepidation. Because I knew when I sat down, I was going to see an amazing case. Something I had never seen before. But I also knew Sherif was going to call me out and ask if I knew what tissue I was looking at. Under the microscope. And if I knew he was seeing and if I could interpret it. And I never could. So he always approached that as a teaching tool, and so I entered those sign-outs with both anticipation and trepidation.

>> He was one of those born teachers. He loved to mentor and teach. His passion to pathology and to the work was just so obvious. So, yes, he actually loved to train junior folks, mentor them. Even some of us maybe not as junior colleagues. When you'd come and sit behind the microscope, he was always teaching, you know, pointing to something and explaining things.

>> You know, he loved to give recognition to his people. He was very humble, he never really, you know, put the spotlight on him. He always turned around and put it on everyone who worked with him. And was real genuine with, you know, that, and I appreciate that very much. Because a lot of people in higher levels don't necessarily always do that.

>> I think Sherif was regarded around the world as a fantastic mentor. And people really loved coming to CDC for pathology fellowships to learn about infectious disease pathology under Sherif. And the world of pathology is really quite small. And now that we're trying to find staff to come in without Sherif's influence, I think we're realizing that how challenging that is. I mean, people wanted to come to work for Sherif. They didn't just want to come to work at the CDC, they wanted to come and work for Sherif. And I think that is a testament to his skill and how he cared about the people that he worked with and trained. And about how Sherif was so humble and quiet and kind. And I'm like going nope, nope, no! So, I'm glad to maybe offer a slightly feistier perspective for everybody.

>> For 30 years I have known and grown to cherish my time with Sherif. Each encounter was a gift of wisdom and friendship. Always loved sitting around the multi-headed microscope in his office, navigating the pathology slides and the special stains that he carefully prepared with his team. He took us on a journey into an unseen world that was like a great adventure. All this led by a gentle giant. Soft spoken and self-effacing. A prophet who revealed the sub-cellular miracles of life and of death. That is how I will remember him, with a big heart. And may his memory continue to be a blessing. We'll miss you, Sherif.

>> So we had six wonderful years together. And I really enjoyed his company professionally and personally. You know, have been to his home with Nadia and shared meals and really enjoyed him on all levels.

>> One day I did empty one of his trash and recyclables. And he presented me with multiple masks to wear. You know? And I think-- he gave me one, he gave the Atlanta Falcons one that his wife made. It was real nice.

>> As a person, I think he was somebody who always just had a boundless curiosity.

>> We're all better for Sherif having passed through our labs and being a part of our lives. He really did make it fun to talk about pathology, fun to talk about science, fun to unravel these medical mysteries. And I think that's one of the most fun things about CDC and particularly our division is solving these medical mysteries. Getting a better understanding. And he did it. He was kind of that, you know, prototypical how you do it. And it's kind of tough thinking about the path forward, but I really feel like he gave us a great place to start. He really did put pathology at a different place in public health. And I think we're all grateful for it.

>> You know, I think what also struck me was his-- just his generosity. That you know, he was a world traveler and always made an effort to bring back, you know, trinkets from his travels and wanted us to spend time with him to pick out things of those trinkets that meant something for us or for our kids. And so he was always thinking about others. And wanting to share his experiences with others.

>> So I've known him for about 27 years. He's been my immediate supervisor for almost 20 years-- I'm sorry, 24 years. And I was introduced to Sherif by a former supervisor at another institution. Who worked here part-time. They were being relocated and so Sherif asked if there was someone they could recommend to sort of fill in for them in a part-time capacity. And she recommended me, so I came and I met him. And for about a year or so, I worked with him in the immunohistochemistry lab. On a part-time basis. Shortly thereafter, there was an opportunity to apply for a permanent position, for which I applied. And received. And I think the rest has been history.

>> He didn't necessarily look for the spotlight or you know, want to talk to the media. Because he was really a shy kind of person when it came to the news media. But he really valued the importance of talking to the media. Was always so accommodating.

>> He loved his animals. I will tell you that, he was a big dog lover. He always had rescued animals. Always had two or three animals at home. And he talked about his animals all the time.

>> I've been working here at CDC for 22 years now. I'd seen him every now and then in passing when he was doing his work at his office. He was an all-around generally nice person. And he was like a father figure to me. I didn't know him deeply personally, but I just knew him in passing, every time I saw him, everyday when I saw him, he would greet me with a smile, always very nice to me. And vice versa. He was just an all-around good man. I mean, CDC is lost without him in a way. I think. He was just-- I think his passion was just saving the world as a-- that's the way I look at that. As a superman of solving diseases and stuff.

>> He talked about his family a lot. And he would ask questions about our family a lot. As a way to connect. To bond with his colleagues. Which made I think all of us feel close to his family. We would have face-to-face interactions, but he always would bring their presence to work. You know, we all know about Nadia and their garden and the things that they would do and share and travel. And he would always share those things. We would always enjoy hearing his stories.

>> But some people actually reached out to him to recruit him away from CDC. But he was very committed to working in the public health area that CDC has given him the opportunity for. His commitment to public health and his commitment to CDC was immense.

>> While being gentle and humble and understated, he was just, at the same time, very assertive in terms of his staff contributions to work. And really made sure that staff, that the pathology unit at CDC got the credit it deserved.

>> And I remember this day that conversation that veered from family and friends and challenges and joys, how much we each cherished the kind of privileges and opportunities that we had. Not only at CDC and the life of public service, but also how that reflected on each of our own personal experiences and receiving joy and satisfaction in life. And for Sherif, his passion and his love for the science and for understanding the human condition translated directly into his relationships with other people. And I felt all that warmth and love and passion both for his work and for his friendships in that moment.

>> So, back in the beginning when I first met Sherif, you know, I referred to him as Dr. Zaki. He immediately asked me not to call him Dr. Zaki, but to call him Sherif. That took some time, you know, to get used to. And you know, over the first few days, probably even weeks, I continued to refer to him as Dr. Zaki. And one day I had completed a test that I was running. And I called into his office, which sat just inside the small laboratory that I was working in. And said, "Hey, Dr. Zaki, I have a test that's ready for your review." And he slid his chair out into the lab space. And looked at me and said "Please, don't call me Dr. Zaki. Call me Sherif."

>> Well, one thing I always thought was funny about Sherif is that, you know, he always came to work dressed nice, but behind his door, he had on his coat rack he had several neckties. And he was like you never know when you're going to run into somebody, a politician, or you know, the Director of CDC might need to see me. And I'm always going to have a necktie ready to put on.

>> Sherif was such a remarkable individual because a lot of us in public health, though we struggled to prevent, you know, prevent death and morbidity and mortality and adverse outcome, we had so much intense focus through public health on what we were doing in the moment for those that were living and suffering. That the idea of thinking about pathology in the context of public health and prevention after a life had already been lost was quite a different perspective to bring in.

>> One time when my son was very young, probably about two years old, he invited us over to come and pick vegetables in the garden. And so we went over and he was showing my son, I remember, the little cherry tomatoes. He was showing some green ones and he was explaining that we wait until they're red, we don't want to pick them while they're green. We have to be patient and watch them grow. And so, of course when Sherif and I turned our backs, he picked - my son - picked all the green tomatoes off of the little bush. And I was mortified and I thought Sherif was actually going to be upset about it. Because he's very proud of these tomatoes. But instead he returned my son's very large grin and took the green tomatoes and packaged them up for him to take home with him.

>> You know, his untimely passing was a shock. And it's a huge loss to the scientific community. Not just the CDC, definitely to CDC. The work we do to public health. And to the world.

>> All you had to do was ask a question, any question, about one of the organisms that CDC has worked on. And he knew exactly what to say. He knew how to explain it in terms that non-scientists would understand and that's what made him such a valuable communicator. He also had a lot of appreciation for the work of communicators, understanding that his topic was difficult. He did a great job of making it understandable.

>> Sherif, if nothing else, was the remarkable combination of brilliance and humility.

>> His wife would sometimes [inaudible] him for calling in the evenings when he thought of something he wanted to talk about and so, he would call and would let the phone ring for a couple of times and then he would hang up. Without her knowing. So that I would have to call back. And so then when I called back, he could say, well you can't fuss at me, because she's the one who called me.

>> This legend, you know, in its own right. But yet this kindness, this humility, this, you know, approachability that he possessed is such a rare-- just such a rare combination of characteristics in a person. Particularly someone at that level. He always made you feel included. He, you know, just really accepted where you were at the time. Always supportive. You know, just, you know, I remained under his supervision for over 20 years. I mean, I think that's a testament to the kind of person and supervisor he was.

>> Yeah, he was special. You know, that's kind of a no-brainer because we're doing this. It wasn't like hey, let's just pick somebody who passed away and lavish praise. Yeah, he drove anybody who worked with him crazy because he was so focused and persistent and never gave up and you know, so we would be spending a gazillion hours at the microscope, you know, reviewing cases and things. You know, for-- and it was always-- there was always a reason for it.

>> It's rare that you find somebody with that degree and brilliance who is so humble and self effacing. So soft spoken. So much of his life is in pursuit of giving his gifts to other people. And not focusing attention and recognition on his own great accomplishments.

>> I was headed out, walked by his office, and he was sitting at his microscope looking at slides. And I said to him, I don't know if he even really looked up, but I peeked my head in there and I said "Dr. Zaki, the man, the myth, the legend." And he looked so embarrassed. And I just walked out immediately. He's calling for me, "Tara, Tara!" and I was like no, good night Dr. Zaki!